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The Giro Thread!
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07-05-2005 11:23am#1
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all courtesy of eurosport.com
Paolo Bettini was stripped of victory in Stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia after his trajectory forced Baden Cooke to crash in final sprint. The win went instead to Panaria's Luca Mazzanti. Bettini retains the overall lead after boxing in the Australian.
Did he or didn't he do it on purpose?
As a group of six riders had shed the main pack in the final climb and tricky descent to the finish, Bettini launched the sprint early from 500 metres.
Cooke ideally placed in his wheel followed as the Olympic champion drifted his effort toward the left barrier. When the Française des Jeux rider ran out of room, his front wheel brushed the back wheel of the pink jersey, sending Cooke tumbling.
Unhurt but furious, he crossed the line on foot as Bettini celebrating, only realising what had unfolded once he had crossed the line. When he returned to try to shake hands with the Australian, Cooke refused the gesture and under the eyes of the photographers contained his ire and walked away.
A few minutes later it was Bettini's turn to glare as the public address system announced Mazzanti as the stage winner.
So did Bettini do it on purpose? The judges thought so as they stripped him of the stage, placing him at the back on the lead group, but stopped short of putting him further back, a decision that would have erased his 13-second overall advantage over Danilo Di Luca.
As the tifosi waited in the finish area, the podium ceremonies ran overtime and when Bettini finally returned to accept his jersey, he smiled at the cheering crowd but still felt hard done by as he took the customary champagne bottle and soberly turned it upside down with a plop.
While Bettini admits he was wrong, he denies any intent and took exception to Cooke's cold shoulder:
"I admit that I'm guilty because when I changed the gear for last time the chain jumped a little bit. Cooke tried to lean his hand on me, he failed and fell," Bettini told SportItalia.
"I don't like it at all, another rider has fallen and the first thing I did is to meet him to see how he was and he snubs me. [But] that's how cycling works and we have to move on"
Spare a thought for Cooke as he clearly would have taken the sprint:
"It's pretty clear," he told Italian television. "I was in the middle of the road and he pushed me toward the barrier. The television can see what happened."
Spare a thought as well for the big winner on the day, Mazzanti.
The Panaria rider was already present the day before in the finale and thanks to a 20-second bonification, he moves from 13th to third overall, 16 seconds back of Bettini.
Fair play to him for sticking with the leaders after the crash that cut the pack in two with eight kilometres to go.
Following that spill, the Liquigas and Lampre teams went full throttle more to prevent a sprint in favour of Alessandro Petacchi and Robbie McEwen than to cut off the stragglers.
Among those caught out were Discovery Channel leader Paolo Savoldelli. The 2002 Giro winner finished 56th and lost 43 seconds on the day.
Even though his Lampre team appeared in control of proceedings in the final ascent, reigning Giro champion Damiano Cunego was left behind in the final two kilometres. He peddled furiously in the finale to catch the lead group, but fell just short.
As a result, he drops from third to fifth overall behind Mazzanti and Dario Cioni. But the 21 seconds that seperate him from Bettini will count for naught once the real climbing begins.0 -
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Again TY Eurosport.com
Liquigas rider Danilo Di Luca's fine form continued as he won the 223 km fifth stage from Celano to l'Aquila ahead of Fassa Bortolo's Marzio Bruseghin. The Italian timed his uphill sprint to perfection to win the Giro's longest stage in his own region and in doing so took the overall pink jersey.
After his second stage win of the Giro, Di Luca now leads compatriot Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) by three seconds in the overall standings.
"2005 has been a great season for me so far and the pink jersey after two stage wins is the icing on the cake," said Di Luca, third stage winner on Tuesday.
With its uphill final kilometre to the town of l'Aquila - in the same region as Di Luca's home town - the stage was seemingly tailor made for the powerful Italian.
But it was precisely Bettini who set out to do something special on Thursday. Following the Baden Cooke crash imbroglio of stage four, Bettini was still reeling after the decision which saw him deprived of the sprint win. And the Italian made his lingering anger known from the outset of Thursday's event.
BETTINI'S REVENGE MISSION
The last to sign in before the race began, Bettini was also the last rider to leave the virtual start in what was a clear silent protest against the organising committee.
If he rode the first few kilometres at the back, Bettini was soon to be back were he belonged, leading a breakaway of 21 riders with 180 km to go which, after the two second catagory climbs of the day, had built up a lead of over eight minutes.
