Three oranges in the first three places: Casper Van Uden, Olav Kooij and Maikel Zijlaard. A frenetic, atypical and nervous sprint, like the street circuit that preceded it. Narrow sections (perhaps too sharp and abrupt), curves, roundabouts, and even more bends in the final kilometer: a truly tough sprint. And a technical one.
A sprint that we wanted to comment on with the help of the former city manager, Daniele bennati: "I I don't really agree that it was a dangerous circuit. Yes, there were a couple of significant bottlenecks, but we're in the city. The fact is that the first bunch sprint is always very hectic, there's a lot of stress. From the outside, it's hard to judge."
"Rather," Bennati continues, "I think both the riders and, especially, the team cars weren't aware of that narrow passage before the underpass. Consequently, the sports directors didn't communicate it. It was clear from the way they got there. So much so that on the second lap everything went smoothly.
It's a circuit I did too. I can say that there were 12 kilometers of new asphalt, perfect. No, I don't feel like criticizing it for being dangerous."
Big on alert
The Alberobello-Lecce route runs more or less according to plan. Perhaps one would have expected a few more men to keep Francisco Muñoz company. Polti-VisitMalta and instead the group lets him go to his fate.
It's the teams of the top-ranked players who light the fuse. Not to win, obviously, but to get out of trouble. They do it well. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, very good EF Education EasyPost of Carapaz and in a sumptuous way Ineos Grenadiers by Bernal: how we love seeing him there in front. Will he be an additional protagonist for the general classification?
Another unexpected moment: at the intermediate finish line the young UAE Team Emirates with Del Toro and Ayuso tries to gain a few seconds of time bonus, but is hit by Roglic's "counterattack blow". The attentive Slovenian moves into third place and extends his lead, albeit by only 2", over the Spaniard. Details that tell us how much they care about this Giro. Tour of Italy which according to many technicians will be decided in seconds.
Pedersen, another number
Everything is decided in the final and in Lecce anything can happen. This time the Lidl Trek she's not lucky. Mads pedersen he was involved in a fall and shortly after Julius Ciccone has a mechanical problem. The team is divided between the two captains. Cicco returns with the help of the immense Jacopo Fly, and Pedersen with Houle does a number.
He ascends with the coolness typical of Northerners. He remains icy, unfazed, and wastes little energy. Houle is shouldering everyone, and Mads follows him. They're coming up from within the pack: anyone who's ever raced knows how difficult it is. Just to get their heads together they widen out a bit.
And at the final kilometer, the pink jersey is perfectly positioned. In our opinion, the one who breaks his egg on the basket is Kaden Groves. The sprint is on. We're 800 meters in. The Australian doesn't have his domestique: he stops pedaling. At that moment, the pace drops, and Pedersen falls just behind.
«I understand perfectly what moment you are referring to – explains Bennati – he is the rider of the Alpecin-Deceuninck who stops pedaling and Pedersen gets a little closed down. Maybe he could have played better until the end. But it's also true that on paper there are sprinters with a faster start than him... at least on a flat, easy stage. Because then over the distance and on tougher courses, he's a long-distance rider and automatically goes back to being the fastest."
Which is to say that, despite the problems he had on the circuit and in the sprint, this was not the best stage for the former world champion.
Kooij Recriminations
And we come to the loser: Olav Kooij. Edward Affini he had done a great job and, perhaps, Given the speed with which he swooped down on the finish line, the one who has the most to complain about is Kooij. Van Uden reached 69,2 kilometers per hour. Kooij certainly broke the 70-kilometer barrier.
«I also said it at the Stage Trial – continues Bennati – Affini has done an exemplary job, and Kooij was wrong not to follow him. If anything, at Visma | Lease a bike A man was missing (Van Aert? Ed.), or so it seemed to me. Kooij is not a sprinter who sprints at the front: in my opinion, he moved and let himself slip a little behind. But he was wrong to follow that instinct, in this case."
And speaking of the man down: it was definitely Wout van aertBennati was right. The yellow and black team manager, Marc Reef, declared at the end of the race that Wout wanted to be the last man, also for reasons of lower stress. Which is fair, given the moment the Belgian champion is going through. But he didn't succeed.
«He tried several times, but he always found himself behind – Reef told Wielerflits – I imagine he is frustrated at not being able to do his job, especially since he is a real team player and had insisted on being the lead-out.».
Van Uden Party
The boys of Picnic- PostNL Instead, they didn't make any mistakes. An exemplary launch: compact, fast.
"I admit," Bennati continues, "that I wouldn't have put Van Uden among the super favorites for the sprints. Then maybe he'll win three stages and we'll be talking about an emerging sprinter. He was very good. He sprinted head-first, long, and maintained a very high speed throughout. Nothing to say."
But who is Casper Van Uden? He's a young Dutchman born in 2001, a former track cyclist (a past that has come in handy on this tortuous circuit), a powerful young man.
We'd also seen him in Turkey. There, to be honest, he hadn't shone. But they told us he was preparing for the Giro d'Italia. That those performances were the result of a tailor-made approach to his first major Giro. Evidently, they were right.
And Van Uden starts from Turkey: «I didn't win alone – he said immediately – the whole team won: the guys who are here and all the staff, even those who work at the headquarters. We have done a great job with the train since the beginning of the season, as well as in Türkiye last week., a race that was very useful to us."
Van Uden had run a lot up to the fast Northern Classics, up to Ghent, in short. Then he said goodbye to everyone and trained hard, even if things didn't always go smoothly.
"I won the first sprint of my first major Giro, but I don't think it's a surprise. Sometimes I should believe in myself as much as my teammates do. I didn't have to catch any wind until 200 meters from the finish. I know I have a good long sprint, so I gave it my all and gave it everything I had until the finish line. I don't know what the future holds, but for now I'm happy with this victory."
We don't know what the future will say, but certainly those 1.590 watts of maximum peak power and 1.280 average in the 13-second sprint are no small thing!
