With the due respect to a stage that includes the Colle delle Finestre, a port barbarity that saves 1,700 meters of uneven The 2015 Italian turn, it can be said that Alberto Contador is about to achieve the most authoritarian victory of his career in a great return.
Who would say it, after falling and hurting a shoulder, having a mechanical breakdown with the race thrown by her rivals of the Astana in the demolition of Mortirolo, after suffering a second fall and dodging the disaster by little ...
Who would say it, if he has not yet won a stage and can be proclaimed two -time without a partial triumph in the Corsa Rosa, since he was dispossessed of the two obtained in the 2011 turn, which were removed for alleged doping. But if; It can be said that it will be its greatest demonstration of superiority in a great return, in the absence of the last great mountain stage.
"Accountant has dominated all records: he has been second in team chrono, third in the individual, dominator without victories in the mountain, and has sometimes disguised indurain, sometimes from Hinault, and others even Pantani"
First because it has reached a decisive difference that has submitted to its rivals, Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa, as evidenced by a strategy aimed at safeguarding podium stalls and gaining stages; And second because, when he has needed, it has been exhibited without palliative, with a demonstration of intelligence in the race that has covered in the eyes of the general public the disappointing performance of the tinkoff, exception made of team chrono, some specific details of Michael Rogers, and the saving wheel of Ivan Basso at the critical moment of the queen stage.
It was there, at the foot of the terrible Mortirolo, where accountant unleashed, with the Astana tandem taking almost a minute and 12.5 kilometers to 10.3% to rise. It was there, more than 40 kilometers from the goal of Aprica, where accountant dissipated any doubt with an ascension of anthology, at the height of the Pantani myth, his adolescence idol. "Marco was an inspiration for me," he recalled on the eve. It was there, with the climb to the mortirolo adorned of memories of the pirate, a monument included, where the one of Pinto calcó the famous comeback of the ill -fated Cesénatico champion in the Sanctuary of Oropa in that damn turn of 1999, and traced the squad.
Like Pantani, he took groups, breathing a moment at wheel to take air, again attacking to go for the next one. And so until you take the Astana group, with the consequent psychological blow. Aru, the young Aru, on which all the illusions of the Italian Tifosi have fallen, did not endure the blow, but knew how to digest it: he left Mikel Landa freedom and, finally, the young Vitorian could show the world his quality without a clipper, Even if he was a wheel from the imposing Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk and the inevitable leader of the race.
There were two stages won by Landa in Pantani territory, to each one better, but always with the calculated counter control, a pink maglia capable of one day to let the Basque, as in Madonna Di Campiglio, and another to return the currency of its acceleration In the company of Aru and other Astanas after the breakdown in Mortirolo, with a ride as surprising as spectacular on Mount Oícno, on the way to Verbania.
"Everything weighable will have controlled accountant, a cyclist on track towards the Olympus of the largest, by superior and intelligent"
Accountant has dominated all records: he has been second in team chrono, third in the individual, dominator without victories in the mountain, and has sometimes disguised indurain, others from Hinault, and others even Pantani. And as the great champions, he has been aware of the details: to drink and feed in the valleys, to know how to choose the most critical moments of his rivals to attack, know how to find allies, to agree with Faustino, his mechanic, A new position on the bicycle to mitigate the discomfort on the shoulder and, finally, to capture on the road a physical and psychological superiority.
It is true that neither Fabio Aru nor Mikel Landa-although the projection of both of the future is extraordinary-nor any of the runners who make up the current top 10 of the turn are Nairo Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome, the fearsome adversaries for The Tour de France. But no less true is that the versatility displayed by accountant in the turn can have a psychological weight for the great duel that is coming in French lands, not to mention the positive sensations that a large winner accumulates, starting with tranquility which already has a great victory in the middle of the season.
The other aspect, the recovery between races, can be more secondary than it may seem because, when the turn end this May 31 in Milan, there will be 34 days until the beginning of the Tour de France in Utrecht, that is, two more weeks of what has been normal in most of these years from behind.
When you read these lines, they fit as possibilities that the great stage of the final mountain has not yet been extend Nobody wants, an imponderable. But you can be certain that everything weighted will have controlled accountant, a cyclist on track towards the Olympus of the greatest, by superior and intelligent.
