Mikel Landa is convinced that he has a great lap in his legs and the man from Alava knows that he is in front of the opportunity he has dreamed of throughout his career. He pedals the Basque against the black legend that accompanies him. He does not lose face in the race. He runs defying fate. And he attacks. He is one of the few that attacks. And he gets up on the pedals. And he grabs onto the bottom of the handlebars. And he believes it. He feels strong. He does it once, twice and even three times. And with four days to go, he steps on the podium positions for the first time. He is already third when he still has two high finishes left.
At 32, he has pink just over a minute away. He has never been so close. Perhaps in the 2017 Tour. But then he was fourth, he belonged to Sky and he knew that he was subject to Froome. He finished fourth. Now it's his turn. But first he will have to let go of Carapaz and Hindley, who are welded to his wheel in their demarrajes and who later sprint him across the finish line to get a few seconds out of him. He passed in Aprica and was repeated in Lavarone, where finally the three tenors gave Almeida time.
If there is an ambitious cyclist in this third week of the Giro, it is Landa. On Tuesday he put his team to shoot from below in the Valico de Santa Cristina. This Wednesday Bahrain entered the first ramps of Monte Rovere strong. They play to win, even if that means sacrificing Pello Bilbao's options. Novak accelerated and put Almeida on the ropes, who immediately went to the tail of the group of the chosen ones. Then it was up to Poels to pick up the pace and when the Dutchman moved away, it was time for the leader's first attack.
It was not a test but a hard attack. Long. She didn't sit down. She insisted. 10 from goal. Only the pink jersey and second overall could follow him, his inseparable Carapaz and Hindley. Nobody else. The three members of the podium? Landa tried to go solo again but it didn't do much damage. He even wanted to surprise with an attack with Poels as a shuttle. But they don't leave him a meter.
As they could not miss Almeida's weakness, the three decided to ally and collaborate to distance the Portuguese as much as possible, who lost a minute. In the Kolovrat (on Friday) and in the Pordoi and the Marmolada (on Saturday) they will not be so friendly. "Every day the general classification is defined," analyzes Carapaz, winner of 2019. "We will have a very nice weekend," he warns. The Ecuadorian turns 29 on the 29th in Verona.
In the absence of being able to finish off the outcome of the corsa rosa, Bahrain had its reward for so much work and effort of the three weeks of Giro with Santiago Buitrago, the young Colombian who won the stage from the breakaway. He caught up and overtook the Dutch Mathieu van der Poel and Leemreize to turn Cogne's tears (where Ciccone beat him) into joy and effusiveness.
