No matter how safe the riders or their team managers feel, today could see it all go up in smokes, as the Giro takes on the last mountain stage and presumably one of the toughest here. The tricky part is, that climb follows after climb. Most mountain stages gave the riders more time to rest, here it’s just up and down. Once you go on the attack, you should be able to power it through. An off-day today - and the Giro may be lost.
The important climbs of today come after the peloton passes Bolzano. The Dolomitse are waiting. Passo Costalung and Passo Di San Pellegrino give the peloton a hefty double-whopper to swallow at the start. Not much time to digest it though, as the Passo Giau is waiting, the highest point of today. And the finale sees another combination of climbs; first the hellish steep climb Passo Tre Croci, and from there the peloton follows one step further, up to Tre Cime Di Laveredo. This all over a distance of 200 kilometers, and so many teams eager for their last stage win opportunity. We expect a good one today.
We’ll keep an special eye on the 3 contenders for the two remaining places in the Top 5 (Hesjedal, Quintana, Kreuziger), and also of course it'll be interesting to see if Kelderman or Pellizotti take the 10th overall.
A good group sets themselves apart early on: Sarmiento (CAN9, Shalunov (AND), Machado (RTL), L.P. Nordhaug (BEL) and – once again – Gorka Izagirre (EUS) are the riders in the break. We hope that the Euskaltel manager is keeping count because we have lost the number of how many times Euskaltel was featured in the breakaway. One thing is sure, they kept the motivation going after week 2. The effort grants them 3 minutes at that point.
Sarmiento, Machado and Nordhaug claimed the first three places at the intermediate sprint and got some meaningless bonus seconds; more importantly is that they now head into the first climb of the day, Passo Costalunga, with a lead of around 5 minutes.
Since not much is happening, the cameramen are trying themselves at pseudo-artistic landscapes shots. With about 10 minutes lead, they cross the top of Costalunga. The KoM sprint is won by Gorka Izagirre, who nows holds 28 points. There’s actually a possibility he might get the Maglia Azzura. The two Italian riders, Brambilla and Pirazzi, who are closest to Quintana in the ranking, have not been featured today, but maybe they try it later on?
While the first grupettos form themselves further back, Nordhaug takes the KoM sprint of Passo Di San Pellegrino. There are some people lining up with water from the company San Pellegrino for the riders but none of the escapees takes any. Later on, the peloton lost half of its riders and many small groups will make it tough for the riders to get to the finish in time.
It’s the beauty of Northern Italy - Alto Adige/Südtirol and the Dolomites with healty forests, mighty mountains and pure air. Take the past 3 weeks aside, ban the upcoming pain – the riders might as well enjoy the scenery for once too.
We are in the third climb of the day, Passo Giau. And with only 6 minutes, things aren’t looking really good for them. The peloton has increased their speed, and Astana are keen to give Nibali presumably a last chance for a second stage victory. He may the Giro in safe hands, but only one stage win seems maybe a little bit too less? From the top of Passo Giau, there are roughly 40 kilometers left to the finish.
The race starts now for the peloton, 3 kilometers from the top of Passo Giau: Niemiec attacks, and Pellizotti makes a move too! Nibali is quick to follow. Visconti and Majka react for their captains, Betancur’s there too.
Kelderman and Kreuziger keep cool, as Quintana and Scarponi set themselves apart together with Porte and Uran. Both of them prefer to race consciously here. Roughly 30 seconds to Group Porte, 1’20 in total onto Group Nibali.
Going into the descent, Kreuziger has caught up to Group Porte and things look like they all get back together. This was a first taste of what’s to come though, and the peloton of roughly 40 riders is getting nervous as the last 20 kilometers are approaching.
The breakaway has about 3’30 lead onto the peloton going into Tre Cime.They stand a chance but for now, there’s not much time for tactical games. Gorak Izagirre leads them into the climb, the ever-active basque races once more brilliantly.
Attacks by Machado and Sarmiento show that the ideal harmony of the breakaway is only a poor illusion, and that the fight for the stage win is ever-present in their heads. Giovanni Visconti (MOV) and Niemiec (LAM) attacked from far out of the peloton, trying to make a surprise move or do they have to set themselves up for their captains?
There goes Pellizotti again in the second last climb of the day, making life a living hell for Kelderman. This causes a true reaction as Quintana and Betancur follow Pellizotti. Almost all favourites follow, but most of them don’t get very far! Nibali, Quintana and Pellizotti form a group of climbers though with Niemiec and Visconti on their wheels. Hesjedal, Betancur and Kreuziger are chasing them the closest. Porte is surprisingly still in the peloton.
