That's how it's done. This is what was meant. Now, God willing, we can call this the Giro d'Italia. Without shame or embarrassment. After all, if they don't get moving on their own, just put some gravel under the wheels and dust in their faces to see them jump like crickets. White roads and pink roads, after eight stages of nothing, finally a stage. The Stage.

Reviewing the crashes and punctures (read that poor Roglic), reviewing the duel between Del Toro and Van Aert on the final ramp in the heart of Siena (pulse at two thousand, rating eleven), and in the end looking at the new standings, all this reviewing leads to one conclusion, or rather the most sunny confirmation: nowadays, a Strade Bianche can make an impact and leave a mark much more than many Alpine passes. Footnote: until the eighth stage, the top ten were within a minute, just look at the chaos of the Sienese dust cloud in one day.

From one to ten, stage level: ten. With an almost Giotto-like decorum: this Del Toro, 21 years old, frighteningly strong. Sure, he's not new, sure he had been seen before, but what he does on the romantic and bastard roads of Siena remains frescoed like a work of art. He doesn't win the stage, because in the final kilometers he drags along a terrible customer like Van Aert (you again, weren't we supposed to not see each other anymore?), practically a sentence. But everything else is consecration. Obviously, it also becomes fodder for today's gossip mentality, immediately this fantastic revelation fades into the background, in favor of the polemicist in the UAE house: look at that drunken tactics, Del Toro runs for himself and no one tells him to wait for captain Ayuso, what kind of team play is this, just imagine the dust cloud in the hotel when they all sit at the table.

Opinions. Free and creative. Certainly standing is the jinxed theory of two roosters in the henhouse, with the risk that in the end the ancient Romans were right with their "too many roosters crowing never makes day", but also standing is the opposite theory clearly explained in the UAE house by Matxin, let's go to rest first and second in the standings, Del Toro and Ayuso, what more could you want from life?

Since we're not old-school Christian Democrats, or maybe timid RAI commentators, let's immediately take a stand: two is better than one, have these kinds of problems. There are still two weeks left, the Alpine week is missing, everything is missing, and honestly, it seems a bit stupid to immediately throw it into an internal war. Meanwhile, I'll keep them both there, certainly not against each other, but at the very least verify along the way which is the best card. Just to say: already in Tuesday's time trial, without team tactics, everyone against everyone, we'll understand even more who of the two has more beer. And anyway: I won't waste or sacrifice a Del Toro like this, you don't suffocate such a creature in its cradle, I'll keep a Del Toro like this as long as it lasts, and if it lasts until Rome, even better, it will mean I'll have to win the Giro with a prodigious Mexican kid instead of with Ayuso. Seems like the lesser evil to me.

In the post-race, various commentators are heard saying they wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the UAE sports directors now. Think about it, I'd want to be comfortable and happy in those shoes. And I believe that the Matxins, Baldatos, Guidis, Moris are not people to lose sleep over the idea of playing with two points: a great team used to Pogacar, the only one who's enough for everyone, proves to be truly great by managing a situation (happy) like this. If in doubt, ask the Roglic house if they wouldn't make a trade.