Crumpling a newspaper is a crime (subject of scolding in family circles), but between the folds of Friday's May 15th newspapers one can discern interpretative nuances about the Naples stage of the Giro, terrain (or rather cobblestones) of conquest for Davide Ballerini. If the Gazzetta brings us back to that shout ("Go, go, gooo they've fallen. There's a gap") by Matteo Malucelli to his teammate, with the singing and dancing headline from "la rosea," that same moment following the crash gives rise to the Corriere della Sera, with Marco Bonarrigo recalling that "If you stand up on the saddle in the cobbled curve and in the counter-slope that runs from Via Console to Piazza del Plebiscito while it's raining, you fall. Elmar Reinders discovered that yesterday."

That observation has its merit. "A Flanders wall you don't expect" evoked in Repubblica, where it notes how in his solid career the 31-year-old from Cantù has always shown his best version on porphyry cobblestones. Like Franco Ballerini, no relation between the winner of two Paris-Roubaix and the first-place finisher yesterday in the heart of the city at the foot of Vesuvius. Who imagined a completely different ending was a disappointed Jonny Milan, whose not-at-all veiled statement ("it seems absurd to have a finish like this") was picked up by Il Giornale, while still properly celebrating Ballerini's victory. Like the Lidl Trek sprinter, across the Alps the fellow sprinter colleague, Paul Magnier, is also bitter, at least for a day. So report those from L'Equipe, not only in the mood for geographical-landscape description, with attached historical references. Yes, an entire page on the Blockhaus - comparing it to Mont Ventoux - is also an unusual way of marking the anticipation for the tough stage with a finish up there, where brigandage was fought back in Garibaldi's times. The French always like that.

GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT
DANCE, DANCE BALLERINI
Moments, instants, fractions of a second: just enough to orient destiny. "Go, go, goooo they've fallen. There's a gap!", shouts on the radio Matteo Malucelli to Davide Ballerini, running the risk of bursting his eardrum. But it's worth it: there's a Giro d'Italia stage to win, at the prestigious finish line of Naples in the magnificence of Piazza del Plebiscito. And Ballerini executes: he leaves everything on the bike and with an applause-worthy acceleration manages to keep up with Jasper Stuyven and Paul Magnier. He puts his hand on his helmet in disbelief, before being able to stretch out on the ground with a glance toward the San Carlo theater: "I still can't believe it" he'll admit much later, and it's natural: it takes time when reality surpasses the most beautiful dream. (Ciro Scognamiglio)

CORRIERE DELLA SERA
"GO, THERE'S A GAP..." AND BALLERINI FLIES
Non-exhaustive list of dangerous situations when pedaling at 50 kilometers per hour: the first rain that transforms the road surface into soap, the pavement, standing up on the pedals in a curve or in changes of slope. If you stand up on the saddle in the cobbled curve and in the counter-slope that runs from Via Console to Piazza del Plebiscito while it's raining, you fall. Elmar Reinders discovered that yesterday, fish pilot of Dylan Groenewegen, someone who is used to causing trouble at the sprint in first person, but this time delegated the task to a teammate. Result: two hundred meters from the finish line, in addition to the two Dutch riders, the favorites Magnier and Milan ended up on the ground (or on foot), blocking the road to all riders except one. That one is Davide Ballerini from Cantù, 31 years old, most honest globetrotter of the pedal. (Marco Bonarrigo)

REPUBBLICA
FROM THE CRASH EMERGES BALLERINI, FIRST ITALIAN SPRINT
Ballerini is not a surname that can go unnoticed in cycling. No relation, but how many similarities between the unforgettable Franco, two Paris-Roubaix victories in his career (1995 and 1998) and Davide, who on the cobblestones has always displayed his best version of himself. Yesterday, for example, on the Flanders wall you don't expect, from Via Acton to Piazza del Plebiscito (Cosimo Cito).

LA STAMPA
GIRO D'ITALIA, 6TH STAGE TO BALLERINI: FIRST ITALIAN VICTORY
Davide Ballerini wins in a sprint the 6th stage of the Giro d'Italia, Paestum-Naples, and becomes the first Italian to win in this edition. "Beautiful, I hoped for a victory but not today, not like this." A bad crash in the final curve involves Milan: "I really don't understand why we have to find finishes like this." Tomorrow 7th stage: starting from Formia, finish uphill on the Blockhaus after 244 km.

IL GIORNALE
BALLERINI'S FIRST TIME STAYING ON HIS FEET DESPITE THE RAIN
See Naples and then go crazy. "It seems absurd to have a finish like this – says Jonathan Milan, Lidl-Trek sprinter, without mincing words, who puts his foot down in a sprint conditioned once again by a crash in a curve made treacherous by rain. Indeed there was the crash: I don't understand why we have to go looking for stage finishes like this, I find it simply absurd. It would have been dangerous even in the dry."
Under fire from Milan is the U-shaped curve placed 400 meters from the finish, tackled before covering the final straightaway that led to Piazza del Plebiscito. A cobbled curve that in the rain transformed itself into a trap: the error of Reinders, fish pilot of Groenewegen. (Pier Augusto Stagi)
 
L'EQUIPE
RENDEZVOUS AT THE BLOCKHAUS
It's a name that sounds strange, with an aura wrapped in mystery, threatening, that induces geographical localization error. "You imagine the Blockhaus at the Austrian border, then I understood it was in Southern Italy" - explained Guillaume Martin at the start of the 2022 Giro. Monte Blockhaus, at 2143 meters, is located in the heart of the Majella National Park, in Abruzzo. On the summit of this "isolated hill" (Remy Rochas), "that stands out from the surrounding mountains" (Geraint Thomas), one has the image of an impregnable and strategic place. A small fortress was built there in the 19th century to fight brigands and smugglers in Italy unified by Garibaldi. (Julien Chesnais)

TUTTOSPORT
ANNOUNCED CRASH AND MAGNIER ESCAPES
In Piazza Plebiscito Davide Ballerini celebrates: he is the winner of the Paestum-Naples, sixth stage of the Giro. The Como rider from Xds-Astana, powerful, skilled and lucky, preceded in acceleration Jasper Stuyven and the group. Portuguese Afonso Eulalio saved the pink jersey in a stage disturbed at times by rain, and quite a bit these days. Once upon a time stages like Paestum-Naples were "transfer" stages with reduced risks for VIPs in the classification. With the times we live in, nervousness reigns in the group, arriving at the finish without crashing is a success. (Alessandro Brambilla)

CORRIERE DELLO SPORT
BALLERINI CELEBRATION
Another surprising finish at the Giro also in Piazza del Plebiscito. The first Italian success bears the signature of Davide Ballerini, but even he didn't believe it while crossing the finish line in Naples, because in reality he was there to pull the sprint for his roommate Malucelli. When, however, about 650 meters from the finish, the pavement made slippery by the downpour that broke out just 5 minutes before, caused most of the pink jersey group to hit the ground, cutting out all the sprinters. The Unibet Rose Rockets train derailed. (Alberto Dolfin)