Evans, Kiserlovski and Basso are working together, but they quickly lose time. Kelderman, he works too - there's not other option, but still he has to be smart now. The clock says he is 1’30 behind Pellizotti, but how much did the Italian spend so far and how much left has he got?
15 kilometers from the finish, Sarmiento tries his luck once more and it looks like he gets away from his companions for good now.
As Quintana, Nibali and Pellizotti cross the second last climb of the day, we can take a look at how the standings are, and right now, it’s a bit crazy:
From Evans point, we are right in the middle. Quintana has his teammate Visconti up there, but the Italian is hardly anything good to use anymore. It’s different with Pellizotti though, who is clearly racing for the 10th rank right now and does a great job I doing so. Lampre’s Niemiec got dropped, but still keeps himself ahead of Kreuziger and Hesjedal. The Czech and the Canadian are in a bit of a dilemma. Quintana is likely to distance them both, however both are rivals too, and both of them can drop the other to take the last place in the Top 5, and thus decide over the sponsor goal. With Evans close to them, the Australian can maybe deliver a last good performance before his team manager stabs him. Scarponi’s racing not for much today except for the stage win but not much luck on that front, different for his mate Kelderman, who has to do a lot now. They have a great gap onto Trofimov and Basso, but there’s also Kiserlovski who is in a bit of danger now. 2 minutes onto Evans are quite a bit, but maybe he’ll lose it? And then of course, there’s Porte with Uran and many others and nobody really knows what SKY are up to. Porte has a lead of 2’30 onto Hesjedal, even 4’40 onto Quintana, but guess how much he is done right now: 2’29. So, with all the other questions that were going on ahead of this race, there might be a miracle on the way, or does it mean just disappointment?
9 kilometers left: Kreuziger has dropped Hesjedal in the descent! Roughly 40 seconds lead and gap onto Group Nibali and Group Hesjedal. Kreuziger may claim his fifth place after all.
We havn’t seen much of Cannondale so far, but Sarmiento really does fantastic at showing his colours today. The guys behind him, they are his former breakaway companions and the GT contenders – it’s unlikely he will make it. It’s still 6.5 kilometers but Sarmiento really deserves Didi Senf screaming at him.
Porte is digging deep to keep his podium place. He now catches up to Evans and Kelderman, De Las Campos on his wheel. Uran is finished there. The two Lampre guys up ahead and Hesjedal are his next target, at these gradients of over 12% it could take a while though. Porte is steam-rolling by now, catching up on everyone.
The people can cheer for their heroes: Nibali, Pellizotti and Quintana enter the last 4 kilometers, the steepest parts of the entire Giro, with the breakaway at their wheels. This decides more than a stage win, here lies the decision in the overall classification. What does Quintana have left, are 2 more additional minutes even humanly possible against Porte on such a climb? Will Pellizotti hold up, what’s up with Kreuziger?!
Kreuziger does great so far, however Hesjedal profits from Porte right now, while Betancur and Scarponi have dropped Hesjedal earlier on. It’s a bit crazy now, the steep gradients don’t help lone riders but favor a group effort. Kreuziger has to watch out to not get caught, otherwise all that work was pointless.
Porte is racing fantastic back there, distancing many riders and catching up to those two upfront. There’s no more chance for a podium for the young Colombian Quintana, at least there was hope for a second. But now it counts for the stage win. Pellizotti meanwhile has dropped, and is roughly 2’15 ahead of Kelderman. He takes the 10th for sure now.
Hesjedal doesn’t have the best day, he’s always at the end of groups and we has to chase, he can’t really put in the power like others. He really has to fight here to keep up with the other riders, who are on Porte’s wheel. At this point, he’s 45 seconds apart from Kreuziger. That should be enough, in theory. But it’s likely Hesjedal will lose more time.
The last two kilometers at the front of the race, and this is how it stands:
Kiserlovski may find his limits at last today, as he loses time on everybody around him today. Kelderman, Evans and Basso have a good thing going on, but they have missed the decisive jumps and have been in a position of constantly chasing. Hesjedal didn’t manage to hold onto Porte, Scarponi and Betancur. Right now, he’s out of Top 5. Pushed out by Kreuziger, who does a fantastic ride today. There are remains of the breakaway here and there. And then, there’s Pellizotti, riding for the 10th place. Maybe even more. But just not strong enough for Nibali and Quintana, who’ll decide the stage win. Surprisingly there's very little to say about Betancur today, but he probably is tired and knows that his 2nd place is rather secure.
