Revolution at the Giro d'Italia: Van Aert wins, Del Toro in pink

It took the Strade Bianche, with the victorious arrival of the Flemish Wout Van Aert in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, to revolutionize the Giro d'Italia.

In the dust, the light finally came. And the light tells us that finally, after so much procrastination, the big names in the race have given battle. We had complained, accusing them of playing hide and seek, of just playing for time, and instead, in the long-awaited stage of the terrible dirt roads of Siena , a very powerful bang arrived that upsets the standings, leaving winners and losers on the field, including our Diego Ulissi who, after Saturday's exploit, as expected, had to give up the pink jersey. Nothing serious, he had already done his feat.

Let's try to line up the news of a fraction full of twists, attacks, dust, falls and punctures. The first news, apart from the splendid stage victory of Van Aert , who returned to victory after a thousand criticisms and jabs ("the eternal second" like Raymond Poulidor and Tano Belloni), the first real news, almost a blitz, is the conquest of the pink jersey by the Mexican Isaac del Toro , the real star of a day that saw him always in the front row, also calling into question, in the UAE Emirates, the leadership of Juan Ayuso , the young Spanish talent who was captain, at least on the eve, of the team.

Well, Del Toro, unleashing the attack when Roglic fell on the second dirt road, practically ran for himself by launching himself into a ruthless push that, inevitably, also damaged Ayuso, who remained in the middle (with Ciccone, Tiberi, Carapaz and then Bernal) between the Mexican's frantic attack and Roglic's more distant group, in serious difficulty due to the consequences of the fall.

Usually, when another team's most feared rival goes into crisis, the common goal is to give him the final blow by joining forces. Del Toro, of this unwritten but always practiced pact, calmly ignored it, aiming for the only thing he wanted. To conquer in one fell swoop the stage and the pink jersey. Objective achieved for the pink jersey . Not so for the stage victory obtained, after a splendid head to head with the Mexican, by Van Aert, second protagonist of a race that suddenly gave all those emotions that were missing in the first part of the Giro.