Uphill, the strongest always wins. This ancient rule of cycling was once again proved right today in Prati di Tivo, as Alexey Lutsenko took a stunning victory on the mountain finish of Stage 3 at the 2024 Giro d’Abruzzo, defying the numbers game of UAE Team Emirates.
By the time the final climb began, the peloton was actually led by Astana Quzaqstan Team, but after just a handful of kilometres, Lutsenko had no teammates left, while UAE could count on Pablo Torres, Jan Christen, Diego Ulissi, Pavel Sivakov and Adam Yates. Thus, the Emirate’s squad soon took control of the pack, with Sivakov attacking clear, and Adam Yates countering with a one-two in the clear attempt to drop the Kazakh.
Yet, after a few attacks, Sivakov was the one being dropped, and the art twin soon realised he was not on his best day. The strongest UAE rider today was probably Diego Ulissi, who, after some solid work for his captain, even managed to close the margin with Lutsenko and Yates and try to lead the Briton out for the sprint. With Sivakov close behind, Lutsenko looked completely outnumbered, but in the sprint for the line, the Kazakh surged first, jumping from Ulissi’s wheel inside the last 100 metres.
Let’s not make the mistake of thinking that today was slow, because Lutsenko finished the Prati di Tivo climb in 36’02”, beating Tadej Pogačar’s ascent record (36’07”) dating back to Tirreno-Adriatico 2021, which itself had shattered Chris Froome’s 2013 record (38’23”). The wind was favourable today, we’ll grant you that, but this doesn’t detract from the truly remarkable level seen today.
Lutsenko is also the new Maglia Azzurra of this Giro d’Abruzzo 2024 and tomorrow he will have to deal with a UAE hungry for revenge, with Yates second at 14″, Ulissi 5th at 38″ and Sivakov 6th at 40″. The Montorio al Vomano-L’Aquila will provide plenty of room to try and turn the race around, perhaps isolating the Kazakh in the early phases and attack him later on. Lutsenko, for his part, will be called upon to a strenuous defence. In a nutshell: anything can happen!