Garofoli's feat in Cervinia, between disbelief and emotion

He laughs. Then he gets emotional. He laughs again. He puts his hands in his hair. Just as he had done on the finishing straight. He doesn't believe it, Gianmarco Garofoli. He doesn't even believe in the feat he achieved in Cervinia in the second stage of the Tour of the Aosta Valley. An action from another era, the likes of which are rarely seen. 

Long solitary escape (almost 60 kilometers) through valleys, mountains and descents. And the arrival under his majesty the Matterhorn. Who must have seen clearly when he looked up at the sky.

Broken fork and cold blood

We'd spoken to Gianmarco in the morning precisely because he'd been quite visible yesterday. He'd pulled for the team. He'd attempted a breakaway. He'd gotten a puncture. He'd come back, bringing his teammates water bottles, and won the intermediate sprint.

«Yes, I was fine. Actually, when you saw me change bikes, I hadn't had a puncture. But I had broken the fork, right here – and he shows us the point – a fear with those descents. I wanted to change it before but the jury had blocked the flagships and so as soon as I could I stopped."

Garofoli then talks about the great work done after the Giro d'Italia U23, of the great opportunity that the DSM World Tour will give him shortly, that is to say to do the Ain Tower scheduled for the last three days of July.

"And maybe I can go to the Tour de l'Avenir. Am I also thinking about the World Championships? Yes, I know those roads, but in the meantime, we're trying to work hard to do well," he said this morning, "and I'm here precisely to get into shape."

The Avenir is a desire that probably Marino Amadori after today's stage he will be ready to fulfill his request.

Crazy attack

Valtournenche and Cervinia are separated by about ten kilometers, one further down the valley than the other. But clearly, the Giro della Valle d'Aosta took a different route to connect the two resorts. A route packed with climbs. A monster elevation gain, over 4.500 meters, but at least the roads are easier to ride and wider than yesterday's… gymkhana.

On the descent of Tsecore, the third-to-last climb of the day, there are several crashes. Garofoli also falls, but he gets up, rejoins, and sets off. The top riders look at each other. "Where do you expect this guy to go?" They must have said he's clearly inexperienced. The boy from Castelfidardo, in the Marche region, is the youngest in the competition. He hasn't even turned 19 yet. As he attacks, there's a flat stretch. Staying in a group would be ideal. And then the two final climbs are incredibly long. The Saint Pantaleon climb is almost 15 kilometers, and the one leading to Cervinia is almost 20.

Meanwhile Alessandro Verre, the yellow jersey, is in crisis. Garofoli immediately makes a big gain. And the lead continues to grow, but more steadily, over Saint Pantaleon.

Mom, Dad and the Matterhorn

Up there, on the Gpm, there are also mother Cristiana and father Gianluca, ready to cheer and give water to the other guys from DSM Development. The screams of the mother, who in the meantime has descended a few hundred meters, can be heard from the GPM. Garofoli is super focused. But his face is relaxed and his pedaling is powerful. This morning he told us he had mounted a 36x30, but it's certainly pushing a few teeth less.

An elderly fan asks his dad, "How's it going downhill?" He replies, "Great." And in fact, the advantage he'd gained on the GPM was more than 2 minutes, becoming almost 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The fork is fine this time, and the 26mm tires he's chosen have proven to be ideal.

A time trial

Now a long time trial begins for Garofoli. The wind is also a bit against him. Behind him is his teammate Vandenabeele. Then Thompson, with El Gouzi and some others who gradually detach themselves.

Every now and then, the Matterhorn peeks out on the horizon. The white is fresh and contrasts dramatically with the green of the trees. Until the day before yesterday, there was fresh snow. Gianmarco certainly didn't see all that. Especially since the Valtournenche crossing is painful, and he's been out for a long time now.

The pedaling is less fluid. It loses a bit, but it doesn't collapse at all. Five kilometers, three, one... The tunnel, the crowds of Cervinia, the finish line, and the eyes to the sky where the Matterhorn enjoys the spectacle. Many champions have won here, not least Fabio Arau. But perhaps not even the “Gran Becca” had ever seen such a feat on a bike.

Stubborn since childhood

And we return to Garofoli's initial emotion. While he's on the rollers to cool down, Thompson is laughing behind him. Thanks to his final accelerations, the New Zealander managed to take the yellow jersey.

"My goodness, what a number!" Garofoli says, still out of breath. "Something incredible, I don't even know... This morning the sports director was telling me: 'Take it easy, stay with the general team.' I told him: 'No, Bennie, I'm attacking today, I want to take a risk. I want to try and see what happens.'"

In short, Gianmarco had clear ideas. And his mother had told us about that GPM: "He's always had clear ideas. At three years old, he took part in his first bike race—imagine, he had training wheels—and he won. From that day he told me: I want to be a rider. And at school too. The teachers told me: your son writes well, but only talks about cycling! He always had this passion. Never a doubt. He also played soccer. He was good at it. But when it came to choosing, he had no doubts."

Computer turned off

You don't see a move like this every day. Perhaps only Garofoli had planned it. Perhaps...

The harder I pushed, the stronger I felt. I felt like I was gaining minutes, and it was incredible. And to arrive here, on the queen stage, alone… the queen stage, you know!

What was going through my head? I was thinking about all the sacrifices I'd made. Because victories like that are great, but they're built at home with hard work. And after the U23 Giro, I've done a lot of that. That was my starting point. I spent 20 days in the Dolomites, Between Moena and San Pellegrino, alone. Today I had a moment of weakness around 5 kilometers from the finish. At that point I turned off the computer, I didn't want to know anything else: kilometers, wattage, speed... I pushed as hard as I could. Because I'd been pushing hard for a long time and I was tired. But Bennie (Lambrechts, the sporting director, ed.) from the team car also gave me a lot of help. He was close to me. But he said I was doing something incredible. I did something incredible."

Thompson fourth and in yellow

An emotional day for Garofoli. "The dedication is for my girlfriend. Chiara, who supports me a lot, for my family and for my great-grandmother Gilda who died just as I was taking my last pedal strokes." His parents told him the news shortly after his arrival.

It's just a shame that this feat didn't end with the yellow jersey. But Garofoli had been out for a long time and alone, while Reuben Thompson was riding with the best group. And, thanks to Garofoli's lower energy expenditure and (normal) fatigue, he recovered significantly in the final stages. The New Zealander Groupama-Fdj yesterday he came second, 30” behind Verre, and his consistency, today fourth, paid off. 

But nothing is closed. Because tomorrow we'll be climbing again and on these mountains, as we've seen, the minutes are ticking by. Recovery is what counts. Garofoli has shown excellent qualities in this regard. We saw it at the Giro as well. And he seemed very well prepared. While he was rolling, he would tell the masseur what to give him, alternating supplements and water with the wisdom of a veteran.