Contemplating the stage of the Giro from a bird's eye view, the chronicler ends up asking himself: in the run-up to any day, what conversations will Tadej Pogacar and Joxean Matxín, the head of the Emirates, have?
How are they organized, negotiated and decided?
Well, once again, looking at the stage of the Giro from a bird's eye view, the chronicler has the feeling that Pogacar (25), the leader of the contemporary peloton (at least, as long as Jonas Vingegaard remains offside), is on his own.
Your boss is your free will.
(...)
This third stage is slightly stinging in its final stretch and there have been skirmishes in its central phase, but now the peloton is advancing at full speed, traveling through the willow and poplar forests of Piedmont, flying from Novara to Fossano and the sprinters sharpening their elbows.
Three kilometers from the finish line, Milan, Merlier, Kooij, Gaviria, Groves and Caleb Ewan light up, their teams work, the volata is preluded.
Not so fast, friend.
Pogacar is progressing in the gutter. We distinguish him easily. Dress in pink.
And it is not the first time that the leader shows his nose.
He has already done it twenty kilometers before, in the intermediate sprint, when he accelerated to add seconds and only Ben Swift, Geraint Thomas' teammate at Ineos, took the partial victory from him (finally, Pogacar crossed that step in second place, has awarded two seconds).
Addressing the last tack, already entering Novara, everyone is nervous. The directors shout on the earpiece, it sparks and the asphalt has become slippery, and Pogacar, who the day before had trampled his rivals in Oropa – he is already the leader, is this going to be a monologue? – contradicts himself: aren't we Had I said that three quiet days were coming?
No.
Honoré launches and behind him, Pogacar launches (and behind him, alarmed, Geraint Thomas launches).
“The relaxation lasted two hours,” Pogacar says later. But in the end Honoré attacked and I went behind, and when he broke free I decided to keep pushing, it is better to move ahead of the peloton than in the chaos of the sprinters.
They hunt him 250 m from the finish (he finishes 46th), and in the chaos Tim Merlier (31), the sprinter of the year, prevails: he already has 42 victories, eight in 2024.
