Put a phenomenon on the Tour, and you will have the show you were waiting for. The impact of Tadej Pogacar on the pink race it was immediately evident, his desire to win beyond all the precautions and the pre-tactics of the day before exploded with a high-impact finish in the Turin stage which started the 107th edition of the most loved race by the Italians.
The fact that Pogi did not win in the first capital of the Kingdom is a factor that interests statisticians (the prospect of 21 days in the squad immediately jumps out, Merckx 1973 and Bugno 1990 remain unmatched for another year) or at most the cabalistic (just see, if tomorrow he does what he has to do, he will have 20 days at the top: you know the regret, in the end!).
Indeed, the fact that the Slovenian was beaten is also a reason of interest, in the sense that it leaves a certain amount of uncertainty which would have already been swept away if Tadej had crowned with success a performance in which he had already outdistance all its rivals in the standings (and some it distanced even further, among all a disappointing one Romain Bardet). After that, tomorrow he wins and things take their natural course (if they haven’t already). The fact is that this first stage filled our eyes with cycling.
The beautiful Italian presences, the exclamation point of Narváez
Some Italians also had a good role in this “filling”, let’s think of a reborn Nicola Conci, protagonist in the hot phases of the stage; let’s think about the imperishable Damiano Caruso, also among the liveliest when the fight heated up. Let’s think about Antonio Tibericorrectly present in the group of the best (excluding Tadej who was further ahead, obviously).
And let’s think about Giulio Pellizzari, just 20 years old but with the personality to sprint on the hardest Gpm of the day, to propose himself for the attack on the downhill, to keep the other men in the rankings on the last climb. In short, a Giro debut with an exclamation point for the very young rider from the Marche region.
If we talk about exclamation points, we can only dedicate the largest one to Jhonatan Narváez. A runner capable of very important days as well as long breaks, the Ecuadorian had already left his mark in the pink race four years ago. Today he was simply splendid in not falling apart even for a moment under Pogacar’s blows uphill (but also downhill); therefore more sagacious than ever in avoiding spending a single pedal stroke more than necessary, leaving the Slovenian in charge of current affairs; and finally ruthless in asserting his law in a three-way sprint played very well.
Such technical-tactical perfection deserved a higher reward than the simple stage success: so here it is pink sweater, the second Ecuadorian to wear it after Richard Carapaz. Hardly Narváez, whose last image we had before today was a bad fall at Ghent-Wevelgem, will be able to defend his lead in the standings tomorrow. In any case, he has already won the Giro and how, and it will be a light-hearted Jhonatan who from the next few days will vote for the cause of captain Geraint Thomas.
Giro d’Italia 2024, the chronicle of the first stage
Venaria Reale-Turin, 140 km very rough for a first stage of the Tour of Italyand with the sun to welcome it the caravan started just before 2pm. The first breakaway of the pink race was triggered between km 6 and km 8 with six runners, namely Louis Barré (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti Kometa), the initiators, and Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Lilian Calmenjane (Intermarché-Wanty), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè).
The news is that the UAE Emirates he wasted no time in taking control of the reins of the race (as was natural), with Vegard Stake Laengen pulling ahead in the first kilometers preventing the pacesetters’ lead from widening too much: never more than two minutes, to be precise . The first sprint was for the Berzano di San Pietro Gpm (fourth category: 3-2-1 points) at -91, with Fiorelli ahead of Barré and Ghebre. Here the margin on the group widened a bit, reaching 2’30” for a moment after the descent.
Then Laengen closed the gap to 2′, and this said a lot about his intentions Tadej Pogacar. Second sprint of the day, Moriondo Torinese’s sprint at -82, and this too was won by Fiorelli, ahead of Calmejane; at this juncture the Alpecin-Deceuninck accelerated as a group to launch Kaden Groves (for a seventh-place finish to a flying finish? “Supports!”Maccio would say: 2 for Groves in this case).
The exciting passage from Superga
On the climb of Superga at -66 the agreement between the fugitives ended, even physiologically if we want: the strongest uphill ones were destined to detach the others, Calmejane immediately put her down hard 4 km from the summit (we were 66 from the finish line), Pietrobon responded to Lilian but even more so did Ghebreigzabhier, who went on a solitary counterattack. Fiorelli managed to get on Calmejane and Pietrobon at -65, Barré and Debeaumarché missed.
At -64 Calmejane proposed another shot that it bothered Pietrobon a bit; at the top, at -61.5, the Eritrean passed with 10″ on Fiorelli-Calmejane-Pietrobon, who passed in that order; the platoon, having climbed without jerks, reached the top 3′ from Ghebre, who was then caught up on the descent from the usual Calmejane at -60. The new pair proved unattainable for Fiorelli-Pietrobon, resigned to remaining in the bain-marie for a while while the group decided when to close on the breakaway.
