Always him, always alone, always in the same way: making his debut in the rainbow jersey after last Sunday’s world championship victory, Tadej Pogacar he also made the Giro dell’Emilia his own, with another feat from times gone by, a sprint on the first of five passages on the very hard climb of San Luca to which none of his adversaries were able to react.
Thus in the rain of Bologna the rainbow of Tadej Pogacar’s jersey shines, with his 24th victory of the season projecting him as the clear favorite for next Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia. In a season dominated from the start, with victories in the Giro, Tour and World Championship, the Slovenian champion also adds the Giro dell’Emilia to his already endless list of victories, a race he missed, where he had finished second in the last two editions.
But this year, according to a script already seen at the Strade Bianche, Liège and last Sunday’s World Championship, there was none for anyone, despite the starlist of the Bolognese classic, one of the oldest on the world scene, organized by Adriano Amici’s Gs Emilia was of the highest level and on paper the possible rivals for Pogacar were certainly there: from his compatriot Roglic, who has won three times on these slopes, to the Belgian Evenepoel, from Mas to the not very great Italian hopes entrusted above all to Tiberi and Ciccone. As he has become accustomed to doing, Pogacar left no room for waiting or strategies: in his first attack on the short but very hard climb of the Colle di San Luca, which in July enchanted fans from all over the world with the second stage of the Tour de France , he greeted the company and no one was able to answer him, starting another 37 kilometers of solitary ride towards the finish line at the top of the last passage on the hill overlooking the city of Bologna. Behind him, in fact, another race , halfway between resignation and brawl to still conquer a podium of great value: the other big names melt away and the German tries Florian Lipowitz which, however, is resumed in view of the finish line. Thus they climb onto the podium and take home the maxi mortadella which has now become one of the symbols of this autumn classic, the British Tom Pidcock and the very good 22 year old from Valtellina Davide Piganzoliwho closes with a highly valuable third place a season which also saw him among the protagonists in the Giro d’Italia and which makes him one of the main hopes for the recovery of Italian cycling.