Everything is relative, it always depends on your point of view: the hills of the Marche region are the epitome of peace and sweetness, but on a bicycle they know how to become mean and hateful. Because hills become walls. And tackled after 250 kilometers with a finish on the Blockhaus, even worse: a real nightmare, a damned headache that could give you cluster migraines.

Fermo? Fermo will be you. Not the UAE. But of course, we're talking again about the mutilated team: after just a few hours of racing they had become five (from eight), decapitated of their captain, and yet they seem like fifty. They pop up from everywhere, whenever the opportunity comes they're there crowding to get to the front.

On the climbs, a three-man breakaway and they have two of them. Sixty-six percent, a percentage from elections in a banana republic. Coincidence? Naaaaa. In the morning, in the Chieti paddock, boss Matxin doesn't play the democrat, no chit-chat in cycling speak: "Today we win". He's sure, decisive, Fermo. And indeed.

In five, they've already tallied three stages (out of eight stages raced, for crying out loud!). The truth of this initial phase, let's call it the labor pains of the Giro, is very simple and straightforward: Vinge races his own race (even though he looks like he's just doing good training), the rest if it's not Astana it's UAE, if it's not UAE it's Astana (sprinting is a separate chapter, outsourced to Magnier).

What's Fermo's moral? More than anything, a little lesson for many super-teams officially present at the Giro, but so far mysteriously present in a gaseous state, random and intangible as ghosts. The UAE, which as you know passes me an adequate bag of petrodollars daily to say this, is becoming a mega advertisement. The message that comes across, good for children and great-grandparents: it's not about numbers, it's about weight. Not quantity, quality. Not form, substance. There are teams here at full strength that are weighing like dust particles. I'll say it again, because I find it supremely right to say it: they have Pogacar, they could live off that alone, instead they want to always be a team. Not the team of the best rider: the best team. Even diminished, even handicapped, still the best team.

Already you can hear in the distance the echo of the grumblers: it's the money that makes them so strong. Is it the money? Lots of teams have lots of money around here. And yet. Five of them do more than certain full-strength squads put together. But let's admit it without all the buts, ifs, and howevers: it's a pure and simple matter of spirit. It's spirit that makes money bear fruit, not the other way around.

The UAE would have every right excuse to get comfortable and complete a pleasant social tour, a Giro through Italy. They lost their captain and two other strong teammates right away, heavy losses that in other environments would fuel the most classic whining, the victimhood martyr genre that always wins sympathy. Instead. Instead every day is a new day, nobody feels sorry for themselves and off they go pedaling. There's no longer a GC contender, so we'll just have to adapt to stage hunting. Three out of eight, in five riders, is a stratospheric record, but before that it's called something else: I'd say it's called honoring the Giro, the fans, Italy. Others are here playing with dolls, not the UAE. Pogacar is Pogacar, his team is something even without Pogacar. They spend a lot of money, but in the safe they have values.