The 101 edition of the battle for the maillot rosa (in French) was not what was expected, because the South American 'army' did not shine and Chris Froome was the one who won

The Giro d'Italia lowered the curtain with an unexpected performance of the Latin American 'army', which did not meet the expectations; and with a triumph of the British Chris Froome, who arrived with low profile before the awaiting of his sentence on the part of the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport (TAS, by its acronym in French), after having given positive in a control of doping in the Vuelta a España 2017. Latin American Post analyzes what left the exciting dispute of the maillot rosa 2018. There are several important facts worthy of review, some good and others not so much, which will make it remember the 101 edition of the Giro d'Italia as one of the more exciting and contested in recent times.

Leer en español: Lo bueno, lo malo y lo feo del Giro de Italia 2018

The good

Of course, many positive things left the celebration of the Giro d'Italia 2018, but surely the most important was generated by the victory of Christopher Froome. Both in the high mountain stage of Zoncolan and in the Cima Coppi, scenarios where he dominated his rivals, the British confirmed that we are living his era, that he is the best rider in what refers to the 'Big Three' and that there is no one will surpass him.

Of course, it can not be overlooked that Froome currently poses the shadow of doping, and many will think that the triumph achieved in the Giro is also the product of Salbutamol or another substance. However, as they say: a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. So, until the positive is proven, we must continue talking about sports and frame the victory of the SKY leader as one of the best achievements in the history of pedal sports.

Other good news left the dispute of the maillot rosa in its 101 edition, which will surely remain in the memory of the followers. Among them are the celebration of three unprecedented stages in Israeli territory that marked the beginning of the joust, the tireless duel of speed between Elia Viviani and Sam Bennett, and the power exhibited by the Latin American youth in representation of the Colombian Miguel Ángel López and the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz. The latter always managed to carry a leading role and ended third and fourth place respectively in the individual general classification.

The bad

Colombian cycling in this Giro d'Italia, beyond the aforementioned podium achieved by Miguel Angel 'Superman' Lopez, was really on duty.

Neither Esteban Chaves, nor Rodolfo Torres, nor Darwin Atapuma, nor Jarlinson Pantano, nor Carlos 'bananito' Betancur, achieved outstanding performances in the 'Azzurri' race. Much was expected of them and unfortunately, they could not live up to the commitment, which almost everything was served on the mountain, a ground that looked ideal for an outstanding performance of all these pedalists.

It will be necessary to study each specific case and identify why they did so badly, but clearly we must say that they lacked bellows.

The ugly

The defeat of Simon Yates without a doubt was the most cruel and unexpected note of all the Giro d'Italia 2018. The British pedalist, leader of the Mitchelton-Scott, sank like the Titanic. He was quick, powerful and invincible between the sixth and the nineteenth stage of the competition, and when the Coppi arrived he ended up yielding 38 minutes with respect to Froome.

It is said that Yates was not in good health. However, losing more than half an hour after maintaining with confidence and for 13 days the maillot rosa, is without a doubt a failure wherever you look.

In addition, it was not the only debacle suffered by Mitchelton, as it is worth remembering that Esteban Chaves also lost 30 minutes when he was the leader of the mountain and third in the general, which indicates that something bad in the psychological, in the physical or in some other aspect, marked the race for the oblivion of both Chaves and Yates.

Latin American Post | Freddy González

Translated from "Lo bueno, lo malo y lo feo del Giro de Italia 2018"