There is Etna, the first real test for the big names. And among the candidates there is also Nibali

The 37-year-old runs home. Will Yates still be loud at the Sapienza Refuge?

CATANIA. It’s old? Does he not keep up with the favorites? Did he give the best of himself? Perhaps, yet on Tuesday 10 May Vincenzo Nibali on Etna, where at the Sapienza Refuge, after 172 km the fourth stage will end, most of the eyes will be on the last Italian king of the Giro in 2016.

But Vincenzo is also the penultimate Italian pink jersey (2013) and the last to have conquered the Tour (the record will remain for a long time): in short, it’s still up to him to hold the fate of Italbici in the big laps.

You will arrive at an altitude of 1,892, the Milia side faced in 2018, but this time you will reach the refuge 3 km higher. Twenty-three km of climbing, even if at an average gradient of 6%, is enough to make this stage a first test for the big names. Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin) will lose the pink jersey, he will not hold up to such a long climb, if he has time trial legs Simon Yates (Bike Exchange) will have an eye on the competition.

And the Shark will be among the candidates for the exam. He runs home, he wants to arrive on Wednesday 11 May in his Messina with the morale of his golden years.