With 60 km still left to ride he gap was cut to a mere three minutes after the first category climb of Monte Urano, but Bettini looked to be in fine form as the leaders were reduced to nine men.
On the descent Saunier Duval's Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver broke clear and built up a lead of almost a minute.
BIRTHDAY BOY
The combative Spaniard was celebrating his 26th birthday and saw a win in l'Aquila as the perfect present.
But Di Luca's Liquigas team began to up the tempo back in the peloton, and with 15 km to go Bettini's group, and soon after Rodriguez, were swept up.
A four man splinter group containing Ivan Parra (Selle Italia), Koldo Gil Perez (Liberty Seguros), Theo Eltink (Rabobank), and Evegeni Petrov (Lampre) were the last obstacle to a bunch sprint at the finish line.
The intrepid foursome were engulfed with just 5 km to go, but not after another dangerous crash disrupted the stage's closing stages.
T-Mobile's Daniele Nardello touched wheels at top speed with Euskaltel's David Lopez Garcia, and the two went flying into the newly tarmacked road.
Garcia was in some pain and was forced to retire with his injuries.
DI LUCA ON AUTO-PILOT
Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, the Liquigas juggernaut was in full-flow, leading their man to the final-kilometre banner at the foot of the final uphill rise.
Di Luca is clearly adept at such finishes. Already in last months's Fleche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race the Italian surged up steep inclines to bag memorable victories, and he looked certain to add a repeat performance.
Holding onto the wheel of the impressive QuickStep rider Bruseghin, Di Luca timed his sprint to perfection, powering home for a seemingly easy victory.
With it he took the leaders pink jersey off the shoulders of Paolo Bettini.
Bettini's attempt for revenge had been admirable, but even he'll have no complaints with the way Di Luca won on Thursday.
OVERALL WIN? MAYBE NEXT YEAR...
"I didn't really think I'd take the pink jersey today but everything came together and winning near home is indescribable," said the new leader.
"Bettini did a great ride by going with the long-range attack but my Liquigas team did a great job of chasing him down and I finished things off."
The Italian won the amateur version of the Giro in 1998 but feels he is not a contender for overall victory here where the mountains in the last week may catch him out this time round.
He said: "At Liquigas we've got Dario Cioni and Stefano Garzelli for overall success but next year I definitely want to try to win the Giro."
Di Luca will wear the leader's pink jersey during Friday's 153-km sixth stage from Viterbo to Marina di Grosseto on the Tuscany coast.0 -
Well, if anger is fuel, Bettini will win
Saw the crash, nasty.0 -
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Simoni Vs Cunego - as predicted I guess Simoni isn't willing to play second fiddle in the team he sees's himself as leading. As with last year Cunego appears to have all the answers
Spain's Koldo Gil Perez (Liberty Seguros) mastered the first hill-heavy day of the 2005 Giro d'Italia Saturday, soloing to Stage 7 victory ahead of an all-star chase group led home by defending race champion Damiano Cunego. Italian Danilo Di Luca usurped the pink jersey of the race's overall lead.
Stage winner Perez was the sole survivor of a 21-man escape that bubbled off the front just 32 km into Saturday's 211 km route between Grosseto and Pistoia.
Perez, the overall winner of the Tour of Murcia in March, attacked on the day's major difficulty, the category-one Sammomme climb, whose summit sat just 16.9 km from the finish line.
Six kilometres long and at an average grade of eight percent, the Sammomme was the rudest test of the 2005 Giro d'Italia thus far, sawing the peloton to shreds and providing a telltale hint at who, truly, is in pink-jersey form.
Spanish climber Perez, 27, danced up the Sammomme with serene ease, graceful and out-of-the-saddle before bombing a humid, rain-slicked descent to the finish in Pistoia.
The Liberty Seguros rider folded into the drops, measured his effort and won the day -- the biggest of his of career -- 20 sec in front of a mad-capped chase group helmed by defending Giro d'Italia champion Damiano Cunego.
"I was very tired at the top of the last climb but my team director Manolo Saiz told me I still had a lead of over a minute and so I gave it everything to win," he said
SIMONI SAYS
The hostilities in the peloton -- and the selection process for the worthy wearer of the pink jersey -- were launched on the slopes of the Sammomme by Italian Gilberto Simoni.
The double Giro winner's (2001, 2003) acceleration instantly dropped the pink jersey of Paolo Bettini. The Olympic road race champion has been valiant in the first week of this Giro d'Italia but was forced Saturday to bow to the mountain-climbing prowess of the real overall race favourites.
