David Arroyo

On the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia, from Mogliano Veneto to the summit finish on Monte Zoncolan, the pain was to be seen written on the faces of even the best climbers. Cadel Evans of BMC Racing took second place, claimed the red points jersey and is now fifth overall.

22 percent gradient

On the notorious ascent of the 1730-meter high Monte Zoncolan, with a gradient of up to 22 percent, Cadel Evans of the BMC Racing Team and Ivan Basso (Liquigas) formed a leading duo six kilometers before the finish, leaving other favorites in their wake. Two kilometers later, Basso upped the tempo and broke free from the Australian. “Basso took me by surprise. He was the best of all of us today. He maintained his rhythm and I kept mine – and his was a bit faster. We’ll see what happens in the next few days,” said Cadel Evans. In winning the 222-kilometer stage, the Italian crossed the line a minute and nineteen seconds ahead of the world champion, who worked his way up to fifth in the overall classification. Cadel also claimed the red jersey previously worn by Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) as points leader. David Arroyo (Caisse d’Epargne) has kept the pink jersey.

POZZATO SIGNS HIS FIRST AT THE GIRO!

The Italian flag shines on the pink roads of the Giro! Pippo Pozzato has nailed his first victory of the season and his first career triumph in the Giro d’Italia.

Thursday, May 20th, the Italian champion riding for Team Katusha won the 12th stage of the Pink Race that started in Città Sant’Angelo and arrived at Porto Recanati. In an extraordinary sprint at the end of a breakaway that came about in the final kilometres, Pozzato beat the French competition Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) and Jerome Pineau (Quick Step). This is the first victory for an Italian rider in the 2010 Giro d’Italia.

“I’m thrilled with this win – says Pippo- , winning at the Giro while wearing the tri-coloured national jersey has made this victory even sweeter! This is a fantastic success that I’d like to dedicate to my team, to all my fans and to all of Italy, but also to myself, after the slew of bad luck that afflicted me in the first part of the season.”

His tri-coloured jersey is complemented by his tri-coloured Ergo 2 Carbon Lite shoes, made especially for the Italian champion by Sidi. For Pozzato, who already has two victories at the Tour de France and a Milano San Remo under his belt, and who also wore the amarillo leader’s jersey in the Vuelta a España, this is his 41st victory as a pro.

And surely one of the best in his career!

Giro © Tim de Waele

Cervélo TestTeam put four riders into the winning breakaway in Wednesday’s epic 262km 11th stage and team captain Carlos Sastre (ESP) catapulted back into contention at the 2010 Giro d’Italia.

Sastre sprinted to third and climbed to eighth overall, at 7:09 behind new leader Richie Porte (AUS). More importantly, Sastre took back nearly 13 minutes on his main rivals as a huge group of more than 50 riders peeled away early in the cold and hilly stage to L’Aquila.

“I’ve never seen anything like this stage today. I was the last rider to bridge across to the breakaway and we quickly realized that something special was happening today,” Sastre said after the stage. “I am very happy that the luck is finally with us again after so much bad luck in the first half of this Giro. I came to this Giro hoping to win and after today, with the great work the team did, everything is possible as we go into the second half of the race.”

Sastre started the Giro’s longest stage nearly 10 minutes behind the favorites, but wisely snuck into the day’s huge, 56-rider breakaway in the opening 20km. Three other Cervélo teammates made the selection, including Xavier Tondo (ESP), Volodimir Gustov (UKR) and Marcel Wyss (SUI).

Despite a heavy change from the top GC favorites who missed the move, the breakaway crossed the line 12:42 ahead of the main pack. Evgeni Petrov (RUS) won the stage and Porte inherited the race leader’s jersey from Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ), who slipped to 12th at 9:58 back.

Wyss and Gustov buried themselves early to help widen the gap to a race-high 18 minutes. Thanks to the unified effort, Tondo climbed up to fourth overall at 3:54 back in an epic breakaway rarely seen in modern cycling.

“We knew this is the stage that could change everything. Today the team was very attentive. Four riders in the front, with Carlos and I, and the team worked very hard to make it happen,” Tondo said. “Today the story of the Giro changed.”

After Tuesday’s sunny day, rain and cold once again descended on the race for the Giro’s longest stage. Cervélo sport director Alex Sans Vega said they knew today’s stage would present a unique opportunity.

“We studied this stage a few days ago and knew it could be very explosive. The distance was very long and it’s been an accumulation of the kilometers, the crashes, the cold and rain. Everyone was very tired and at the breaking point,” Sans Vega said. “Our objective today was to gain as much time as possible. We had our top riders in the break (Tondo and Sastre), so we were most concerned about collaborating in the breakaway and widening the difference. It was really epic.”

