The image of Primoz Roglic with his face contorted, with his helmet on wrong, with his eyes gone from September 19, 2020 entering the finish line of La Plancha de Belles Filles, in the penultimate stage of the Tour, the first for Pogacar, is he saw again on Mount Lussari. But with substantial differences. This time Roglic was Pogacar, the unlikely winner, coming back, and the role of Roglic, the incredible loser, fell to Geraint Thomas.
Emaciated, in the bones, dehydrated, the pink jersey reached the top of Monte Lussari with the hardest disappointment that exists: dying on the shore, when he was already caressing it. The calm Welshman became nervous. The man of regularity had his worst day at the worst moment of the Giro, in the stage that everyone considered decisive, which the organizers placed in search of maximum emotion and suspense and to which the cyclists chose to give even more importance in 20 days few attacks, with Ineos, the British team, with three top-10 overall, controlling the race.
Unlike Roglic in 2020 he did not sink. He was second on the stage. He had until 44m50s to keep the pink. And they got away. He stopped the clock in 45m03s. The one who wanted to be the oldest winner in the history of the Giro, at 37 years old, slipped by 14 seconds. The drama was served.
The pink is from Roglic, who had to fight Evenepoel and ends up defeating Thomas. The Slovenian already has a Giro and three Vueltas. He is missing the Tour that he lost in La Planche to Pogacar after wearing yellow for 11 days. Perhaps that helped him this Saturday to turn around in extremis. Thomas is left with honey on his lips after 8 days with the jersey.
The boss of the Jumbo started the week suffering in the Bondone and will end it celebrating like an emperor in Rome. He has run three races in 2023 and he has won all three: Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya and Giro d'Italia.
Monte Lussari smiled at him just as La Planche de Belles Filles turned his back on him. He knew the other side of the story. And he did it surrounded by his countrymen, near the border with Slovenia, in a terrible climb but full of Slovenian flags. "It's something amazing. Not only for the victory, but also for the people who have been with me. I had legs but the fans have given me extra watts. I just flew and enjoyed ”, he confessed. On the climb he put 38 seconds on Thomas. "It's better to lose for so much than for a second or two. At least Primoz crushed me. To be honest, he deserves it. Chapeau for him," acknowledged the Welshman.
But in the case of Roglic nothing could be without suffering and without a shock. In full ascent, after passing kilometer 15, when he had just three left, the grated concrete plays a trick on him. The chain came off in a bump that made the bike jump, so light. The Slovenian had to get off the bike. A mechanic, who was on a motorcycle behind (the team cars could not accompany the cyclists), offers him another mount.
At the finish line, where his Jumbo teammates are watching television, the scene makes their hair stand on end. Gloag puts his head in his hands, Oomen wants to slap the camera away, and Kuss is petrified. He loses about 10 seconds and all the pace on the climb. “You don't want these things to happen. The chain has come out, I have been able to solve it and continue. It turned out well ”, confesses Roglic, who is happy, that he is wearing pink for the first day in this Giro but the most important day.
