As was the case for Roberto Visentini in 1987, the pink jersey had already been handed over by the time Fabio Aru rolled across the finish line in Sappada on stage 15 of the Giro d`Italia, more than 19 minutes behind stage winner Simon Yates. Unlike Visentini, Aru`s setback was hardly a surprise. His Giro hopes had been steadily deflating since he was dropped on Gran Sasso d`Italia a week ago, and the balloon burst altogether when he was unable to follow the pink jersey group on the Zoncolan on Saturday. When Aru`s pedalling slowed almost to the point of inertia on the slopes of the Passo Sant`Antonio on Sunday, with 34km still to race, the only question that remained was whether he would complete the race. A television motorbike hovered behind him on the rainy mountainside, where he could scarcely even stay on the wheel of his teammate Diego Ulissi, who had dropped back to help him. It wasn´t supposed to come to this.ADVERTISEMENT Someway, somehow, Aru managed to persist and grind his way to the top of the climb, already minutes down from Yates and the leading group. The gap extended still further on the ascent to Costalissoio, where a glum-faced Aru waved away another motorbike that was filming him from in front. When Visentini wheeled to a halt in Sappada 31 years ago, his first thought was to ride directly into the mass of reporters to give voice to the doomed rage written across his face at seeing his teammate Stephen Roche in his pink jersey. Aru, by contrast, ghosted through the finishing area without stopping for the waiting television crews, and climbed aboard his team bus without uttering a word. The finish line in Sappada was in the shadow of the chocolate box façade of Hotel Corona Ferrea, where Carrera were housed in 1987, and where attempts were made to enact a silenzio stampa of sorts on the loquacious Roche by ushering him upstairs to his room and away from prying reporters. Pozzovivo
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