Vingegaard, new encore. Pellizzari bad, Eulalio remains pink jersey
There is always a moment in a detective story, or in a novel, where the truth comes out with overbearing force. A moment when all the different options disappear like mist with the sun. A truth that sweeps away all discussion and becomes incontrovertible.
In this ninth stage, with the second uphill finish at Corno alle Scale (12km with peaks of 10% in the finale), the truth that emerges is that Jonas Vingegard has virtually no rivals. Full stop, the rest is talk. Not only does he win for the second time after Blockhaus, but he does so with the disarming ease of champions. Without making too much effort, the minimum effort with the maximum result.
Which unfortunately coincided with a bitter sentence for our Giulio Pelizzari, who was immediately in crisis when the road began to climb. Gritting his teeth and floating in the back of the pack, Pellizzari still lost a minute and 27", slipping to ninth place almost three minutes behind the Dane. A heavy crash, that of Giulio, already glimpsed in the Fermo stage, which will force him to review his plans and those of his team, Red Bull-Bora.
Even getting on the podium will not be easy. Better was his companion, the Australian Hindley, who, however, lost another 50 seconds. Hindley is now fourth, more than four and a half minutes behind the pink jersey, which remains Portuguese Afonso Eulalio, and more than two from Vingegaard.
Certainly Hindlley is better off than Pellizzari and so the captain's stripes will pass to him. However, after this new load of the Dane, neither of them is doing so well. Also because, after this Monday of rest, Tuesday 19 May will see the only time trial of the Giro, 42 kilometres from Viareggio to Massa, almost all of it as flat as a surfboard. A fifty-minute time trial. The kind that Filippo Ganna likes, but where, among the classification men, the favourite is once again Jonas Vingegaard, the Fisher King. Who will still cast his trawl to increase his lead over his rivals.