Simoni's pace put the hurt on CSC's designated leader Ivan Basso, the Italian third-place finisher at last year's Tour de France losing contact off the summit of the Sammomme and trailing in 30 sec adrift of the group of all-star race favourites.
Basso now sits in 10th in the overall standings, 1 min 27 sec back of overall leader Danilo Di Luca. Its a deficit the 27-year-old can erase, but Basso is already digging a dangerous hole -- particularly ahead of Sunday's 45 km individual time-trial, a discipline not exactly known as his forte.
PRETTY IN PINK
It was Di Luca's second pink jersey of the Giro after winning the stage and taking it in L'Aquila on Thursday.
"It's great to have the pink jersey again and I'll try and defend it in tomorrow's time trial to Florence." Di Luca said.
"I've showed I'm riding well and so even though I'm not a time trial specialist I might keep it by a few seconds."
Di Luca admitted he would not be a contender for overall victory just because he has been on top form since winning three races and taking the lead in the new ProTour competition.
"I have little chance of winning the Giro because the final week in the mountains is very hard," he said.
"Two stage wins and two days in the pink is enough for me. Now I'll try and help my Liquigas team mates Stefano Garzelli and Dario Cioni."
GARZELLI GUTTED... THEN SAVED
On a stage made slick and dangerous by the daylong threat of rain, Italian Stefano Garzelli survived safe-and-sound -- until the stage's final kilometre.
Slipped up on the day's ultimate right-hand bender, the 2000 race champion hit the tarmac hard. Slow to rise, Garzelli displayed a thigh ripped with road rash and, paced by his Liquigas team, straggled to the finish at what could have been a disastrous loss of 2 min 27 sec.
However, because his crash occurred in the final three kilometres, Garzelli was graced by race officials and awarded the same time as the group he crashed out of. The Italian ended up losing a more-palatable 50 sec on the day and occupies sixth on the general classification, 1 min 14 sec back of Di Luca.0 -
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The Fassa Bortolo train rolled out the sprint red carpet for Alessandro Petacchi on Monday's Stage 9 of the Giro d'Italia, catapulting the hitherto frustrated Italian super sprinter to his first stage triumph of the 2005 edition of the race. Danilo Di Luca (ITA) conserved the overall race lead.
Despite one early climb and one early break, Monday's 139 km stage -- the shortest on the 2005 Giro's itinerary -- boiled down to what was essentially an inevitable mass-sprint launching pad.
After capping the category-two Passo del Muraglione climb in the first third of the race, the last 88 km of Stage 9 was a flat, fast and furious drag race for the finish in Ravenna.
Fassa Bortolo -- held blushingly impotent in the sprint finishes of the Giro's first week -- strangled race tactics Monday.
The Italian team rode to tactical perfection, allowing a little leash to a breakaway comprised of Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner) and Mads Christensen (Quick Step), but never allowing the duo a real window of escape.
Krauss, the current blue-jersey wearer of the Intergiro competition, and Christensen bubbled off the front from the first kilometre of Monday's race, trading measured -- and ultimately futile -- pulls before being gobbled back with 18 km left to race.
BACK ON TRACK
Fassa Bortolo lingered mid-pack until the final five-kilometre lead-in to the finish, slowly assembling their lead-out train for Petacchi.
Gutted by bad luck and botched tactics (notably on Stage 6 when a misstep in the Italian team's train crashed Petacchi three kilometres from the finish) Fassa Bortolo was an efficient -- but visibly nervous -- ball of energy at the entry of the final kilometre.
With the sprint hostilities launched, Petacchi jumped with the patented panache that earned him a record nine Giro d'Italia stage wins last year. Aussie Robbie McEwen, already a double sprint winner at this edition of the race, put up a fight but eventually faded to fourth on the stage, relegated for second by Italian puncher Paolo Bettini.
Swiss Phonak rider Aurelien Clerc tallied third on the day.
PINK PARADISE
Liquigas rider Danilo Di Luca's pink-jersey dream continued Monday, the Italian finishing safe-and-sound in the bunch to save the overall race lead.
As often happens in a major tour, the UCI ProTour leader has been transcended by the leader's jersey, the Italian putting in the time-trial performance of his life on Sunday's Stage 8 to prolong his time in the pink jersey.
