Magically the kilometers from Borgofranco d'Ivrea to Crans Montana have become less than 75. Magically, it's a manner of speaking, because the controversy is abolished, the show is lowered and In the end, the one who loses is the Giro d'Italia. A stage that potentially could have been the toughest of the Giro d'Italia ended up being a long sprint.
A sprint that saw the Colombian Einer Rubio take the lead Movistar, but Italian in cycling. Rubio is the "brother" of Jay Hindley, in the sense that he also comes from the school of Umberto “Umbertone” Di Giuseppe and Donato Polvere.
And his victory embodies the famous proverb: when two fight, the third rejoices. Pinot was skirmishing with Cepeda and Rubio, quietly, he was acting like an ant, putting precious energy into his pocket. good for sprinting.
Of course, it's a shame not to tell this young man's story in detail, especially since the big names haven't gotten behind him, but today the news is all about the stage's reduction and, above all, about why. Its origins.
The day
Let's try to reconstruct this day, starting from yesterday evening. News of the invocation of the extreme weather protocol is spreading among the riders. A survey was conducted. An anonymous survey called for the Croix de Coeur to be cancelled because the weather forecast predicted worsening conditions on that hill just as the Giro was due to pass.
This morning the sports groups requested a meeting with the director of the Giro, Mauro Vegni. A meeting also supported by the CPA whose president is Adam hansen, with Cristian Salvato as the race representative. At this meeting, the sports groups and riders asked for the stage to be shortened.
And here's the first point. Riders and teams didn't want to ride the Croix de Coeur, but then they reached a compromise with Vegni. So they agreed to climb this hill and race straight to the finish, but starting from Le Chable at the foot of the same climb.
In the end it went like this: At 11 a.m., in Borgofranco d'Ivrea, the group set off. It was raining and the temperature was 13 degrees Celsius. The riders walked a few dozen meters for sponsors and fans and then... everyone got on the buses. to reach La Chable amidst the thumbs-down from the roadside fans waiting for them on the Gran San Bernardo.
The Great St. Bernard Pass, itself mutilated a few days earlier. Then at 15 PM, the start from Le Chable, under a timid sun and 15-degree temperatures. The rest is history.
What a mess
But some questions need to be asked. Why did the organization agree to tackle what they considered the riskiest point, both in terms of weather and the resulting descent?
The protocol was invoked for extreme weather conditions, but these conditions did not exist: neither for temperatures nor for wind, nor for precipitation. So what happened? What was the basis for the stage's shortening? What's the connection between the weather protocol and the dangerous descent? As if they'd only just discovered that the first few kilometers of that glide were dangerous. The questions are many, the doubts even more.
«We must apologize to the fans and the organizers - Said Christian Salvato, president ofAccpi (Italian Professional Cycling Association) at the Stage Trial – The teams relied on their weather apps, which are usually very accurate, but this time they got it wrong. Sometimes the weather in the mountains changes suddenly. This time it was better, but what if it had been bad weather? A little too bad...
Come with your back to the wall
Then there is the official bell, the one of Rcs Sports, the company organizing the Giro d'Italia. This morning, Mauro Vegni also spoke with us, giving us a good look at the situation.
"The weather conditions aren't the best," Vegni told us, "not so much because of the rain but because of the cold on the descent. We need to protect the athletes so we can get to Rome." And so I went along with their requests. But we managed to maintain a stage with concrete sporting characteristics.
«Like the sprint stage of the TourNo, it's different. There we started with the idea of a specific stage, here with the idea of saving a race. There with the sun, here with the rain."
And yet: «There was a negotiation and something had to be given up», Vegni himself had said shortly before to Rai microphones.
This last sentence is important. "We must give in." In the end, an agreement was reached, but more than an agreement tied to the specific conditions of the stage, it seemed an overall agreement. An agreement on what has happened so far at the Giro, including the many retirements and the heavy rain.
As if to say: “Dear Vegni, since we’ve taken on so much water, either you shorten the stage for us or we’ll go on strike.” Practically blackmail. At this point the director of the Giro was very clever in saving the situation and linking at least the last two climbs.
Looking forward
But this day and its management speak of a Giro that has little political clout. Little strength. Something very similar happened to what happened in Morbegno in the 2020 Giro.
The Giro d'Italia doesn't deserve this. The fans don't deserve this. Cycling doesn't deserve this. Are we sure that the same riders, in the 40-plus degree heat of the French "chaleur," and therefore with the necessary conditions to implement the protocol, would ask Prudhomme to cancel the stage?
There's a lot of work to do. Both on the part of the Giro, which absolutely needs to relaunch itself. Both on the part of theUCI than the CPA. We need to find unambiguous rules. Rules based on reliable numbers, on route inspectors capable of assessing the situation in real time. and not on subjective evaluations.
And then we need to start taking a concrete approach to climate change. Data from many weather sites shows that in recent years, April and especially May have been the only months in the central Mediterranean basin that have bucked the temperature trend. In practice it is always hotter, except in these two months. Perhaps we should consider moving the Giro d'Italia, something Vegni has already said in the past, and choosing different routes with the highest climbs perhaps only at the finale.
So many words. Let's hope they don't fall on deaf ears. Or maybe they do. If the riders put on such a spectacle tomorrow, they'll already be a distant memory.