Quintana finds his limits too in this climb. Nibali just has the best day. And this is meant to be his climb. The Shark's acceleration is something Quintana can't surpass today.
It's Nibbles time! The Shark takes the Giro d'Italia, the stage win and additionally also claims the point jersey on this 20th stage. One of the best days this season for Astana for sure, and now it's only tomorrow left but no worries. Dare to celebrate.
We'll say more about the riders tomorrow, but let's put the mountain behind us with the summary: Hesjedal drops out of Top 5 and Garmin-Sharp miss out on their goal. Despite Quintana's great performance, Kreuziger therefor returns back into the Top 5, claiming the sponsor goal for Saxo Tinkoff too. Pellizotti meanwhile won the fight against Kelderman in great fashion. Due to Betancur's rather weak performance, Nibali has a lead of over 6 minutes in the General Classification. I think we can list that under true domination.
Really great report Shonak, that was a pretty epic stage and it genuinely had me on the edge of my seat wondering whether Kreuziger would take enough time out of Hesjedal to climb back into fifth place! He did a great ride today, and the manager is happy with him at last
What a waste of race days this has been for everyone except Cummings and Evans.
Call me sad but I've been keeping track of all nine of my riders over the race and can I just say Kohler and O'Callaghan have been having a battle royale for over a week now for 4,000,000th place. Kohler won it by a second.
Finally, Burton beat TGDP in his first GT, he's destined for big things.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Also I would love if Cyanide made the race engine so that a guy like Izagirre would actually try to take the mountain jersey when it was within reach. That would have been awesome!
Anyway a good report and a strong ride from de las Campos as well as Gorka.
As to your question In week 2 we had 6 breakaways (and 1 TT), this week we have missed 1 break (stage 16 I think) and there have been a TT so that should make it 10 breaks in 13 stages/11 RR stages. Pretty decent I think...
YES!!!!!
What a stage from Pellizotti. Why could he not do that more often. Not only did he confirm his top 10 but is less than a minute from 8th. He must stay out of trouble on stage 21
And hopefully Calzone, if he is still there, can get something on stage 21.
Stage 21
The last stage takes us form Riese Pio X to Bresica. 197 almost flat kilometers, but some bumps in the road ahead of the finish.
It’s likely going to end up in a bunch sprint on this last day, but still, there’s all the reason in the world to attack today again. Bookwalter (BMC) and Wurf (CAN9 show themselves finally(?) for their teams. Meanwhile, two of the most active riders, Simon Geschke (ARG) and especially Johnny Hoogerland (VCD), make a last appearance at the Giro this year. And of course, Euskaltel – Euskadi has yet another rider in the break, this time it’s J.J. Oroz. Their lead is quickly growing, at that point already 6 minutes.
It`s a dull stage and there’s nothing to report on. Not really surprising. Still 70 kilometers left at the only intermediate sprint today, about 5 minutes lead remain. The intermediate sprint is won by Cannondale, so they win something too eventually
Luca Dodi (LAM) suffered a puncture. Will he make it back into the peloton, will he?! Drama…
By the way… The only remaining Team Tirol rider, Jure Golcer, has a +5 day. What will he be capable off?
The finish around Brescia goes on a circuit for a while, a few laps. SKY, OGE and OPQ have some of the best sprinters in the bunch and like in the past 3 weeks, they again work for them. The breakaway is still up front and has about a lead of 2 minutes at 30 kilometers remaining.
Crash at around 17 kilometers left: L.P. Nordhaug and Paolini instigate it. Paolini’s teammates Garuso and Belkov are involved too. Ravard, Dupont and Pineau are some other names. Bulgac from Lotto can’t even continue and abandons the race now. No GT contender involved.
10 kilometers remain for the break. Hoogerland fetches some bottles, a little bit more than a minute lead. The peloton has messed up its chasing effort already once in the second week; might as well happen again. In the peloton meanwhile the pace is so high, around 50 riders can’t hold up in the finish with so many turns.
No kidding, Quintana attacks at 5 kilometers. It’s a small slope in the road, so why not… The Colombian must have listened carefully to his manager and definitely wants the points jersey. Remember, he’s only 3 points behind Nibali. If Nibali doesn’t score, 12th would be enough for the Quintana…
Hoogerland has attacked from the breakaway, 3.5 kilometers remain for him. He is really strong, like he has been throughout those 3 weeks. With so many breakaway attempts and so much fighting spirit, the Dutch surely has proven that he is worthy of a stage win. And why shouldn’t it happen in Brescia? Bookwalter is the rider to follow him the most…
The last kilometer. Quintana and the others got already caught by the peloton. Bookwalter is done and has no energy apparently, merely 15 seconds ahead of the peloton. But Hoogerland… he looks to have more power still…
Geschke and Oroz caught, the OGE duo Matthews/Goss shoots out like a pistol. Brouwers on their wheel. Gerrans is sprinting too, on his own on the left side. Nizzolo has a good wheel, Radioshack still need that second stage victory.
