The stage goes to Bouwman, but now the head is on the Marmolada

In Castelmonte Carapaz, Hinsley and Landa only tease each other, all referring to the Dolomite stage.

One hundred and eighty-five kilometers from the end of the Giro d’Italia they are still there. In three, one Mikel Landa, Basque from Bahrain is chasing at 1’05 “, and will have to attack deeply. The other two, the pink jersey Richard Carapaz (Ineos) e Jai Hindley (Bora) are glued. Divided by 3 “.

The stage in Friuli, a ride between the sea (or rather the Marano Lagoon) and the mountains, with an excursion to Slovenia, crowded with enthusiastic fans, postponed the verdicts to the Dolomite stage of the Giro, the hardest one, the one that will bring the today from Belluno runners to climb the San Pellegrino da Falcade, very hard in the vials, the Cima Coppi Pordoi, over 2,200 meters and then the Fedaia Pass, the Marmolada.

Attention, in Friuli it was hot, very hot. In the Dolomites they will find rain, wind, temperatures at high altitudes below ten degrees. There will be a lot of effort to do uphill, but with seven degrees and the rain, taking a cold from the almost fifty kilometers of descent could be a disaster.

In short, it will be very hard. The first three of the ranking struggled yesterday on the climb of Kolovrat leaving some skirmishes in the final one towards the Castelmontale Sanctuary which dominates Cividale, a Unesco heritage city.

For heaven’s sake, the Friulian stage has had very little of the Unesco Heritage (with all due respect for the fatigue of the riders, of course) and the confrontation between the top-players has been reduced to the not impossible final climb.

Two km from the finish: Landa attack. He takes a few meters, Carapaz with one leg picks him up One and a half kilometers from the finish: he attacks Hindley, whose Bora Hansgrohe had done the hell out of four on the ascent of Kolovrat. Anything. Then try the pink shirt. Carapaz, who had lost an iron praetorian on the way, Richie Door retired (troubles in the stomach) he wanted to say to his rivals: be careful, I’m here and I’m fine.

We add: beware I’m Ecuadorian, I live a step away from Colombia, used to training over two thousand meters. «Another day has passed – said the pink jersey – and now the challenge will be on the Marmolada. I would like to get to the time trial in Verona with a few seconds more advantage, but even if they were only 3 “it would be okay».

Carapaz feels stronger at time trial than Hindley. Which, however, has never yielded one meter uphill so far to its rival.

The stage? Well, honor to the group of fugitives of the day and above all to the one that since yesterday is arithmetically the blue jersey of the best climber, that of the 28-year-old Dutchman Koen Bouwman (Jumbo) already on target in Potenza. Sprint to five, he wins, Mauro Schmid (QuickStep), from Treviso Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r), straight at the last corner, fifth and disappointed. Happy Dolomites to all. With the rain.