Exhibition of the phenomenon Ben Healy the day that Roglic notifies Evenepoel
After the strange truce of the immense Gran Sasso, it was a small and devastating ramp in I Capuccini that caused the sparks to fly in this Giro. The run-up to the Cesena time trial (35 kilometres) put the first question mark on a Remco Evenepoel unable to respond to Primoz Roglic's attack, even to pursue him with his fang later on the descent. He barely gave up 14 seconds, but so many times the sensations are worth more. The whole day that Ben Healy, the great revelation of the year, had shown himself ahead to win the stage in Fossombrone alone. [Narration and ratings]
In a week, Remco has gone from the feat in the initial time trial to doubts. In between, scares and falls. The battle for the Giro, which has not yet discovered the high mountain stages -beyond the failed Gran Sasso-, has yet to write its great pages and the voracious Roglic is ready for anything. This was demonstrated in the almost three kilometers of the second climb of the day to I Capuccini -7.8% on average but with peaks of almost 20%-. He sensed the weakness of who is destined to be his great rival for the pink jersey and did not look back. Only the Ineos couple was able to respond almost at the same top. Together with Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart, they led the group in which the man from Soudal arrived accompanied by Jay Vine, Joao Almeida, Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig and Pavel Sivakov by a handful of seconds.. The brave Andreas Leknessund, who was the first to respond to Roglic's claw, kept the pink for eight seconds.
“It just wasn't my best day. I tried to follow Roglic and made a mistake by pushing too hard instead of going at my own pace.. Legs didn't feel like the other days but no need to panic I just have to stay calm and focus. The Giro is still long. I learned another valuable lesson”, confessed the world champion who, however, is confident for the time trial: “I still have a half-minute advantage in the general classification and I hope that on Sunday I will achieve more time.
Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, after crossing the finish line. AFP
Those fireworks came after the amazing display of Ben Healy, the man of the day. In the age of early freaks, the Irishman is the last to break the wall. A slight cyclist who could well pass for one of those eighties Colombian beetles. In the Giro he won as if he were in the Ardennes where he amazed the world a few weeks ago. A brutal attack with 50 kilometers to go to destroy the day's break since before any of the 13 could dream of raising their arms in Fossombrone, including a Carlos Verona who was going to finish fifth.
It was a wonderful triumph to debut in a great one for the 22-year-old runner from Education First who already warned in the spring with a succession of successes. He was third in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, won alone the GP Industria & Artigianato and, already in the heart of Europe, was second in the Flèche Brabanzona and in the Amstel Gold Race (behind Pogacar) and fourth in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“I’ve always been successful in Italy, even before I turned pro,” admitted a Healy who was able to pull out more than two minutes on all his pursuers: “I had good legs throughout. I went out from a long way back because I thought it was the right move. I didn’t want to lose the chance to win. Verona, Spanish protagonist of the day, also surrendered to the power of the Irishman: “Chapeau for Healy. I didn’t know him until the Ardennes; I knew since then how he rides, his data, and today he was at another level. We were playing for second place. I finished a little bit fair.”