Giro di Lombardia: Fortunato, what a shame. Bais and Fancellu: bravo!

Giro di Lombardia (1.UWT)
Bergamo-Como (253 km)

This is not a race like any other, no. This is a monument of cycling, and like all monuments it is something to admire, to respect, to defend. The Giro di Lombardia, a Giro di Lombardia full of things to tell: Pogacar’s victory, Nibali and Valverde’s last race (speaking of monuments…), people partying on the climbs of Ghisallo and San Fermo.

And us? The EOLO-KOMETA was betting everything on Fortunato, someone who had gone strong last year at Lombardia and who had the leg to repeat. Unfortunately, but that’s cycling, bad luck decided to ruin the plans by making him fall on the descent before the Forcella di Bura: a bad bump, a lot of fright, transport to the hospital for checks. Race and dream over.

Yet, there was still a way to make our run. And how. Because Davide Bais was splendid at catching the day’s breakaway and fighting like a lion to try to take it as far as he could. And no, it wasn’t easy. “No, on the contrary,” he said, exhausted, at the finish, “because so many people wanted to go in the breakaway and because the group started very strong right away. Once we were in the breakaway, the desire was to stay there as long as possible so we gave everything. Doing these races is exciting, it’s great to ride among so many fans and I knew a lot of my friends back home were watching me so I raced for them too. Too bad for Fortunato, in my opinion he could have been among the first ones.”

And among the first ones, Alessandro Fancellu tried to get there: who never let go of the main group and remained attached to the best until the very last climb. “I am half happy – these are his words – because in the end I would have liked to stay in front a little longer: but I couldn’t take it anymore, and on Civiglio I raised the white flag. However, the satisfaction remains for finishing well in such a long and hard race that I had never done: it was beautiful to climb the Ghisallo that looked like a stadium. Now I’m recovering, and I hope to close this season well with races in Veneto.”