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Off the top of the penultimate climb of the day, Yaroslav Popovych seizes his opportunity and attacks. He, Damiano Cunego and LPR’s Gabriele Bosisio are all that’s left of the day’s break. Popovych is once again riding like his old self. Some excellent rides at the Giro in his early years saw him transfer to Lance Armstrong’s Discovery team. Although briefly touted as perhaps the next big thing, Popovych carved out a niche for himself as an incredibly able domestique. Last year he transferred to Lotto to fill the same role for Cadel Evans and was largely anonymous, dropping off the back of the bunch any time the pace went up in the mountains. This year he is back back with Armstrong and directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel at Astana and riding strongly again. Go figure.
Behind him Damiano Cunego is the one who responds. Usually a good descender, Cunego is struggling to bridge the gap. Today is his big hope of a stage win and salvaging something from what’s been a poor Giro by his standards. Indeed, to date, his most notable contribution to the race has been some slightly cryptic commentary in the press. After some earlier comments about riding with a “clear conscience”, he was back in the media again last week, speaking about how fast the race was this year. “Clearly there are others who are going stronger than me. I am giving 110 percent, and evidently it is not enough. But why do I need to worry, it is bicycle racing and there are other things in life,” he said.
Behind them, the race for the overall classification is beginning to come to the boil. The main bunch has already thinned out considerably by the top of the climb and as they approach the day’s final climb at Monte Petrano, race leader Denis Menchov’s Rabobank team are on the front.
Ivan Basso is the first to go, tracked by Menchov and Di Luca. Everyone else looks to be cooked, but as the pace slows riders begin to bridge across. Carlos Sastre, who just a moment ago looked to be in trouble, then makes his move. The first time he gets a response, the second he’s let go. Basso is the only one who tries to follow getting a gap on the chasers but still a fair bit behind the Spaniard.
Bridging up to Menchov and Di Luca is Lance Armstrong. However, his team leader Levi Leipheimer is nowhere to be seen. Inevitably, Armstrong has to drop back to wait for the struggling Leipheimer and try to pace him up the climb to limit his losses. Today is the day that the Giro slipped away from Leipheimer. The favourite almost by default at the start, since there were question marks over the form of many other contenders, the American has proved once again that he isn’t really in the top tier of riders. Armstrong, who looked well off the pace in the first half of the race is now looking ominous and appears to be riding himself into the form that would see him classed as a threat in the Tour, something which is almost unbelievable when you consider his age and the length of time he has been away from the sport.
Sastre meanwhile has caught and passed Cunego and Popovych, who have both finally succumbed to the combination of a tough stage and unyielding heat. The stage win is now his and while his gap isn’t significant, the time bonuses for the win mean that he has taken back 41 seconds from Menchov. With Leipheimer and Pellizotti blowing up, he is now up to third overall. Still 2 minutes and 19 seconds back from Menchov, he will have to attack again in the coming days if he is to take the pink jersey.
Behind him, Menchov and Di Luca catch Basso, who has been trying hard to ride himself back into contention. Basso has proven over the past two days that he is still a force to be reckoned with and finishes the day only 11 seconds behind his wilting team mate Pellizotti in the overall classification. But his riding is stil a far cry from 2006, when he won the Giro Terminator style, with over nine minutes advantage on the second placed rider.
Menchov meanwhile has played a clever game. Putting two team mates into the break meant they could drop back and help him on the approach to Monte Petrano. He doesn’t panic when Sastre attacks, since the Spaniard was three minutes down and he could afford to let him away. Instead, he sticks with Di Luca, who after the collapse of Leipheimer is his closest rival. Any time Di Luca attacks, Menchov rides right up to his wheel. Even at the close of the stage, Menchov sprints past him to take second and extend his gap over the Italian slightly. Di Luca’s peformance though has been unreal. Not a natural in the big mountains or in the time trial, he has stayed up there against all odds again this year. His only hope is that Menchov has a bad day, yet so far the Russian has looked untouchable.
Yesterday’s stage to Bergamo seemed unlikely to be one that would affect the overall classifcation. Although fairly lumpy, the terrain wasn’t severe enough to encourage a shake-up and the general consensus was it was likely to favour the stars of the hilly classics, since the stage covered similar territory to the Giro di Lombarida. Race leader Danilo Di Luca was in with a shout of adding a second stage win this year, while Stefano Garzelli was no doubt eyeing this up as an opportunity and Philip Gilbert probably saw it as an opportunity to bring home a much needed win after failing to register one in the spring classics campaign. Most eyes though were fixed on Damiano Cunego. The fact that he has won Lombardia three times was ample enough evidence that this was perfect stage for him.
