NAPLES – Narvaez wins, Milan wins,… Kooij wins! The first week of the Giro d’Italia 2024 ends in a spectacular way: in Avezzano-Naples of 214 kilometers, the Ecuadorian of the Ineos Grenadiers attempts the coup by stretching up the Posillipo hill and “devouring” belly to the ground, in complete solitude, the last 8 kilometers but a few tens of meters from the finish line, thanks to the work of Pogacar and Consonni, he is caught again in flown by Jonathan Milan. The rider from Buja seems headed for his second success in this Giro but Olav Kooij appears on the line who, with an excellent and decisive move, burns it and takes his first stage victory in a Grand Tour.
THE STAGE. The non-departure of Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) and the puncture in the transfer section of Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Intermarché – Wanty), the race starts from Avezzano under a splendid sun and after a few hundred meters from the official start it sees the attack of the Polti-Kometa Andrea Pietrobon And Mirco Masters. In pursuit of them he tries, at first, to launch himself, Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) but, not finding the support of other courageous people, after a few kilometers alone in a bain-marie the Faenza native decides to give up and be reabsorbed.
If the situation goes well for the group, for some time we proceed without any hiccups with theAlpecin-Deceuninck who, by putting himself at the head of the group, succeeds in the triple task of controlling the pace, discouraging other attempts and preventing the escape from taking on too large proportions (maximum advantage of just over 3 minutes). The two scouts thus took full points both at the flying finish line in Mondragone and at the Intergiro finish line in Giugliano in Campania, a point shortly before which, as a group, they ended up on the ground Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-hansgrohe) and, above all, Geraint Thomas. Both, while the sprinters in front divide the remaining points up for grabs for the classification of the cyclamen jersey, rejoin the ranks before crossing the span of 50 kilometers from the finish, the moment in which the Bahrain-Victorious it gives a strong boost in the group which, however, exhausting itself quickly, in the end produces a lot. In short, in fact, the advantage of Maestri and Pietrobon (which had previously fallen to under one minute) starts to rise again like the road under their wheels given that less than 40 km from the finish line the two take the climb to Monte di Procida ahead of everyone . At the top of the only GPM of the day Pietrobon passes in first position ahead of Maestri but the news is that under the pressure of the Alpecin men they lose contact Merlier, Jakobsen And Bauhaus.
The two fugitives then also conquered the flying finish line in Bacoli after which, on the next climb, Alaphilippe And Conci (then followed by Vermaerke And Askey) take advantage of the few seconds that divide the platoon from the breakaway to go and catch it. A new attempt is therefore made up of six runners who become seven with the return of Costiou (Arkea) who in turn, at less than 20km, relaunches the action by going, together with Alaphilippe, to distance the other runners in the leading group. Maestri and Vermaerke try to react and chase them but their effort turns out to be in vain as, at -15km, they are swallowed up by the group towed by Lidl-Trek and Alpecin. Costiou and Alaphilippe therefore continued together, maintaining a slight margin of advantage over the peloton until -10 when the double world champion attempted a solitary run. At -7.8 from the finish line, however, on the last climb before the flat finish, Narvaez he emerges like a chip from the group and in a lightning-fast manner goes to catch up and detach the transalpine from Soudal Quick-Step. Behind him, several belatedly try to find his wheel but no one manages to make a difference and so, in short, the sprinters’ teams are once again in charge of the chase.
The good pace of the Ecuadorian, winner of the Turin stage and first pink jersey of the 2024 Giro, however makes this operation more complicated than expected to the point that in the last 1000 meters he still boasts a margin of 12 seconds. An extraordinary flurry of Pogacar (for Molano), at this point, significantly reduces the gap which narrows even further with the work of Consonni For Jonathan Milan. The latter then launches his sprint and goes to pass the Ecuadorian from Ineos 15 meters from the line but at the finish line, thanks to an excellently placed kick, he is passed by Olav Kooij. At the end of an exciting finale, which took place on the eve of the first day of rest, it is therefore the 2001 class of Team Visma | Lease a Bike to rejoice for the first success of his career in a Grand Tour, his team’s sixth at the Corsa Rosa in the last five years.
GENERAL RANKING
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in 32h59’04”
2. Daniel Felipe Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe) +2’40”
3. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +2’58”
4. Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Difesa) +3’39”
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +4’02”
6. Antonio Tiberi (Team Bahrain-Victorious) +4’23”
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan) +5’15”
8. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +5’28”
9. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +5’30”
10 Jan Hirt (Soudal Quick-Step) +5’53”
Article by Tuttobiciweb.it
