RIMINI
ANDREA BOCCHINI
Yellow alert. Intense emotions are expected throughout Romagna and in particular in the hilly areas of Forlì, Cesena and Rimini today, while tomorrow the phenomenon will move to the Ravenna plain and move permanently to the Bolognese area in mid-afternoon. Alert, sticker, fever, flag, it doesn’t matter which noun the word “yellow” is associated with, the only important thing is that today the Tour de France will finally start from Italy for the first time in 121 years. And it will do so with a stage which, after the departure from Florence, will be held for three quarters in Romagna and which will see the final finish line in Rimini. The city of Fellini, the rugged climbs of Romagna are preparing to face an “Amarcord” day that will remain forever in the hearts of Romagna enthusiasts, and not only. Tomorrow the show repeats, with the second stage from Cesenatico to Bologna and crossing a good part of the Romagna plain. Then the caravan will head towards France and only the memory of the two yellow days will remain. Which will be indelible, as it is unrepeatable.
The first yellow
The Florence-Rimini, the opening stage of the 2024 Tour, was presented by Christian Prudhomme (director of the Grande Boucle) as the “hardest first stage in the history of the Tour”. And in fact the numbers of the Tuscan-Romagna stage are important with 7 Grand Prix of the Mountain and a good 3,800 meters of altitude difference in 206 km of racing. But what makes the Rimini stage exceptional is what is at stake and, in particular, the yellow jersey that will automatically be worn by the winner of the stage. If the exact same stage had been placed halfway through the Tour, we would have witnessed a boring stage with the group waiting and the day’s breakaway inexorably in port. Exactly what happened in the “Nove Colli” stage of the 2020 Giro. But the Rimini stage is different and the victory-yellow jersey combination will transform the first Romagna stage into a great classic. A small Giro di Lombardia where, the winner will certainly be a champion.
The Pogacar Mystery
Surprisingly, in the press conference at Palazzo Vecchio, the Slovenian champion announced that he had Covid just 10 days ago. Probably an attempt to ease the pressure, because it is clear to everyone that Pogacar is well and will try to start very strong, exactly as he did at the last Giro d’Italia. Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the last 2 editions, arrived at the Tour after almost 3 months of forced absence and it is useless to underline that he cannot yet be in optimal shape. Pogacar’s UAE Emirates, which is also the strongest team, knows this perfectly well and it is clear that they will try to make the race very tough from the start. If the UAE plan were to be implemented, we would witness a very marked selection with an extremely small group playing for the victory in Rimini. And this is why Tadej Pogacar is considered the absolute favorite by the bookmakers of the first stage with a very low odds. Behind him Wout Van Aert (Visma) and, somewhat surprisingly, the Italian champion Alberto Bettiol (EF). Then Van der Poel, Pidcock, Roglic, Evenepoel and Van Gils. But only those who are certain are wrong, because the forecast remains very uncertain and open to all solutions.
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