The Italian has been having a bad Giro and was sitting three and a half minutes back in the overall classification. Having won the race in 2004, he hasn’t looked like repeating the feat, despite a number of good placings. He ended up voicing his frustration on Wednesday, when he made some thinly veiled comments about some of his rivals, claiming that he was riding with a “clear conscience”. “There’s a stage result that has punished me sometimes and then there’s a stage result, let’s say, in life, where everyone has to look at themselves in the mirror. I’m not the only who does the right thing but I do it. We’ve already seen some result rewritten when races have been archived and that hurts,” he said.
It’s not the first time he’s made these suggestions, having had a bit of an exchange earlier this year with Ivan Basso. Cunego began to make a big deal about the fact that he was riding clean last year, even sporting a temporary tattoo at the Tour de France. Previously though he had raised eyebrows due to his past association with Dr. Luigi Cecchini.
Back to yesterday’s stage, everything seemed to be going to plan for Cunego, with his Lampre team coming to the front at the business end of the stage and reeling in the day’s break. On the day’s penultimate climb, the Colle del Gallo, Cunego then sprang free in a small group containing Garzelli. However Mick Rogers and Franco Pellizotti then combined to casually toss a hand grenade into the race by also positioning themselves in the escape.
Rogers is Columbia’s man for the overall classification. A three time world time trial champion, he is capable of riding a good stage race but was a bit of an unknown quantity coming into the Giro. He has missed much of the past two years due to injury, but has begun to look like he is coming back to form this year and has been tipped as a darkhorse for the general classification and started the day third overall, just 36 seconds down from Di Luca.
Pellizotti meanwhile led Liquigas at last year’s Giro and finished a strong fourth. With Ivan Basso now on the team, the two officially are class as co-leaders, but most observers would class Pellizotti as Plan B. Basso’s primacy was underlined on stage five, when he and the other leading contenders rode away from Pellizotti on the the Alpe di Siusi. Nevertheless, he remained only 1:27 off the lead in the overall classification.
While the presence of Pellizotti and Rogers in the break didn’t seem to bother the other favourites, Astana’s Levi Leipheimer decided that he was leaving nothing to chance and attacked out of the peloton to bridge across to the group. This was now a very dangerous escape and a furious pursuit was mounted. Di Luca’s LPR team had to bury themselves at the front to protect his maglia rosa, assisted by Rabobank’s Laurens Ten Dam, who was riding for his team leader Denis Menchov. The break was duly caught, destroying Cunego and Garzelli’s chances of a stage win. With the bunch clearly wiped out from the pursuit, Kanstantsin Siutsou launched an opportunistic attack to solo home for the stage win, the second in the row for the Columbia team.
The Giro d’Italia kicks off in Venice today. The centenary edition of the Italian national tour, this year’s event is a little different from the norm. It abandons its usual finish in Milan in favour of a trip to the capital city Rome and features a parcours that could throw up some interesting results. As with every Giro, there is plenty of climbing involved, but this year there isn’t much opportunity for the heavy hitters in the time trial to make an impact. The entire race is book ended by two short time trials, a 20km team affair in Venice and a 14km individual test in Rome. The main individual time trial comes on Stage 12, an epic 60km course that appears both technical and hilly. It’s the kind of TT that could allow many of the climbers to put in strong times and remain in contention.
While the Giro is one of the premier events on the cycling calendar it has always played second fiddle to the Tour de France and recent years have seen many top riders keep their powder dry until July. However, this year’s race has attracted huge array of talent for one reason or another and it is likely to be the most open Giro in years. There are five former winners taking part, in addition to two Tour de France winners and a Vuelta victor to boot. While there are some obvious favourites, many are coming back from injuries, suspension and, in one case, retirement. As a result, it’s hard to call a winner, but here are some of riders who should be in contention:
1. Levi Leipheimer
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I can hardly believe it myself, but somehow the American has emerged to be the favourite, on paper at least. Over the past couple of years he has developed into a serious grand tour contender. He grabbed second in the Vuelta last year and came third in the 2007 Tour de France. Yet there is something about Leipheimer that doesn’t convince. For a start, he appears doomed to play second fiddle to someone else. His own team hired first Ivan Basso and later Alberto Contador to play the starring role and this year he found himself slipping further down the pecking order with Lance Armstrong’s return from retirement. It is only by default that he’s found himself to be Astana’s main man for the Giro, given that Armstrong’s collar bone break put him behind schedule in terms of preparing for the Giro. One can’t help but wonder if this lack of confidence in him isn’t justified. Leipheimer is a great time trialist, but in the mountains he often comes across as a bit timid. He’s a great man for following wheels, but rarely attacks. All of this is good enough for a top five position, but you have to wonder if has the killer instinct to take a really big win.