Ahead of Tuesday's rest day, Di Luca leads Italian team CSC captain Ivan Basso by 9 sec and Discovery Channel's Paolo Savoldelli (ITA) by 35 sec.0 -
Well despite predictions Pettachi has been overshadowed so far this Giro by the Aussie McEwen! Another great ride by him after their rest day.
Robbie McEwen denied the well-oiled Fassa Bortolo train by pipping Alessandro Petacchi at the finish of stage 10 in Venice to net his third win of the Giro. The Australian, largely unaided bv his Davitamon-Lotto team, found the necessary strength to secure a memorable eighth career Giro victory.
McEwen's sprinting prowess has far eclipsed that of his illustrious counterpart is this year's event, and Wednesday's last gasp win rubbed salt into the Italian's already gaping wounds.
Petacchi belatedly won his first stage on Monday after a trademark zippy finish in Ravenna and, after Tuesday's rest day, looked the odds-on favourite to double his account after the three 5.2 km circuits outside Venice, the conclusion of Wednesday's 212 km stage.
FASSA DRIVE
Fassa Bortolo had done the hard work to put their man in good stead as the last loop approached its climax, but the irrepressible McEwen, riding without the lofty support of a team as well equipped as Fassa, caught the Italian's wheel and gave his counterpart a lesson in brute strength and tenacity.
The never-say-die Australian dealt with any threat posed by both compatriot Stuart O'Grady (Confidis) and German Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), third and fourth respectively, before kicking his heels to the very end, ousting Petacchi in a nail-biting photo finish.
McEwen's win was a true indictment to those who claim that stage winning is but a team sport nowadays, for the rider - and not for the first time in this year's race - had to do it the hard way, without optimal aid from his nevertheless spirited Davitamon-Lotto team.
SNAIL PACE
So slow was the average early pace, spectators of the first half of Wednesday's stage could have been forgiven to think that the men in lycra were in fact taking a second consecutive rest day.
Until the day's Intergiro sprint at 109 km - taken by Fassa Borloto's Fabio Baldato - the peloton trundled along as one, clocking a dismal average speed of 32 km/h.
A timely attack by Selle Italia's Raffaele Illiano just after the Intergiro caused about as much reaction in the bunch as would a Tour de France break by a Dutch lanterne rouge in a stage towards Bordeaux...
Although never amassing more than two-minutes over his pursuers, the Italian stayed a whole 73 km out in front, only to be caught with 30 clicks left to ride.
The heavy rain that fell for a fraction of the afternoon subsided and the Fassa men took off their swanky riding-capes as they concentrated on the job in hand.
BASSO SCARE
With 28 km to go, second-placed Ivan Basso (CSC) had a scare when he, along with around twenty others, took the wrong exit from a tricky roundabout, and had to cut across some greenery in an attempt to cling on to the front.
But in doing so the Italian picked up an untimely puncture and had to fight back, with five team-mates, to regain the pack, over 30-seconds up the road.
Once the final circuits had begun it was clear that other teams besides Fassa coveted the win. The T-Mobile men in pink were driving for their veteran sprinter Zabel, riding his first ever Giro, whilst the Confidis camp were on the front for O'Grady.
MAGIC MCEWEN
Liquigas' Danilo Di Luca was content to keep amidst the pack and conserve both his pink jersey, and his strength, ahead of the mountains, which start on Thursday.
Robbie McEwen's presence, however, was all transcending. Aided by just a couple of team-mates, the Australian sprint sensation held firm, checked Petacchi's every move, and nipped in to make it a Giro treble.
Adieu zesty sprint finishes, bienvenue tricky mountain passes... Thursday will be an entirely different proposition and McEwen will be happy to settle for three - for the time being!0 -
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Like Cunego, Stage 11 promised much, but unlike the pint-sized Italian, the mountain stage delivered.
Billed as the stage which would cull the overall standings and see who was truly going to compete for Giro glory this year, the 150-kilometre, four-peaked itinery did just that, answering all the questions we had posed prior to the mountains.
We now know that Basso is indeed the man to beat this year; that Savoldelli's dangerously nifty descents could play an important role in the destiny of the pink jersey; that Cunego is not showing the form which saw him win last year's event; that Gilberto Simoni is truly the Lampre number one, and that he never had any intention of making things easy for his rival team-mate.
JOACHIM EARLY BREAK
The action started early in stage 11, exceedingly so. After just one kilometre, Discovery's Benoit Joachim broke clear in a gutsy solo escapade that would see him pedal for almost 100 kilometres ahead of the field.
