Giro d’Italia, in Bergamo Alta the American McNulty wins. Armirail keeps the pink jersey

BERGAMO – The sun returned to the Giro, right at the end of the second week. After days of rain, cold and controversy, the stage in Bergamo could act as a psychological watershed for the race, even if wait-and-see continues to dominate in the strong group. For the umpteenth time, a flight of men off the charts took advantage of it. An attack from afar, same script and same development as in the past days. 17 of them start, then the climbs of the small Lombardia set up on the roads of the Bergamo area select the small group. On the Roncola, the last difficulty before the Bergamo Alta climb, three isolate themselves: the Irishman Healy, already winner of the stage in Fossombrone, the American McNulty, follower of Almeida, and Marco Frigo, 23 year old with great prospects in key Italian. They are the right men of the day. Frigo loses uphill, but returns to the first two between the descent and the slight slope that leads to the second passage from Bergamo. In the group, the pink jersey Bruno Armirail defends himself with his teeth, but he never goes into clear difficulty, also because he goes really slowly.

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McNulty wins, Frigo is third

Just before the Boccola, 10 from the finish, the leading trio reformed. At -7 McNulty tries the pheasant on the plain, but Healy and Frigo return. Fridge starts again, Healy replies again. On the climb towards Bergamo Alta it is Healy who lands the blow, the only one to jump is Frigo, McNulty resists. The Veneto player from Israel-Premier Tech, however, takes advantage of the waiting ahead to return once again to the bottom. It went to the three-man sprint and it was McNulty of the UAE Emirates, one of Pogacar’s loyalists, the 25-year-old from Phoenix (Arizona) who won in front of Healy and a wonderful Frigo.

On the Bergamo Alta climb, even the big names battle it out: Almeida is the most active, Roglic responds well, Thomas and Caruso don’t miss a beat. In the downhill Thomas tries the draw, but also risks falling in the dive towards the finish line, while Armirail struggles in the rear. There are no differences on the finish, Thomas and the others arrive 7 minutes behind McNulty. Armirail loses less than 30” and saves the pink jersey by a wide margin (he was 1’41” on Thomas). For the men in the standings, everything has been postponed until Tuesday, when the historic Monte Bondone will be climbed.