Juan AYUSO. 10 and with honors. This morning many were wondering how he was doing, what was going through the mind of this 22-year-old Spanish boy. Would he have the right leg? Would he be able to take control of the race? Would his UAE believe in this Catalan youngster? The road, as always, provided its answers. Invisible until 500 meters from the finish line. For Ayuso, seeing Roglic is not behind him is enough to decide to accelerate. Full speed ahead, towards victory. Behind him another UAE rider, Del Toro: they're all doing well.

Isaac DEL TORO. 9. The Mexican has a quick burst, he's the designated man to seek victory, but Ayuso is quick to understand and take control of the situation. Isaac confirms he has the makings of a great rider, as if UAE didn't already have enough. Abbondandis in abbondandum. I apologize to Fabio Gatti, son of such a father: being a professor of Latin and Greek, he will find these words slightly bizarre, but as they say in these cases, one never stops learning. Signed, the Capone brothers.

Egan BERNAL. 8. It's nice to see him back. It's nice to see him alive, he who truly risked dying. A slow recovery from injury, very slow, but perhaps he's returning, perhaps we have him, perhaps we can hope to see him back up there where eagles dare and he used to dare to do things we loved so much. Today he made a small progression, tiny, that seems little, but is enormous, especially among people who haven't tried anything.

Primoz ROGLIC. 5.5. Insufficient stage, for how he gets outmaneuvered and preceded, perhaps even intentionally. Getting caught in the back is not good: if he did it to avoid wearing the pink jersey, it's even worse. Looking at him after the race, smiling and serene, not even slightly out of breath, he seems like someone who didn't exhaust himself. He did the minimum to get the maximum that he didn't even want. He deserves a political 6, but someone like him must give much more. We'll talk about it again: the Giro is still long.

Giulio CICCONE. 6. He has the merit of being the first to try, making the first attack, the third-to-last, since after him only Bernal and Ayuso. Cicco tries, but at 28 km/h there's little to attack. One would need to be a Pogacar, but Tadej isn't here.

Antonio TIBERI. 7. He doesn't like rhythm variations and his Bahrain team maintains a sustained pace to support him completely. He brings home an excellent result: staying there without paying a toll. Gains four positions in the general classification: perfect.

Richard CARAPAZ. 6.5. The Ecuadorian is attentive and reactive: he doesn't exhaust himself, but never loses contact with the leaders and remains at the top. In the general classification, he gains three positions, now he's 10th.

Max POOLE. 7. The 22-year-old English rider from Picnic remains with the nobility of the Giro. He's here to learn, but seems to be learning things very quickly.

Michael STORER. 6. The Tudor Swiss does a pioneering race. Angry stage, high-speed, he pays something, but very little.

Tom PIDCOCK. 5. He could have and should have played it, but when the big guys sit at the table, he doesn't even sit down.

Gianni MOSCON. 8. Pulls consistently and decisively for at least 80 km. A big job for the "tractor" of Red Bull Hansgrohe. Inexhaustible as he usually is, the man from Trentino, who perhaps was born to do another type of work, but had the humility to reinvent himself to continue playing.

Alessandro TONELLI. 8. The Polti-VisitMalta rider, who leads the breakaway and combativeness classifications, has no choice: he fights and goes on the attack. Alessandro goes with Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizan) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL). The last to surrender, 5 km from the finish line, are Tonelli, Tarozzi, Garofoli and Prodhomme. Brave. Very brave.

Christian SCARONI. 17. Already not feeling well and must resort to medication during the race from the mobile clinic staff of Professor Giovanni Tredici and Massimo Branca. A painkiller to keep going, then his chain falls and he loses the breakaway train: and so be it?

Jay VINE. 7. Wind against, blows to the body. The man from the "virtual" world immediately gets serious, despite yesterday's fall. He sleeps on it for a night and then immediately attacks with Rafal Majka. Jay may be from the rollers, but when it comes to fighting, he's a road roller: truly.

Josef CERNY. 8. Twenty points to the knee, beaten from all sides. They assure me he even rested. Yesterday, after getting into the ambulance, he didn't want to withdraw, just like this morning. "I'll try on the rollers..." the Czech told Davide Bramati. Fausto Oppici, a long-time mechanic, was preparing his bicycle this morning with care and wonder. "He wants to start..." He even made it.

Gianmarco GAROFOLI. 8. He's among those who fell badly yesterday, but he's one of those who decided to restart today and keep going. Stage with a rib fracture: not easy to say. He raced chasing some stars, but saw many.

Simone ROGANTI. 10. These were his roads and, probably, he would have been here applauding his idols, despite having signed a professional contract with Unibet Tietema Rockets. Simone passed away suddenly at only 21 years old last August 30th. Yet today he was here, thanks to uncle Federico who is at the Giro for radio information. A photo on the back of his motorcycle: Rugantino forever. We miss Ruga so much though.