The rider from Luxembourg rode over the summit of the second category Passo di Cereda just seconds ahead of Venezuelan pocket-titan Jos Rujano Gaillen.
Jumping from the peloton close to the summit, the Selle Italia rider clearly had mountain points on his head as he swept up chasing team-mate Leo Scarselli, and closed down Joachim almost to pinhole perfect precision.
The two men were caught on the short descent before the relatively tame category three climb at Forcella Aurine, won by Credit Agricole's Patrice Halgand, ahead of Rujano.
Now the true action was to begin. Halgand broke clear on the long 12-kilometre descent and started the gruelling Passo Duran climb with 38 seconds over the peloton.
Before Tuesday's stage, the Passo Duran had been touted by many as where the difference would be made.
CUNEGO CATASTROPHE
In the Italian press, legendary Italian cyclist Francesco Moser claimed that the Lampre Cunego-Simoni "alliance" would try something on the Duran: "Simoni and Cunego will attack on the Duran. Then we will see what will happen with the small group on the last climb."
Moser was half right; the other half, however, was startingly wayward.
A kilometre into the climb and Gilberto Simoni, hungry like the wolf, laid down the gauntlet (to both the field and to the pretender Cunego), attacking from the back of the stream-lined leading peloton.
While the likes of Basso, Savoldelli and pink jersey Di Luca held his wheel, Cunego did not even flinch, rooted to the wheel of team-mate Andrea Tonti, unable to muster up the strength necessary to respond.
Halgand was swept up, and soon Simoni's group held a minute over Cunego and a group of chasers including Liquigas' Stephano Garzelli.
BOLD BASSO
CSC's Basso took the initiative straight away, benefiting from Simoni's earlier statement of intent to stamp his own credentials over the race. On hearing through his earpiece that Cunego was suffering major difficulties, the Italian showed his untiring class by increasing the tempo.
His surge broke up the 12-man leading group, with only Simoni, Savoldelli, Rujano and, staggeringly, Di Luca managing to hold on.
With two kilometres to go until the summit, Basso's unrelenting pace had shook off all but Simoni, and it was a true show of character that saw Di Luca return not only to Savoldelli and Rujano, but also to the duo in front, having been seemingly dropped and distanced.Di Luca is enjoying an excellent season, but no-one expected his spring classic and early Giro form to be carried over into the Dolomites.
DANGEROUS DESCENT
Atop the Duran, the leaders had carved out a large 3'22" gap over faltering Cunego, clealy suffering a jour sans.
Once over the summit of the penultimate climb, Savoldelli knew that the cards were in his hand. A descent specialist, the Italian tested the steel of Basso by breaking clear with some terrifying manoeuvers as the leaders hurtled towards the final climb of the day.
His confidence boosted by an unexpected midweek visit by team-mate Lance Armstrong, Savoldelli embarked on the Zoldo Alto ascent with over 30 seconds on his pursuers.
Unsurprisingly, the Danilo Di Luca show came off the rails once the gradient hit his legs, but only after Rujano - a climber by trade - had already dropped back.
TRIO AHEAD
That left three men in front, with Savoldelli leading Basso and then Simoni, with a 20-metre gap between each man.
With six kilometres to go the trio became one once again, but after Simoni double-bluffed a show of tiredness, Basso took the bull by the horns and attacked.
Savoldelli held onto his wheel, and the two men rode together - Basso invariably in front - right the way to the altitude finish in Zoldo.
Last year's Tour de France dauphin led out the sprint, but Savoldelli, winner in Italy three years ago, caught his wheel and passed his companion to take victory.
CUNEGO DREAMS SHATTERED
Basso was sure of pink as the clock started counting down...
Simoni, the man whose initial attack had exploded the field, crossed the line 22 seconds in arrears, while the indefatigable Di Luca came home at 1'01".
The Liquigas star will be wearing the white jersey as leader of the ProTour on Friday.
Rujano finished at 1'50" ahead of a whole cluster of individual riders, left-overs from the leading group brought about by Simoni's attack on the Duran.
An exhausted Cunego and Grazelli arrived just over six minutes off the pace, and with that deception the Lampre rider effectively waved goodbye to his chances of winning the race.
Languishing over seven minutes behind Basso in the overall standings, Cunego's Giro has fallen apart.
How ironic that it was his team-mate Simoni that delivered the hammer-blow.0 -
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