Day two of the Giro d’Italia and Tadej Pogacar has already become a lone man at the front of the general classification. He in front and the rest following him and playing for the honor of who will be the second place finisher of this 2024 edition.
Barely 300 kilometers have had to pass for the Slovenian phenomenon to wear the ‘maglia rosa’, with three stages of some tranquility in sight before the unpaved road, the time trial and the first high mountain event once again alter the cycling route through Italy.
As it happened in the Volta, as it happened in the classics and as it happens everywhere if Jonas Vingegaard does not compete, when Pogacar changes the pace nobody manages to follow him and try it in almost a sentence, a misfortune that only leads to disaster as it happened to the Australian Ben O’Connor.
Pogacar even allowed himself to emulate Marco Pantani to recall, in a way, the epic victory of ‘The Pirate’ achieved in Oropa in 1999, six years after the enormous suffering of Miguel Induráin against Piotr Ugrumov to save almost by the skin of his teeth the victory of 1993.
There seems to be a curse when the greats of cycling approach the sanctuary of Piedmont where a black virgin is venerated. Induráin suffered the hard way and Pantani broke the chain to start the climb in last place, overtake all rivals and stand on the cobblestones of the finish line in first position to believe he was going to win a Giro that ended for him as the rosario de la Aurora, eliminated by the suspicion of using EPO to improve performance.
In Biella, the town nestled at the beginning of the climb, Pogacar punctured the front wheel with such bad luck that when he stepped on the white paint of a crosswalk he went to the ground, without consequences. He lost his position in the peloton and, helped by his teammates, he had to climb back and from then on began to accelerate the pace until 4.4 kilometers from the summit, when he was overthrown and only O’Connor followed him to die in the attempt.
Then began the first act of Pogacar’s show and to get the victory that on Saturday escaped him in Turin, in the premiere of the Giro, perhaps by rushing at the time of sprinting and not to achieve the milestone, who knows, to start and finish the Giro in pink in his presentation in the race.
Two stages have passed and Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour, already appears as second overall, although already at the disturbing distance of 45 seconds next to the Colombian Daniel Martinez, who was second in a stage in which the Spaniard Juanpe Lopez stood out, determined to occupy a distinguished position in the wake of Pogacar.
The cyclist from Seville took ninth place in the stage and climbed to seventh place in an overall surrendered to honor, superiority and, why not say it, to the tyranny of the Slovenian phenomenon, who even seems nice when he wins without mercy.