An unexpected first pink jersey
(Marco Bonarrigo) The news is that Tadej Pogacar lost the first stage of the Giro d’Italia despite having tried hard to win it, even scattering exhausted teammates in the last stretch of the route. After having strained everyone’s necks on the final stretch of San Vito with a series of violent jerks, the Slovenian was left behind by the tough Ecuadorian from Ineos Jonathan Narvaez and then the two were joined on the descent by the German Schachmann. In the sprint (the technical gesture that he does least well, he also has some flaws) Poga tried hard but was burned by both Narvaez and Schachmann.
That of Narvaez (who had won the Cesenatico stage of the 2020 Giro) is the first Ecuadorian pink jersey in the history of the Giro while in Pogacar the defeat weighs heavily: he ran with mourning on his arm, he wanted to raise his arms to the sky (as his sporting director Fabio Baldato explained) to dedicate the success to a fifteen-year-old rider from his youth team who recently died in a bicycle accident.
The fact remains that the violent action of the Slovenian, who had already dictated a violent pace on the Bric della Maddalena, has already put his opponents in crisis: Geraint Thomas he lost 10” (and with him Tiberi, Caruso, Martinez, O’Connor and Uijtdebroeks) while both Bardet and Arensman collapsed. Thanks to the bonuses Narvaez now leads with 3″ on Schachmann and 6″ on Pogacar.
And all this on the eve of the second stage which will take the runners to Oropa, to the top of a legendary climb where Pogacar he could try the winning action again. There are those who wonder if the greed of the Uae captain does not represent premature wear and tear on a team that does not appear to be the most competitive. Coach Baldato admitted that “a couple of riders are not in the conditions we expected”.
Good start instead for the Italian runners, active and courageous, special mention for Nicola Conci who, after starting on the counterattack on the final climb, achieved an excellent fifth place, 5″ behind the winner.
