Magnus Cort wins in Viareggio despite rain and falls

Life goes on, cycling goes on and the Giro, after the rest day, continued its march towards the still distant Rome, where all its roads lead, with the tenth stage between Scandiano and Viareggio, 196 km.

It continued, but it did not continue the same, like life in the song by Julio Iglesias. He continued without the leader after the ninth stage, after having won two, but with the current one, Geraint Thomas. And he continued in fear, because the virus has once again stowed away on board the bicycles. A very democratic virus that affects-infects gregarious and champions alike.

Evenepoel's withdrawal inflicted a very hard blow on the career, on his interest and projection. But, with the stoicism with which cycling accepts its setbacks and accepts its perks, the Giro resumed its route with the hope that the covid had been content to collect a piece of big game and get off the saddle. Even so, Domenico Pozzovivo, Callum Scotson and Sven Erik Byström also did not start after testing positive. Mads Würtz Schmidt, Oscar Riesebeek and Rein Taaramäe tested negative, but they did not feel well and, likewise, they opted for abandonment.

Apart from them, Rigoberto Urán and Stefan Küng did not leave for other reasons. And in the course of the stage they left other. Among them, soon, ill, Alexander Vlasov, sixth overall. It was cold, it was raining and the runners (sleeves, raincoats, leg warmers, gloves, boots) climbed, amidst the mist that drenched and enveloped everything, the very long Passo delle Radici, 33.4 km, with modest percentages that qualified it 2nd category.

They had already escaped, practically from the start, Davide Bais (Eolo Kometa), Magnus Cort Nielsen (Education First), Derek Gee (Israel) and Alessandro de Marchi (Jayco Alula). Bais led the way through the hill and, having achieved his goal of propping up his lead on the mountain, he ignored the matter on the descent. He did well, because the road was dangerous. Not so much as to have suspended or shortened the stage, as was speculated at the start, but enough to take all kinds of precautions.

It was kilometer 87 of the race. Everything that happened since then was reduced, that is to say, to counting the number of falls (none, in principle, serious, except, perhaps, that of Barguil, wounded on the wrist).. It was reduced, we say, ultimately, to that and to know if Nielsen, Gee and De Marchi, chased by fifty soaked wolves, could complete their feat. The persecuted and the persecutors froze on their shivering bodies.

It was a double and precious struggle. Two titanic companies: that of three heroes who, on the verge of exhaustion, refused to give up, and that of a squad in which several sprinters survived (Cavendish, Pedersen, Milan, Ackermann), eliminated by Gaviria, who kissed the ground, and Groves.

With three and a half kilometers to go, the group, which did not lack any favourite, resignedly threw in the towel. And, in the sprint, Nielsen imposed the logic of his highest speed tip against Gee and De Marchi. He has already won in all three major rounds. Welcome to the club.

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