THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Alberto Contador keeps the Giro lead by a narrow margin
Alberto Contador (Astana) might be wishing he was back at the beach after fending off relentless attacks from Danilo Di Luca (LPR) and Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) in Friday’s wild 19th stage that saw him save his maglia rosa by the narrowest of margins.
Contador saw his grip on the pink jersey trimmed to four seconds to Riccò and 21 seconds to Di Luca and looks vulnerable going into Saturday’s epic stage over the Gavia and the Mortirolo.
“It was a very hard and long stage. The stage was longer than what it said on paper,” said Contador. “The team deserves a ‘10’ for what they did today. Compliments to Di Luca and Riccò today after making beautiful attacks, which makes for an interesting Giro. I kept the maglia rosa, but I’m not going to obsess on the differences to Riccò or Di Luca. It was important to keep the pink jersey today for the psychological factor. They still have to take it away from me.”
Vasil Kiryienka attacked out of the day’s winning breakaway on the Presolana and held a 4:36 winning margin to an amazing Di Luca to win Tinkoff’s second stage of this Giro, but the real fireworks were coming from behind.
The 2008 Giro’s final summit finish delivered sparks as tempers flared up as fast as the attacks came during the 238km stage that was actually 10 kilometers longer than indicated in the race book.
Contador was under the gun when Di Luca and LPR teammate Paolo Savoldelli powered away on the descent off the Cat. 1 Passo del Vivione with 50km to go. Di Luca then attacked alone up the final two climbs to take a 12-second time bonus to claw from sixth at 2:18 to third at 21 seconds back.
“The team rode brilliantly today. Thanks especially to Savoldelli, who did a great job. Never doubt Di Luca, because Di Luca never gives up,” said ‘the Killer,’ reverting to third person. “I thought I could take the maglia rosa, but what’s important is that I pulled myself back into contention. Like I’ve been saying, this Giro isn’t over until the final kilometer in the Milan time trial.”
Riccò waited until 4km to go on the Monte Pora to surge away from the struggling Contador who was part of an elite, eight-man group that didn’t include two-time winner Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni-Androni).
“The Cobra” was looking to erase a 41-second gap and snatch the pink jersey, but Contador found some unexpected friends in Emanuele Sella (CSF-Navigare) and Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), who both chased late to defend their GC positions.
After finishing fifth at 5:44 back, Riccò was livid at the line when realized he missed the jersey by four ticks of the clock.
“What I’d like to ask Sella and (Domenico) Pozzovivo if they’d thought they would win the Giro? Contador always finds someone like that who helps him. No one ever helps me,” said Riccò, who unleashed an unprintable Italian curse at the summit.
“They should have stayed on Contador’s wheel and let him pull. People have been saying that Contador is stronger than me on the climbs, but as far as I can remember, I’ve dropped him on ever summit finish,” Riccò said. “Tomorrow I will go on the attack again and I just hope (CSF-Navigare) isn’t working behind me.”
Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) settled into fourth at two minutes back with Pellizotti nudging into fifth at 2:05 back.
After losing nearly six minutes to the favorites, Simoni tumbled out of the top-three into 10th at 8:40 back, putting a spike through his chances of finishing on the summit in what’s likely his final Giro.
“He suffered a cold bonk. He was eating OK and had good legs, but got too cold off the Vivione,” said team boss Gianni Savio. “We’ll fight another day. The podium is lost, but watch out for tomorrow. The old warrior will be back to try to win over the Mortirolo.”
Down the Vivione
Kiryienka was part of the day’s early break more than 10 minutes clear of the GC favorites when the main pack finally hit the Cat. 1 Passo del Vivione.
Rain added danger to an already narrow and steep climb. The main pack split as Astana was vigilant on the nose of the peloton.
LPR sprung its trap on the harrowing descent. Savoldelli confirmed his reputation as one of the peloton’s best descenders by dropping like a rock. Latching on his wheel was teammate Di Luca and Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas), who is ready to pick up Il Falco’s mantel when he retires.
“We tried to make the distance on the Vivione to make the difference in the GC, because we knew we couldn’t try to win the stage,” said Savoldelli, who lives nearby and knows the roads like the back of his hand.
“Di Luca attacked and I helped him on the way down. We made a gap and worked together, then he took over to the end. It was impressive.”
The trio put a panic in the main pack. Contador had Andreas Kloden and Tony Colom, but lost Levi Leipheimer and the rest of his teammates. Menchov also couldn’t match the treacherous pace, but would later reconnect with the group at the base of the Presolana.