Stretch it Johnny, go-go-go… 0.5 kilometers!
It’s Johnny Hoogerland and finally the stage victory for Vacansoleil-DCM they have been after for the past 3 weeks. Congratulations to the team, and chapeaux to Johny, who has been certainly doing his reputation justice… he has been a true Man of the Breakaways so far, and now on the last day he has crowned himself undoubtedly the king of breakaways! Goss comes in 2nd and Betancur shows that the sprinters must be tired after 3 weeks, by claiming 3rd… and taking the Points Jersey by one point on the last day!
Vincenzo Nibali has now secured his victory on the last day. His domination throughout the past weeks has been clear, and the time advantage speaks volumes. The Shark of Messina had a bit of luck, when tactical confusion and bad crashes granted him time advantage on some of his fiercest competitors. But he also proved in the important stages that he can keep up. His biggest strength has probably been his consistency throughout the three weeks, he was always there to react and had the strength to defend.
Maybe a bit surprising Carlos Betancur is the Colombian to take the 2nd step. With two stage wins and two jerseys, this has been a fantastic Giro for him and the team. He was definitely the best rider in the first week, while maybe fading a bit in the third one. Still, Betancur proved for the longest time the most difficult rival for Nibali, especially because of his versatility on hilly stages.
Richie Porte has laid claim to the third rank on his victory ride up Mont Jafferau. He may had some problems earlier on and wasn’t always seen so much, but he was there when it counted. Maybe due to his opposition’s unfortunate misgivings, his third place was rather undisputed after his glorious run up Jafferau, but there’s no denying that he too deserves the spot on the podium after 3 great weeks.
Congratulations to all three of them and every rider who has done his team proud during the past 3 weeks. For the others, there’ll be the other Grand Tours for the riders and the team... well, unless you pissed off your manager too much and he fires you.
Final Points Classification
Carlos Betancur has caused here for a true surprise by taking the points jersey on the last day. By coming in third, he scored enough points to jump over Nibali and Quintana. One freaking point! Some people probably would have preferred to see sprinters on the top step here, but without a doubt, the fight for the jersey itself couldn’t have been closer with all the sprinting talent in the world combined. Congratulations to Carlos!
Final Mountain Classification
In the end, it went to a GT contender. The Maglia Azzura has been a long-time in the hands of the breakaway riders, but maybe due to Quintana’s hunger for mountain madness, they eventually all lost it on the Colombian. Although it was close until stage 20, Quintana eventually takes the jersey with ease. Definitely the best climber at the Giro this year.
Final Youth Classification
Almost three riders made it into the overall Top 10: Betancur, Quintana and Kelderman. But the young dutch missed out on the Top 10 on stage 20 against a very strong Pellizotti. At least, the Dutch takes a podium place in this classification. It’s certain that all three will have a bright EPIC future!
Final Team Classification
Well, well… Radioshack do take the Team Classification, and the sponsor goal has been 2 stage wins. The team has performed very consistenly throughout the past weeks and taking the team classification against the power-houses of Astana, SKY, AG2R La Mondiale and Lampre is no easy feat. We are sure this is something that Radioshack’s manager will appreciate, and maybe if the UCI shows some heart, they even count this win as eligible for Radioshack’s sponsor goal?
Stay tuned for the the overall Giro summary, which will include week 3, the full list of results as well as a list of stage winners! If you want to share your own and your team's thoughts on the Giro, then send me a PM! This summary will be the official place to praise the team, complain about the competition or make jokes about your team's archnemesis. I'll be sure to include them (you have time until wednesday, around 20 o'clock CET!)
Thanks everybody who was following and commenting on this EPIC Giro! I hoped you enjoyed it.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Anyway good to see the team keeping up the attacking spirit till the very end. 11 Breakaways in the final 12 RR stages isn't too bad for a team that came here for stage-hunting I think
Oh and could we by any chance get the full results for the secondary classifications ofr HQ-posts and stuff?
I post the whole classifications later on in the Giro summary.
On another note: A question to all managers, what has been your favourite moment at the Giro (except for your riders winning something )? And who has been your favourite rider at the Giro from another team?
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
