Primoz Roglic was the big favorite to win the Giro d'Italia alongside Remco Evenepoel before the start of the Giro d'Italia. After the Belgian was forced out by Covid after the first week of competition, the Slovenian became the man to beat but the race hasn't been unfolding that way.
During the second week Roglic didn't try a single attack and his team, Jumbo-Visma, despite having all of its members, didn't propose anything at all. So, after a few days of cycling complicated by the rain (but not by the pace) we arrived on Tuesday to the first test of fire for the favorites for the general classification.
Primoz started the stage with 2 seconds behind Geraint Thomas and Joao Almeida very close behind him. Tough day, with several climbs, with more than 5000 meters of elevation gain and finishing on Monte Bondone;
Finally, Jumbo decided to work for their leader, but the sensations were not the best. While Rohan Dennis was pulling at the head of the group of favorites, Roglic was hiding with Sepp Kuss at the back. When the Aussie ran out of gas, UAE with Jay Vine started to pull in preparation for Almeida's attack;
The Portuguese attacked and Roglic did not react. Neither did Thomas, who was studying what he considered his main rival (INEOS did nothing in the whole stage despite having De Plus and Arensman in the top 10 overall);
It was Kuss who set a gear that seemed to keep Almeida at a far from dangerous distance. However, Thomas smelled blood when Roglic lost his teammate's wheel as the climb got steeper and attacked, pulling away alongside Almeida;
The leading duo understood each other and pulled hard and Kuss did a fantastic job on Roglic. In 5 km the Slovenian only lost 25 seconds to his two rivals for the pink jersey. The American's work and his great last kilometer minimized the damage.
He is now 29 seconds behind G Thomas in the overall standings.
WHAT NOW?.
After the stage, Roglic said he was recovering and would have liked to be "100%". It's not the first time we've heard the Slovenian complain about his form during a race and then improve. The Slovenian should not be given up for dead. Not only because his form can improve (it is not uncommon to have problems the day after a rest day), but also because his rivals could not (or would not) finish him off.
There has been a lot of criticism of Roglic and Jumbo for not doing more in the race, for not doing anything in the second week. But, seeing that it's not good, all eyes are now on INEOS. They have Arensman and De Plus in the top 10 and haven't used him once during the entire Giro. There are only 2 mountain stages left. Roglic had a bad day, and the gap they took from him at the finish was 25 seconds.
We'll see what happens, but Roglic should not be taken for granted with such a small gap in the general classification. The Slovenian has shown on more than one occasion different peaks of form during the same grand tour and there are still 3 decisive stages left (the two high mountain stages on Thursday and Friday and the very hard time trial on Saturday). Anything can happen;
It's a wonder to have three riders like Primoz Roglic, Joao Almeida and Geraint Thomas in just half a minute. Great end of Giro awaits us (we deserve it after the embarrassment of the first two weeks).
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