Needless to say, Alejandro Valverde's decision not to collaborate with Vincenzo Nibali when they escaped in the finale of stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday was not well-received by all quarters of the Italian press, with Gazzetta dello Sport reaching as far as the antechamber of Hell to register its bemusement.
‘Alejandro, il gran rifiuto,' read the headline in Thursday's edition, a reference to Dante's withering description of Pope Celestine V in Canto III of the Inferno. Celestine's "great refusal" was his resignation of the Papacy after just sixth months in 1294, paving the way for the election of the infamous Boniface VIII.
700-odd years on, Valverde's apparent abdication of responsibility on the road to Asolo allowed his teammate Andrey Amador to clip up the road soon afterwards and solidify his hold on second place on general classification, raising questions about the precise hierarchy of his Movistar team.
On the eve of the Giro's entry into the high mountains, Amador lies second overall, just 24 seconds down on Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep) but some 43 seconds ahead of his designated leader Valverde. A surprise fourth-place finisher at last year's Giro, Amador performed strongly in each of the race's two time trials to date, and then went on the offensive in each of the two stages that followed Monday's rest day.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Up to now, Andrey has shown that last year didn't happen by chance," Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue told Cyclingnews. "He has a certain amount of experience in the Giro, he knows it well and he's in good form right now. He's been able to stay with the strongest on the climbs so far. We're coming into the big mountains now and we'll see things more clearly there, but I think he can be good there too."
More on this story:
Giro d’Italia stage 12 results
Giro d’Italia stage 12 – Finish line quotes
Movistar entered the Giro with Valverde as the outright team leader and the 36-year-old has shown few signs of weakness to date, breaking even with Nibali in the Chianti time trial and snaffling away clutches of seconds in the uphill finishes at Roccaraso and Sestola.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1NBmlAh
No comments:
Post a Comment