The Australian cyclist attacks in the last kilometers of the Marmolada and knocks out Richard Carapaz, whom he surpasses in the general classification by 1.25 minutes.
Landa remains 29 seconds behind the Ecuadorian rider, now second classified, although he no longer has any chance of fighting for the ‘pink jersey’.
The Giro 2022, the one with the few attacks and many stages without salt, without sauce and without wine, was resolved this Saturday in three kilometers, in the Marmolada, in the hardest climb, in the queen of the Dolomites, where Richard Carapaz succumbed in view of Jay Hindleywith a Mikel Landa that he reacted too late and that this Sunday he has a remote chance of finishing second if the collapse of the Ecuadorian cyclist affects both his head and his legs in the final time trial.
HindleyUntil this Saturday, he had always run covered and patient. He had never given him the headwind protected by his team, the Bora, strategically the best coached to win the race, or going to wheel Carapaz and looking askance at Landa. And so it was to the point that this Saturday the one who launched the definitive attack in the Marmolada was not him but Carapaz. And that, perhaps, was the great mistake of the South American cyclist. Because the Bora had brilliantly placed Lennard Kamna in the everyday breakaway. And, the German team, unlike Bahrain who unsuccessfully sought the stage victory with Domen Novak (triumph of the promising Italian Alessandro Kovi), ordered to stop Kamna to wait for Hindley and so that with an atrocious rhythm he could finish off Carapaz and pave the way for the lethal attack of Hindley which will help him to become the first Australian rider to win the Giro this Sunday.
? Giro d’Italia 2022 | Stage 2⃣0⃣
?? If it’s now or never, let’s do it now!
?? It is adesso or mai più, I fail adesso!#Turn pic.twitter.com/0AN3PBZZAJ
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 28, 2022
Carapaz in the last kilometer and a half of ascent to the Marmolada he went through a martyrdom, as if the world had fallen on him to the point of leaving 1.25 minutes with Hindleygive him the ‘pink jersey’ with a bow and even be surpassed by Landawhich this Sunday should recover 26 seconds to finish in second place, although deep down the Alava runner will not care, because the important thing was to win the Giro and it almost does not matter to finish in second place than in third place since he will also climb to the podium from Verona.
In a Giro orphaned by attacks in the distance, with hardly any moments of sublime emotion and dedicated above all to the cycling art of Mathieu van der Poel, who even allowed himself the pleasure of escaping through the Dolomites, everything was simplified in the Marmolada that he avoided, at least, that the situation experienced in 2020 was not repeated when the first and second in the general reached the final time trial, then in Milan, tied on time. And it was there, precisely where Hindleydressed in the ‘pink jersey’, handed over the garment and the title to Tao Geoghegan Hart, who was never heard from again, in terms of results, since he won the Italian round that Hindley lost by 35 seconds.
comfortable advantage
On the other hand, now he will reach the final ‘time trial’ with absolute calm, without any fear of losing the Giro, despite being a very weak runner in the art of the time trial. He has a 1.25 minute advantage over Carapazalso emotionally beaten at the capitulate, just one day from the end, and without the possibility of repeating the victory he achieved in 2019, when he was Movistar runnera team to which he will return, except for surprise, next year.
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Hindleyjust turned 26 years old, a good climber, a cool head, one of the cyclists who ride knowing how to take advantage of the team’s work, of those who don’t do crazy things, although many times the spectator would appreciate it, he will win a Giro this Sunday that has not been spectacular and in which again, despite his efforts, Landa has not been able to win.
And it will also be a Giro that will end without Spanish stage victories, although with three riders born south of the Pyrenees top 10 and, above all, with the discovery of Juanpe López, who will win the classification of the under 25s to finish the race dressed in the ‘maglia bianca’.
Stage 20 + HQ #Turn (20/21) pic.twitter.com/oCR3hjSNtF
– Javier Gilabert C. (@tourdegila) May 28, 2022