After the dust settled, Sastre and Tondo now look to be in an ideal position heading into the decisive climbing stages waiting in the Dolomites in the final week.

“Today was an historic day for the team,” Sastre said. “I’ve always said that this Giro is very long and very hard. Every day we’ve seen something crazy happen. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? But now we have the hardest stages ahead of us. We will ride 100 percent to try to win this Giro.”

The 93rd Giro continues Thursday with the 206km 12th stage from Citta Sant-Angelo to Porto Recanati. The stage hugs Italy’s eastern coast and tackles some minor hills before what should be a breather for the GC riders and a chance for the sprinters. Or at least that’s what everyone is hoping for.

Stage 11: Lucera – L’Aquila 262km

1 Evgeni Petrov (RUS) Team Katusha

2 Dario Cataldo (ITA) Quick Step

3 Carlos Sastre Candil (ESP) Cervélo Test Team

General classification after stage 11

1 Richie Porte (AUS) Team Saxo Bank 45:30:16

2 David Arroyo Duran (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne 0:01:42

3 Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Liquigas-Doimo 0:01:56

4 Xavier Tondo (ESP) Cervélo Test Team 0:03:54

5 Valerio Agnoli (ITA) Liquigas-Doimo 0:04:41

6 Alexander Efimkin (RUS) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:16

7 Linus Gerdemann (GER) Team Milram 0:05:34

8 Carlos Sastre (ESP) Cervélo Test Team 0:07:09

9 Laurent Didier (LUX) Team Saxo Bank 0:07:24

10 Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:08:14

World champion Cadel Evans of the BMC Racing Team was one of the favorites at the Giro d’Italia who lost a chunk of time Wednesday when more than 50 riders gained a 17-minute lead that was still 12:41 at the finish.

262 Km Through The Rain

Evans entered the day second overall, 1:12 behind Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). But both were not part of the lead group that included Evans’s teammate, Brent Bookwalter, who eventually dropped back to help chase. “It’s difficult to come back on 60 riders when you only have a group of 26 chasing,” BMC Racing Team Director Sportif John Lelangue said. The squad is down to five riders after Jeff Louder (fatigue) and Mauro Santambrogio (stomach problems) abandon Wednesday. “The Giro is still a long ways to Verona,” Lelangue said. “We are only halfway. The big week of mountains is coming Saturday. So it’s still open – even if it will be difficult. Anything is possible. Look at the race today.”

Damiano Cunego

Damiano Cunego showed a strong will of winning the 8th stage of Giro d’Itali, Chianciano Terme-Terminillo with mountain arrival.

He attacked on the last climb, after that Lampre-Farnese Vini was the only team that tried to chase the main breakaway of the day: the attackers gap was too large and so Sorensen could precede Stortoni and Petrov, then Tondo and Gadret, escaped from the pink jersey bunch, reached the arrival.

Cunego tried some attacks, but he had no freedom and he crossed the finish line in 6th position, at 55″ to the winner and with 1″ on the pink jersey group of 8 athletes.

In the overall standing, Cunego is 9th at 3′08″ to Vinokourov.

“I had good sensation and so I asked my team mates to support me: that’s what they did in a perfect way, trying to chase the breakaway – Cunego explained – Unluckily, no other teams supported us and also on the last climb only Scarponi showed interest in battling for the victory. I’ll try again to hit the target”.

A bad news for Lampre-Fanrese Vini in the early part of the stage. Alessandro Petacchi had to quit Giro d’Italia: the bronchitis that has been giving trouble since Middelburg stage stopped him after 40 km of today stage.

“The bronchitis is giving me also asmatic troubles and so it is not possible for me to go on – In these days team doctor Beltemacchi tried to cure my trouble, but the weather conditions didn’t help me. It’s a pity that I had to quit Giro without having obtained the victory: my legs were goods, but the negative circumstances didn’t allow me to perform at high level”.

After the eight stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday starting in Chianciano Terme and ending with a mountain finish on Monte Terminillo, Cadel Evans remains in second place in the overall standings.

No time lost

The world champion rode a highly focused stage covering some 189 kilometers with the first mountain finish of the Giro d’Italia on the 1668 meter mountain Monte Terminillo. Crossing the finishing line in the same time as the overall leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Cadel Evans ended the stage in ninth place in the first group chasing the leading rider on the stage, arriving 56 seconds behind the stage winner Chris Anker Soerensen (Saxo Bank). As such, he remains in second place 1:12 minutes behind the overall leader.

