Blessed by Pope Leo the Tour of Rome ended with Yates the pink jersey you don't expect

Bravo to Yates, bravo to Van Aert, who waited for him on the falsopiano before the Sestriere and towed him to the finish line, bravo to Visma, who broke the bank in the Giro by taking advantage of the colossal sleep of the rival teams and their leaders, Del Toro and Carapaz, who, fighting like two roosters in the henhouse, favoured Yates' blitz

Between the two quarrels the third enjoys, says a very appropriate proverb. The good thing is that the two cockerels also continued the play on Yates' feat. "He didn't help me," said Del Toro, still dazed at losing the pink jersey at the last corner. "He raced badly, learn how to race!" the Ecuadorian retorted nastily. An unseemly verbal duel. Anyway: they fight and Yates celebrates the pink jersey.

Congratulations to both. However, it must be said that the one who comes off worse is Carapaz, an experienced rider who has already won the 2019 Giro and an Olympic Games. If del Toro, 21 years old, can be given the extenuating circumstance of inexperience, Carapaz must be given the aggravating circumstance of having lost his head at the no longer green age of 32.

It was he who should have realised that by doing so, they would have gambled the Giro away. Having said all that, it must be acknowledged that they both produced a beautiful Giro, on which we would not have bet a penny at the start from Albania.

Del Toro, in particular, was splendid. For over ten days he held the pink jersey, attacking everywhere. Let's say he made thirty but not thirty-one. On the other hand, it is surprising that the top management of the Emirates, Pogacar's Dream Team, did not know how best to manage an increasingly sparkling jewel after the departure of the captain, Juan Ayuso, who was given as the favourite on the eve of the race along with Primoz Roglic, another big name who is not coming out of this Giro very well.

Too used to Pogacar's exploits, the Emirates lost control of the situation. Certainly with the 'new cannibal' Tadej everything would have been easier. But they are not all phenomena like the Slovenian. A young talent like Del Toro should have been better protected. True, he has a lot of time ahead of him to make up for it, but to state the obvious, it is better to start by winning than by coming second.

Was it a good Giro? Let's say so. It was certainly uncertain until the last day. Perhaps it can be debated whether the route did not postpone the showdown too much, but the suspense certainly helped. There were no big names, such as Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, but we still had fun. In 2024 Pogacar did it all, all that was missing was that he also took down the barriers when the stage was over. Question: Is it better to have a 'Special One' who dominates the scene being the big dictator or 'average' 'middle' sizes doing battle? You be the judge. We don't mind surprises, especially in cycling.

We should talk about Mads Pedersen, cyclist jersey winner of four stages, the mighty Van Aert first in Siena and protagonist at Sestriere, and many others who honoured this Giro d'Italia that ended for the third time in Rome (next year it should return to Milan).

We limit ourselves, however, to the Italians who, in short, are the sore point of a globalised cycling that is going faster and faster. Clearly, Damiano Caruso's fifth place makes us proud. The Sicilian is 38 years old, an age at which many are already struggling to make the grade. Damiano is a security, but he represents a good present that is now in the past.

We had high hopes for Antonio Tiberi, but various accidents penalised him. We really liked Giulio Pellizzari, sixth ahead of a great like Bernal, who was able to emerge in the last part of the race, when he was finally able to free himself from Roglic's chain. Giulio has style, personality, and the freshness of age. Let's hope he keeps it up. A final mention for Lorenzo Fortunato, leader of the Scalatori classification, who in Brentonico gave his friend Christian Scaroni the stage win. They arrived together hand in hand followed by Giulio Pellizzari who completed the hat-trick. A hat-trick, that of our three boys, which lifted an Italian expedition with few other flashes. We haven't won a Giro since 2016 (Nibali), we have less and less talent and competitive teams.

It would take a Sinner on two wheels. But Sinners don't come from the sky. There must be a movement behind it, a nursery, a constant growth of young people. A Federation that doesn't live off many memories. Here instead we are at year zero.