“Be careful, Pantani has a puncture. Maybe it’s not a puncture, but a chain break”. The voices of Adriano De Zan and Davide Cassani, RAI commentators in 1999, resonate in the history of cycling. On that day, ‘The pirate’ wrote one of the most epic chapters in the history of cycling. The Italian’s comeback was remembered throughout Italy this Sunday.
Tadej Pogacarwho intends to be his heir with the Giro-Tour double that he won in 1998, began the day by ordering his team to work as a unit so that victory would not escape as happened on the way to Turin, when Jonny Narváez took out his rifle to take the triumph and the ‘maglia’.
To start, as if it were a Giro from the 90s, where local cyclists came out with the knife between their teeth from minute 0, five local riders mounted the escape: Christian Scaroni, Andrea Piccolo, Davide Bais, Filippo Fiorelli and Martin Marcellusi They set out in search of adventure.
The falls soon began. Zanna, Dunbar, Kooij, Conci or Vallter They went to the ground. Two Visma men were affected a few hours after Gesink, who fell on Saturday, had to leave the ‘Corsa Rosa’ due to injury. The days when the ‘yellow wasps’ ruled the big three from start to finish seem far away. The evil fario now pedals alongside them.
surpassed the Oasi Zegna third category, only Piccolo in the lead with more than a minute. The victory was going to be in the ‘grupetto’, where Ineos pulled violently before the approval of UAE Team.
An untimely fall
If he wanted to emulate Pantani, Pogacar did it even having a mechanical breakdown at a key moment like what happened to the Italian. With 11 km to go he suffered a puncture that caused him to fall: hot and angry to reconnect while Ineos did the rest to try to distance him.
Tadej Pogacar and his most inopportune breakdown that makes him angry: he falls with 11 km to go!
While reconnecting, there were several names that began to suffer: Nario, Daniel Felipe Martínez... And, with 4 km to go, Pogacar He launched his lethal attack on the legendary climb (11.8 km at 6.2%). Cian, Thomas or O’Connor, his most demanding rivals, tried to hit each other without success. Juanpe López, by the way, entered with the best. The victory and the ‘maglia’ were for Pogacar. Tadej emulated Patani of ’99, with an untimely fall, victory and ‘maglia’. We’ll see if he also does the same with the dream double.
