A postcard of colours, nature and mountains: Friuli Venezia Giulia pays homage to the Giro d’Italia and does so by intertwining history and passion for cycling. The winner is Andrea Vendrame, 29 years old from Santa Lucia di Piave who runs for the Decathlon-AG2R La World team. The “Joker”, his nickname in the group, went on the run and took stage number 19 of the Giro d’Italia, the Mortegliano-Sappada, 157 kilometers drawn through this land which has an unbridled passion for two wheels . He bursts into tears, the emotion is strong for an undertaking that he had studied and mentally pursued since the day before. “I knew how to manage myself in the best way. I’m a bit crazy, I shot downhill and kept a regular pace. It’s a victory that I’ve missed for a long time. In the Giro I got sick at the beginning but I recovered. You have to know how to overcome the difficult moments.”
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It honored a stage with a thousand meanings. Like the one on the departure from Mortegliano where the mountain rescue volunteers unrolled the tricolor from the highest bell tower in Italy. A sign of rebirth – yet another for Friuli – for the town which was crushed by the fury of bad weather last summer. He fought to get to the top step of the podium, Vendrame.
After the finish line, all the difficult moments he experienced due to the accident in April 2016 when he collided with a car and received 60 stitches on his face pass before him. Passionate about Batman today it’s as if he put on his cape to fly.
Fairplay Pogacar
The Pink Jersey still belongs to Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian stops to wait for Geraint Thomas who, due to a distraction, slips but then manages to return. “Unfortunately Thomas crashed but there was no point in opening the throttle and overtaking him like this. Today we all thought about Saturday, except for those who went into the breakaway.”
Monte Grappa on Saturday
The final show will be on Saturday (starting at 11.50 on Rai/Eurosport TV), in the twentieth stage which decides the Giro d’Italia. There are 184 kilometers from Alpago to Bassano, with the two climbs of Monte Grappa: 18 km at an average gradient of 8% in double succession. From the second hilltop 31 km to the finish of the descent. Perfect route for Tadej Pogacar, 25 years old of UAE-Emirates, in the first Giro d’Italia leading as leader, after a Vuelta and four Tours: the champion is waiting for this day to close the chapter of the Giro d’Italia. It will be an all-Slovenian celebration: many will stop on the climb up Monte Grappa to applaud their king. In Slovenia, Tadej is adored so much that the words “Leave the racing to Pogacar” appear on motorway signs (which invite you to limit car speed).
The departure of the Giro 2025 is from Trieste
Meanwhile, two days before the end of the Corsa Rosa, rumors are increasingly insistent that the 2025 edition of the Giro will start from Trieste (therefore putting aside the idea of the Great Departure from Albania). The arrival will still be in Rome.