Good team work

“The prime aim was not to let the competition out of our sight. We were successful in doing this, not least thanks to our good team work”, was how John Lelangue, team manager of BMC Racing Teams, described the performance. The American John Murphy had to drop out the tour. “He did a very good job during the first week and worked hard. That cost him a lot of strength“, commented John Lelangue.

Giro d'Italia, Stage 7: Evans Wins Epic Day

World champion Cadel Evans of the BMC Racing Team won his first stage of the Giro d’Italia Saturday in epic fashion, out-sprinting a small group at the end of 220 kilometers of riding in rainy, cold and muddy conditions.

‘A Good Position’

Evans is now second overall, 1:12 behind new leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). He becomes the first reigning world champion to win a stage of the Giro since Moreno Argentin in 1987 and the 10th Australian to do it. “I think second is a good position to be in right now,” Evans said. “We’ll see tomorrow how the first true mountain stage goes. There’s a long way to go before Verona.” Evans and Vinokourov shattered the race by driving the pace up the hard-packed limestone climb of Strade Bianchi. “It’s a stage that was suited for me and we prepared for well for it. The course reconnaissance we did paid off.”

A Team Effort

BMC Racing Team Director Sportif John Lelangue said words could not describe the horrific conditions – something he hadn’t seen in 20 years in the sport. “Winning the day wasn’t really the plan this morning, but there was a time bonus, so that helped,” Lelangue said. “I’m really proud of all the guys and the staff, who worked hard to prepare everything for today. We changed Cadel’s BMC at 120 km (as planned) to make sure we had good Easton wheels and we had people stationed on the dirt roads with another spare BMC and wheels.”

Stage 5 Giro © Tim de Waele

A three-man breakaway survived to win the 162km fifth stage at the Giro d’Italia despite having the peloton breathing down their neck.

French rider Jerome Pineau won just four seconds ahead of the fast-charging main pack while Cervélo TestTeam’s Carlos Sastre (Esp) finished safely in the peloton.

“It was not an easy day today. It was a very fast race from the start. There are already big gaps in the GC, so that means that a breakaway has a chance to stay away,” Sastre said. “I am looking forward to the first climbing stage, because the race will be more organized than now once we get into the mountains this weekend.”

With the breakaway up the road, the responsibility of controlling the stage fell to the sprinter teams. Lampre worked for most of the stage before getting help from Garmin, HTC-Columbia and Milram in the final kilometers.

That meant Cervélo, could concentrate on saving its legs for this weekend’s first foray into the mountains and avoid trouble. There were no major shakeups in the overall standings and Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) retained the overall leader’s pink jersey.

“It was a really fast stage. It’s never easy in a grand tour. There was a lot of tailwind and we were hitting 65kph. Once the break went, the pack slowed down a little bit,” said Cervélo sport director Alex Sans Vega. “I think the tailwind helped the breakaway to make it by four seconds. It’s good that breakaways make it sometimes.”

The peloton seemed content to be racing again on Italian roads after three nerve-wracking, dangerous stages in Holland. Following Wednesday’s team time trial, the 93rd Giro enjoyed its first real racing day on the cleaner, less cluttered Italian roads. In sharp contrast to the crash-filled stages in Holland, there were no major incidents in Thursday’s fast-paced stage.

“I had fairly abysmal time trial, but there are still two and a half weeks to go, so I got my head back into it today. My role today was to help out Xavier Tondo (Esp) and Carlos. The last 10km were especially dicey, with a lot of hills and a little bit wet, so I was happy to accompany them to get to the line,” said American Ted King. “We could see the break with 10km to go, and we were hitting 70kph, so I was surprised that they stayed away. That was an impressive ride by those guys today.”

The 93rd Giro continues Friday with the 172km sixth stage from Fidenza to Marina di Carrara. After paying homage to Fausto Coppi in Thursday’s stage, the Giro tips its hat to French legend Jacques Anquetil on the 50th anniversary of the first of his two Giro victories.

The three-climb stage should be quite explosive, with all likelihood of a breakaway arriving to the finish to fend off the sprinters. Cervélo will be sure not to let its guard down.

“It’s important to keep Carlos in good position and save the energy for the coming days,” Sans Vega said. “It will be a big battle, anything can happen. A lot depends on the weather. If it’s raining, it can be a totally different race.”

Stage 5: Novara – Novi Ligure 162km

1 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Quick Step

2 Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis

3 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bbox Bouygues Telecom

Cervelo test team © Tim de Waele

Cervélo TestTeam posted an excellent performance in Wednesday’s team time trial at the Giro d’Italia, stopping the clock in 37 minutes, 15 seconds, good enough to tie for fifth place on the stage.

