Joker, as he is nicknamed, has struck. Three years after the success in Bagno di Romagna, Andrea Vendrame, a 29-year-old from Conegliano, relives another day of glory at the Giro d’Italia by winning the Mortegliano-Sappada at the end of a courageous and spectacular action. The representative of the Decathlon AG2R La Difesa Team, who was part of a breakaway of 19 riders, was able to suffer on the first two GPMs of the day, where he lost a few seconds to the leading group formed by Alaphilippe, Sanchez, Steinhauser and Narvaez. Returning to the pacesetters, Vendrame attacked at -30 along the descent of the Sella Valcalda, gaining a lead of more than a minute which he defended on the Cima Sappada GPM and along the subsequent stretch leading to the finish line. Behind him Sanchez (54″), Steinhauser (1’07”), Narvaez and Plapp (2’27”) while the Maglia Rosa group finished at 15’56”. There were no attacks between the ranking men who will face Monte Grappa twice tomorrow in the Alpago-Bassano del Grappa.
ORDER OF ARRIVAL
1 – Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Difesa Team) – 157 km in 3h51’05”, average of 40.764 km/h
2 – Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar Team) at 54″
3 – Georg Steinhauser (EF Education – EasyPost) at 1’07”
GENERAL RANKING
1 – Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
2 – Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora – Hansgrohe) at 7’42”
3 – Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) at 8’04”
Stage winner Andrea Vendrame, immediately after arrival, declared: «Today is the icing on the cake of a Giro, and more generally of a very positive start to the season, for me and for the team. Here we still have the chance to get on the overall podium with O’Connor and we will try. I arrived at the Giro in excellent shape but after the Rapolano Terme stage I suffered from bronchitis. I was aiming for today’s stage, I knew there would be a breakaway and that’s why there was a battle from the start. Once on the run, I got the timing right for the attack, obtaining a great victory.”
It is the fifth victory of an Italian athlete, like those of the pink jersey Tadej Pogačar. The athlete from Santa Lucia di Piave was reborn after the accident that occurred on 7 April 2016 when he was racing with the Zalf Euromobil Désirée Fior which happened in San Martino di Colle Umberto when he was training: with his face he broke the glass of a ‘car in motion. Perhaps Ottavio Bottecchia will have miraculous him. Andrea Vendrame’s career seemed over. Instead, after the accident, he came third in the European Championship and turned professional in 2017. On 31 May 2019 Andrea Vendrame had the worst possible bad luck in the Treviso-San Martino di Castrozza stage when in the last climb towards the finish line, he remained victim of a mechanical accident and victory smiled on Esteban Chaves. The Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz firmly defended the pink jersey. On 10 June 2021 he won the first stage of the Route d’Occitanie-La Dépêche du Midi by distance. He preceded the Danish Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-NIPPO) and the other Italian Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo). In 2019, Vendramix, as the director Marco Zen renamed him – former professional – at the time of Marchiol, won the fourth stage of the Circuit de La Sarthe and the Tro-Bro Léon.