The Di Luca trio hit the base of the Vivione nursing a 38-second gap, but soon widened it to 1:03 with 35km to go. Giairo Ermeti, who was away in the day’s main breakaway, dropped back to help his captain drive a wedge of 1:13 to Contador at the base of the Presolana with 16km to go.
Colom and then Kloden did a great job to keep Di Luca from completely riding away with the Giro.
Midway up the Presolana, Di Luca shed his teammates and Nibali to grind up the short, but steep climb with gap bulging to 1:45.
Di Luca summited the Presolana at 2:10 ahead of the Contador group and just enough to move into the virtual maglia rosa for a few fleeting seconds on the final climb up Monte Pora before extracting 1:46 from his Spanish rival.
Riccò oh-so-close
Kloden pulled to 5km to go when Contador punched the accelerator to show his rivals he still had legs. Sella tried to sneak away, but Contador quickly followed. Everyone was waiting for Riccò and it finally came with 4km to go.
The blond-haired Saunier Duval captain rode like his hero, Marco Pantani, his hands low on the handlebars, standing out of the saddle. He poured everything into the pedals to try to swap his white jersey of the best young rider for the pink jersey.
Contador couldn’t follow the wheel. Riccò kept spinning away, dropping the Tour champ for the third time in three summit finishes of the final week of racing.
“I just couldn’t go any faster. I’m not as well prepared for this Giro so I had to do the best I could under the circumstances,” Contador said. “Tomorrow is another hard day. The Mortirolo is a very hard climb, but there’s a lot of road after the summit before the finish. Like I said yesterday, I’m not afraid of anything in this Giro.”
While Riccò rode away, Contador was finding help in some unfamiliar places. Sella and Pozzovivo both attacked before Pellizotti made a late run to protect his GC position, allowing Contador to follow their wheels.
Also helping Contador were two riders, Vladimir Efimkin (Quick Step) and Steve Cummings (Barloworld), who were both still up the road from the breakaway and ate up the final, third-place time bonus of eight seconds.
Riccò also suffered a mechanical problem, when he couldn’t change out of the small ring into the big ring in the false flat in the final kilometers, complicating an already tense situation.
After crossing the line, Riccò railed against Sella, who he alleged was pulling for Contador.
Sella cried foul, and insisted he was riding for own GC interests and climbed to seventh at 4:25 back.
“I’m really upset by what he said. I rode my own race because Simoni got dropped, so it’s normal that I pulled at the front to try to distance him,” Sella said. “Riccò is always causing controversy. I know I couldn’t win the stage, but I was just trying to gain some time on GC. Riccò is always the same.”
Long break into the mist
It was sunny in Legnano for the sign-in, but clouds were building in the Bergamo mountains where the day’s action would come.
The opening 150 kilometers are quite flat, but then the road tipped up for a tough, final 78kn. First up was the Cat. 1 Passo del Vivione, a 19.8km climb that averages 6.8 percent, with ramps that hit 13 percent. It’s very narrow, both on the way up and the way back down. From there, it was all uphill on the Passo Della Presolana at 216km and the finishing climb to Monte Pora.
A seven-man breakaway formed early and opened up a 10-minute gap at 85km. In the move were: CSC’s Nicki Sorensen (best-placed at 34th at 33:25), Kanstantsin Siutsou (High Road), Kiryienka, Gabriele Missaglia (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni), Alexander Efimkin (Quick Step), Giairo Ermeti (LPR) and Steven Cummings (Barloworld).
The group split on the Vivione and only Sorensen, Cummings, Efimkin and Kiryienka hit the base of the Presolana with the win in their legs at more than 10 minutes ahead of the chasing Di Luca group.
Kiryienka — who grew up 150km from Chernobyl — attacked right at the base of the Presolana and had the legs to fend off the chasers to notch Tinkoff’s second stage win of the Giro. Pavel Brutt won stage 5 in the first week.
“I’m satisfied with this win. I said I would try three times to win a stage in a breakaway and today was my third day,” he said glowing at the finish line. “This is a great win for me and for the team.”
The 91st Giro continues Saturday with the 224km 20th stage from Rovetta to Tirano. The course tackles the fearsome Gavia and Mortirolo climbs before finishing after a steep drop into Tirano.
Maybe Di Luca’s right — this Giro won’t be over until the final kilometer of Sunday’s time trial.
