Formally, Carapaz wins and congratulations to him, but in substance, it's another UAE victory. At the risk of sounding like a fanatic, I would further specify: it's Del Toro's victory. The kid looks tremendously like Pogačar, in posture and ease, he's just taller, but like him, he manages to surprise more and more every day: seeing him win the sprint for second place turned backwards, a true and important sprint, a sprint for bonus seconds, what else is this if not a sign of health, strength, personality, and above all total superiority. It's too early to label him as another champion, let alone at Pogačar's level, but certain signals are starting to flash. The Giro will clarify all our doubts.

Meanwhile.

We rejoice for a good Tiberi and a decent Ciccone, but we can't be so patriotic as to hide the substance: it's still and always UAE's dominance. They remain four in the top eight, but this is just a numerical fact: there's more to it. While keen observers continue to maintain the narrative of a torn team, beware because the rivalry is simmering, sooner or later Ayuso and Del Toro will come to a showdown, maybe even to blows, the concrete reality remains of a squad that even without its demigod Pogačar still imposes a dictatorship.

The opposition party will say: it's a new dictatorship of boredom. Last year of the lone man, this time of the team. Which would sound like a risk, a danger, a limitation of the Giro imagined as free and balanced, open and unpredictable.

Nothing doing, we're back to square one. However, I would say: if only the Giro d'Italia had more teams as monotonous and boring as UAE. Let's acknowledge it, without fear of sounding like sycophants and sellouts: the Cairo Corporation should erect a monument to UAE, because for two years they've kept it standing. First with Pogačar, but also this time without Pogačar, bringing the two most promising young riders of their generation.

This is called respect, this is called seriousness, this is called greatness. A Dream Team leading the world ranking, already winning everything, arriving hungry even at the Giro. Not all squads can say the same things, speak the same language.

Of course, like all the strongest in all fields of life, UAE also knows how to become unlikeable. More than anything, targeted by envy. But it's part of the game, better, of the level: the more they look from below, the more stones they throw. And anyway: everyone is free to take UAE's dominance with kind words or harsh words. The fact remains that halfway through the Giro, this team's abundance visibly borders on opulence, almost waste, which can even serve as a frustrating deterrent to the competition.

The clever one says: let's wait and see the unbeatable UAE in the mountains, let's wait for their duels in the true test of altitude. Wait, sure. To me it doesn't seem boring, it seems the exact opposite. I'm really curious to see how Roglic and (unfortunately) Tiberi will react when McNulty and Yates take turns: what will they do, chase everyone, so then Ayuso and Del Toro can break away even more easily on the counterattack?

Let's be honest: this UAE crowding in the rankings is a damn good deal. You can mark one target alone, it becomes truly prohibitive to mark three or four. Yet this is what's emerging ahead of the infamous third week: UAE in collective version, as overbearing as in last year's individual version. Ideas? Proposals? Predictions? Everyone is right and no one is wrong, even those who say too many soloists don't make a choir. It might be. But I say again: if UAE has a problem, I would never change it with anyone else's. I would keep my big problem tight.