Liquigas won in 36:50 and put Italian Vicenzo Nibali into the pink jersey, but Cervélo’s strong ride means that GC captain Carlos Sastre (Esp) gains some time on some other rivals.

“The team did a wonderful team time trial today,” Sastre said after the stage. “The course was a really hard one, with the straight uphill. It was windy on the side and also at the back. The guys showed today they were so strong, they were really fantastic.”

After three hectic days of racing in Holland, the Giro returned to Italian roads for the 33km team time trial. The course was mostly straight, but gradually climbed more than 200 meters as it pushed south from Savigliano to Cuneo in the Giro’s fourth stage.

“It was a good ride, it looks like everybody is happy now. My legs were really good today,” said Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu). “We started normally, not too fast, not too slow. The first part looked very easy, you take a pull on the front, then you’re on the wheel. Then the last 15km was very hard all the time. In the middle, we also had a huge downpour of rain. The corners were slippery, I could feel it.”

In team time trials, it’s important to keep as many riders together as long as possible. The time is taken at the fifth man across the line, so an individual rider is only as strong as his teammates.

Cervélo started in the middle of the field and stopped the clock just 38 seconds slower than Liquigas. Sastre didn’t lose any time to overnight race leader Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) and took more than a minute on such GC threats as Cadel Evans (Aus), Damiano Cunego (Ita) and Stefano Garzelli (Ita).

The 93rd Giro continues Thursday with the 162km fifth stage from Novara to Novi Ligure, hometown of Italian cycling legend Fausto Coppi, who died 50 years ago.

Lampre-Farnese

The mostly flat route features two minor climbs midway to the finish line, so watch for an early breakaway and a mass sprint finale.

Stage 4: Savigliano – Cuneo (TTT) 33km

1 Liquigas-Doimo

2 Sky Professional Cycling Team

3 Team HTC-Columbia

4 Team Katusha

5 Cervélo TestTeam

A crash in the final 10 kilometers of Monday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia held up Cadel Evans long enough to take the maglia rosa off the back of the BMC Racing Team’s world champion.

How It Happened

Evans was not hurt in the crash, but even a furious chase could not keep him from conceding 45 seconds to stage winner’s Wouter Weylandt’s small group. “With 10 km to go, I had done everything right, I put myself everywhere (to be safe) and was relaxed and there was no wind,” Evans said. “Then, I came around a corner and the whole Sky team was on the ground. (Suddenly), guys were falling on top of me. Losing 40-some seconds to my competitors isn’t something I wanted to give up.”

Rest Day Tuesday

Evans is now 24th overall, 43 seconds behind new leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). The Australian said he enjoyed Holland, but will not exactly miss the country as the race takes a rest day before resuming in Italy Wednesday. “While Holland is very cycling friendly for commuters, there’s a lot of things on the road which you can’t see from the peloton because they’re so small and low and that adds to the problems,” he said.

Wouter Weylandt has given Team QUICK STEP its first stage victory at the 2010 Giro d’Italia. Today, Monday, May 10th, The Belgian rider won the 3rd stage, the last one in Dutch territory, which was contested on the roads between Amsterdam and Middelburg for a total of 224 km. At the finish line Weylandt came in ahead of Australian Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and German Robert Forster (Milram). Today’s stage was highly challenging, a race from north to south along the dams of the Dutch coast, whipped by strong winds, marked by wires that divided the group and punctuated by several falls.

“It meant a lot to me to win this stage – explains Weylandt -. I saw right away that the route was adapted to my traits, plus I know these roads well; it’s where I ran my first races when I had just passed to the professionist. I like racing in these conditions, with wind, when it’s essential to stay in the first positions of the group and be on the lookout for wires and falls. Yesterday I wasn’t brilliant but I felt like my legs were spinning well and this gave me the confidence to run a good race today. In the end phase I came out of the last curve before the final straightway really well, and I realized that Brown was very fast and he was riding my wheel but I accelerated and gritted my teeth, giving it my all to get across that finish line first. Unfortunately in the first part of the season I wasn’t able to best express myself due to a series of physical problems and some unfortunate episodes. This victory is very important because it’s boosted my confidence and the morale of the whole team. This is my first participation in the Giro d’Italia; now I’ll try to take it day by day, keeping an eye out for chances to shine, stage after stage.”

Thanks to this result now Weylandt is second in the special points classification (with 27 points) behind Graeme Brown (in first with 28 points).

For Wouter Weylandt, born in 1984, this is his second success in a Major stage race, which adds to the victory he obtained in the 2008 Vuelta a España.