Giro d'Italia, Pedersen's fast walk of faith

On the road that goes up to the sanctuary of the Madonna di Monte Berico, which looks down on Vicenza from the south, you were not supposed to turn around. You were only supposed to walk with your head held high and your eyes turned toward the baroque facade of the church. Only once you were far enough away to observe the statues depicting Faith and Hope in the frame of the lunette could you turn around. And from there you could observe the city that moved placidly down the mountain and the green hills that surrounded it . It was a warning. The effort and suffering in life are the way to the wonder of Heaven.

It was like this for all those who went on pilgrimage to the sanctuary.

Cycling is less generous. The fatigue and suffering of the climb that leads to the sanctuary of the Madonna di Monte Berico have granted satisfaction and wonder to only one man: Mads Pedersen . The Dane was the first to cross the finish line, at the end of a very long, ascending sprint. Pedersen started first and immediately gained three meters. Wout van Aert recovered one centimeter after another in the last hundred meters, but he was unable to reach parity.

No one was able to keep up with the pace of the Dane and the Belgian. Not Egan Bernal who had tried to make a mess of his teammates towards San Giovanni in Monte when there were almost fifty kilometers to go. Not Juan Ayuso or Primoz Roglic or Richard Carapaz. Only Isaac Del Toro was close. The pink jersey gained more seconds on all the other contenders for the symbol of the primacy. Now he is 38” on Ayuso and 1'18” on Antonio Tiberi.

In solidarity with the riders who run the Giro d'Italia , here we decided to tell the stages of the Giro d'Italia doing their same hard work: a letter per meter of altitude difference. Here is the story of the thirteenth stage, the Rovigo-Vicenza, 180 kilometers and 1,600 meters of altitude difference, in 1,600 characters (including spaces).

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