Cavendish wins Roglic's coronation in the Giro d'Italia

A cultural and tourist excursion through Rome to crown a runner who has learned to fight his own ghosts to exhibit the best of himself. Primoz Roglic has registered the 2023 Giro d'Italia in his outstanding record and can now boast of being one of the great specialists in winning the great rounds of the last decade.

The Slovenian, after beating the Welshman Geraint Thomas in the electrifying time trial on Saturday, handled the day this Sunday without incident, was honored by the public and his teammates in a closing stage won by Mark Cavendish that passed through monumental stages in Rome, such as Baths of Caracalla, St. Peter's Basilica, Colosseum. A beautiful postcard to adorn the album of the British sprinter, who added his 17th victory in the Giro (he is the active rider with the most victories) and who won thanks to the throwing work done by his teammate Luis León Sánchez and his friend Geraint Thomas ( Ineos). The alliance of the grandparents of the Giro.

Mark Cavendish, who will retire at the end of the season, already accumulates 162 partial wins. No one active surpasses him. His new challenge is to tie with Eddy Merckx in the next Tour de France, both are 34.

Happy day for the Briton and for Roglic. The Slovenian joins his pink jersey to the three red jerseys of Vuelta a España (2019, 2020 and 2021). Four major round titles in the last five years, a record unattainable by their opponents. In the last decade he is only surpassed by Chris Froome, with five.

At 33 years old, the Jumbo leader is completing an excellent season, in addition to dominating the Giro, plus the Volta a Catalunya (plus two stages) and Tirreno-Adriatico (three stages).. He is the only one of the older ones capable of presenting battle in the big rounds to the kids Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel. It's a pity that the withdrawal of the Belgian due to covid deprived us of an exciting generational struggle. In the end, Roglic's most qualified enemy was the admirable Thomas, who, at 37, was knocked off the podium by just 14 seconds.. The third, the Portuguese Joao Almeida, at 1.15. The best Spaniard, Luis León Sánchez, ranked 24th, more than 48 minutes behind the Slovenian.

Roglic will be remembered as the king of a round hit by the numerous withdrawals due to covid, the falls and the deluge in the first two weeks. A race with constant shocks, in which there were 51 dropouts and only 125 made it to Rome. An appointment in which the Italian Jonathan Milan established himself as a stage victory and took the points classification. The mountain went to the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot. The youth for Almeida.

A round, which after the withdrawal of Evenepoel, has lacked an indisputable reference. Roglic, Thomas and Almeida hardly took any risks and left it all to the final stretch. Even the battle for the partial victories was uncontrolled. Only Evenepoel and Germany’s Nico Denz repeated their victories.