A word about the grenade crowd bath on top of Superga: today marks the 75th anniversary of the Grande Torino tragedy, and the traditional pilgrimage of the fans of the oldest city team has merged into the pink color of the cycling enthusiasts present. A nice sight in any case.
The big sieve: Bardet, Arensman and Plapp out of action
Calmejane and Ghebreigzabhier have moved toIntergiro from Corso Moncalieri (we are also talking about Turin) with 3′ on the group, so the first pass on the Bivio di San Vito ramp at -33 saw the peloton catch first Fiorelli and then Pietrobon; here Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) showed all the temporary nature of his condition, breaking away among the leaders; to his partner Edoardo Affini the rear tire had blown out a few kilometers earlier. And to complete Visma’s bad moment, at -28, shortly after the first crossing of the finish line, a fall at the back of the group involved Robert Gesink. With the Dutchman down Fiorelli, Domenico Pozzovivo (VF Group), Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) and Harrison Wood (Cofidis). Zero consequences for everyone.
Meanwhile, the peloton was closing in on the pacesetters in long strides, and around the corner Colle Maddalena was already waiting for the runners. After Domen Novak had slowed down on the San Vito crossroads, it was Mikkel Bjerg’s turn to pull away at the start of the most significant climb of the day, and his pace was already too much for notable names: 4 from the top (-26) they broke away Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) and Michael Woods (Free Palestine).
At -25 Calmejane pulled away from Ghebre with the hope of holding on to the top, where the blue Gpm jersey would be waiting for him (Maddalena was a second category with 14 points for the first); Felix Grossschartner and Rafal Majka they completed the UAE work on the climb, and at -24, just as Ghebreigzabhier was caught, two more big shots fell: Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla).
Entertainment at the end, from Conci to Tadej’s first attack at the Giro
Calmejane managed to take the long-awaited Gpm at -22, and with it the aforementioned blue jersey, with no more than five seconds on the group regulated by Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group). The Frenchman from Intermarché, since he was there, gave up the idea of getting up and regained strength on the descent, widening the advantage again. On the counterattack two small groups came out, the first with Nicola Conci (Alpecin), Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-Hansgrohe) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost), the second with Damiano Caruso (Bahrain), Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Difesa) and a convincing Pellizzari.
The two small groups joined forces at -12, so the group reached Calmejane at -10; skirmishes between the new pacesetters, flying finish in Moncalieri won by Caruso on Conci and Schachmann at -9.5 (3″ for Damiano), so Conci himself started with conviction at -7.
The group Pogacar, made up of 31 units, was waiting for the new passage on the San Vito crossroads, approached at -4 by Conci with 20″ on the first pursuers and 40″ on the group. Tadej didn’t wait: he immediately set out to push, then set off with greater determination and, trailing behind Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS) e Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), at 3.7 he reached the interspersed runners.
A new razor to sweep away all but Narváez and Schachmann, then a third at 3.1 to catch up and overtake Conci. At -3 the top of the hill for Pogi and Narváez, with Schachmann managing to catch up on the descent. It would have been three-way.
Narváez’s victory blows up Pogacar’s 21day squad
The two guests left the Slovenian with all the burden of shooting to the end and preparing the sprint, which was obviously taken in the lead by the champion from Komenda. In reality, Schachmann was the first to start, from third position, almost at 300 metres. This induced Pogacar in a long sprint, and in doing so Tadej however exposed himself to the response of Narváezwho was quick to take the opponent’s reference point and then overtake him in the last 50 meters.
Pogacar was also overtaken by Schachmann on the straight, then the others: Baudin at 6″ and a small group of 18 at 10″ with Conci finishing fifth and four other Italians inside: Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain), Filippo Ganna (INEOS), Caruso and Pellizzari; also present Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal), Geraint Thomas (INEOS), Dani Martínez (BORA), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco), Ben O’Connor (Decathlon) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), among those who will be able to say something in the rankings.
Further back are all the others, we mention the gaps of Pozzovivo, Bardet, Plapp and Nairo Quintana (Movistar), or 57″, and that of Arensman (2’17”). The general one, precisely: 3″ between Narváez, first pink jersey of the Giro, and Schachmann; at 6″ we find Pogacar, at 16″ Baudin, at 17″ Caruso, at 18″ Conci, at 20″ Quinten Hermans (Alpecin) and all the others in the small group.
Tomorrow the second stage of Giro d’Italia 2024 it will be the San Francesco al Campo-Sanctuary of Oropa of 161 km. The climbs of Crocemosso, Oasi Zegna and Nelva will act as a warm-up awaiting the final 12 km (average gradient 6%, maximum 13) which will take the runners on a classic arrival from the pink race. The opportunity for Pogacar to try again, if there is UAE Emirates he will want to keep the race closed (since INEOS won’t have too much interest in resuming the day’s breakaway): in short, both Tadej and his teammates will still have to sweat it out.
