After a cold night and a new hot morning - climate change is not always easy to handle and stomach ache have been very frequent, almost constant - the beautiful but severe mountains of Tor des Géants® have presented the first “bill”, which has forced to withdrawn (after exactly 24 hours of racing) 75 competitors (who then became 115 after 31 hours of race).
Among the withdrawn also some very famous names, possible podium’ names. Like Jules Henri Gabioud, the first of the list, followed shortly by Michele Graglia, Enzo Benvenuto, Paolo Rossi, Nico Valsesia, Cristian Caselli and among women Katia Figini. “Fault” says the most acclaimed observers, of a really high rhythm, and there is to believe them, considering that the first two in ranking arrived in Donnas, after 151.3 km of route, in little less than 24 hours. Half hour below the rhythm held by Spanish Iker Karrera, who won the fourth edition of the Tor in 70 hours, record still undefeated.
The two first in Donnas and also at the next checkpoints, on the road to Gressoney, at km 205.9, are two engineers: Basque Javier Dominguez, born in 1974 and Italian Franco Collé, born in 1978. Only twenty minutes separate them.
After them, at less than one hour, Oliviero Bosatelli, the firefighter from Bergamo who won the Tor last year. Of the three, the "Bosa" seemed to be the most relaxed and responsive and consequently his ability to retrieve distance and time from the two preceding him, seem to be broad.
Among women continues to “domination”, as she did from the start, of Lisa Borzani, the Venetian athlete from who moved in Valle d'Aosta. In Donnas she made a quick and well organized stop, helped by his assistant, who is also his life partner, and then started again happy and steadily, although his most direct rival, Silvia Trigueros Garrote, was still far away, a couple of hours back. But Lisa knows that two hours of advantage at Tor are really nothing.