For Ellena’s Drone Hopper the top in escapes and flying goals but the great acute was missing

PERTUSIO

There was no shortage of satisfactions for the Hopper-Androni Giocattoli Drone at the Giro d’Italia 2022, but in the end the balance is not completely positive. The team led in flagship by the Canavese sporting director Giovanni Ellena won the two objectives of the eve, the Bianchi Fugue Trophy with Mattia Bais and the flying finish line with Filippo Tagliani, demonstrating that escape is in the DNA of the team: Bais and Tagliani , in the two rankings they also won second place, behind their teammate. However, the sharp was missing: the best result was the (however brilliant) seventh place of Natnael Tesfatsion in Rivarolo-Cogne, conquered despite the Eritrean athlete still suffering from the after-effects of the fall in the descent of Passo Lanciano, during the ninth stage . Consequences that then forced him to retire in the 16th fraction: “I’m still happy with what the boys have done – says Ellena – even if we were penalized by the absence of Restrepo, Umba and Grosu, some for knee problems, some for aftermath of Covid. Grosu and Restrepo would have been precious as a “director in the race”, the young Colombian, on the other hand, could have shown himself in some mountain stage and the Romanian could also have aimed for some placings. Unfortunately their physical conditions prevented us from lining up them at the start ». The Giro was monopolized by the first tier battleships, which did not leave even the crumbs to teams such as the Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli: «We knew that there would be few opportunities for us and we tried to seize them. Bais and Tagliani distinguished themselves from the first stages in the breakaways and Tesfatsion’s placement in Cogne is a real feat, given his physical condition. In the third week the boys sinned a bit of inexperience and we weren’t able to grasp the right escapes ». In the final standings, the best placed was the expert Eduardo Sepulveda, 76th; then Edoardo Zardini (78 °), Mattia Bais (82 °), Simone Ravanelli (91 °), Andrii Ponomar (119 °) and Filippo Tagliani (143 °). Tesfatsion proved to have recovered in the first post-Giro appointment: on Thursday 2nd he finished 2nd in the Giro dell’Appennino, a classic that ended in Genoa: only the South African expert Louis Meintjes, who only reached the finish line, did better than him , while Natalino adjusted the group of pursuers in turn. –

Federico Bona