2. Ivan Basso
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The favourite in many people’s eyes, Basso won the Giro in 2006 and then promptly got caught by the Operation Puerto doping investigation and was slapped with a two year suspension. Two years away from the sport leaves a lot of unanswered questions. At the time of his suspension he was emerging as the premier Grand Tour rider of his generation, but even the most dedicated riders (and Basso appears to have taken his training very seriously during his suspension) will struggle to get back to where they were. There is also the tricky doping question, namely how well can he do now assuming he’s riding clean (which he always insists he did, hilariously claiming he was caught before he got a chance to dope). So far, he’s been making all the right noises. His first race back in an end-season race in Japan saw him grab third behind compatriots Cunego and Visconti. He showed well in the Tirreno – Adriatico, doing a lot of hard riding for his team and then topped off his Giro preparations by winning the Giro del Trentino last month. A three week tour is a different kettle of fish and we won’t know until the racing gets going whether Basso still has the edge.
3. Damiano Cunego
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Il Piccolo Principe grabbed a surprise Giro win in 2004 at the tender age of 22, much to the annoyance of his team leader Gilberto Simoni (we’ll have more about that later). Since then however, Cunego hasn’t been able repeat the feat. His form dipped for a year or two due to a bout of glandular fever and over the past two years he has emerged as one of the premier contenders for the hilly classics. That hasn’t stopped him from throwing his hat into the ring for the Grand Tours, coming 4th in the Giro in 2006 and 5th in 2007. Last year he skipped the Italian race in favour of the Tour de France, but wilted badly in the mountains. Cunego was quiet enough in the Ardennes races in April, leading one to conclude he’s either a little off form or trying to peak for the Giro. This year’s race is suited to him however. The climbing isn’t as severe as other years, suiting his punchy style and the hilly time trial could enable him to stay in contention. The fact that he hasn’t threatened in a few years now combined with the return of Basso means that there is less local pressure on him to win, another factor that could swing in his favour.
4. Lance Armstrong
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The seven time Tour de France winner took everyone by surprise last year when he announced his return from retirement. While he says he’s doing it to promote awareness of his cancer campaign, one does get the sense that the hyper-competitive Texan couldn’t resist the lure of competing once again. With team mate Alberto Contador first in line for the leadership position at the Tour de France, Armstrong turned his attention to the Giro, a race he’s neve competed in. A few early season showings proved that he wasn’t totally off the pace at least, but he suffered a severe setback in his preparations when he broke his collar bone at the Vuelta Castilla y Leon. That left him in a race against time to regain fitness for the Giro and vaulted his team mate Levi Leipheimer into the role of Astana’s main man for the race. Armstrong is 37, hasn’t ridden a grand tour since 2005 and has very little racing in his legs going into this one. In short, he looks like a very long shot. But stranger things have been known to happen in cycling.
5. Gilberto Simoni
The veteran Italian, now aged 37, has two Giro wins under his belt and may well be in his last season. Simoni though remains a serious contender, driven by the fact that he feels he should have won more. In 2002, he missed out on repeating his win from the previous year after being suspended for cocaine use, something he was subsequently exonerated of. In 2004, his team mate Damiano Cunego managed to ride off with the win, despite the fact that he was meant to be working for his captain. Simoni is outspoken if anything and his feuds with other riders have lit up many a Giro. In 2004 he called Cunego a “bastard” in front of journalists and in 2006 he famously dubbed Ivan Basso’s riding as “extraterrestrial” pointing a finger months before Basso was named in the Puerto investigation. Cunego and Simoni have reportedly kissed and made up this year, an alliance of convenience driven by Basso’s chumminess with Armstrong. However, while Simoni will no doubt give his all, age has begun to work against him and its hard to see him mounting the top step again.
6. Danilo Di Luca
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The Killer was a surprise Giro victor in 2007. A strong rider in the hilly classics, many had doubted that Di Luca had the legs for the high mountains or the powers of recovery for a three week race. Since then he was thrown out of the Liquigas team after garnering a six month suspension over the Oil for Drugs doping scandal and is now racing with the Pro Continental outfit LPR. The upshot is that Di Luca hasn’t won as many invitations to the big races as before and, as such, is a bit of an unknown quantity at present. Still, he has looked strong at the Tirreno – Adriatico and Giro del Trentino this year, but one gets the sense that Di Luca may struggle to win against the firepower that is lining out for this year’s Giro. He’ll be in the mix and is a candidate for a stage win or two, but the overall could be beyond him.
7. Carlos Sastre
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It is something of a surprise that last year’s Tour de France winner is racing the Giro this year, given that he usually concentrates his efforts on the Tour and the Vuelta. On paper, Sastre looks like he is using this as a training exercise for the Tour and if that’s the case we shouldn’t expect much from him. However, Sastre knows that he’ll be up against much stiffer competition in this year’s Tour, with the return of Alberto Contador and the fact that the Schleck brothers will be racing against him and not for him this year. The Giro could be a better shot of another grand tour win. However, Sastre has been very quiet during the year to date, so if that is the plan, he has played his cards very close to his chest. But he was also very quiet in the run up to last year’s Tour, so you never know.
8. Denis Menchov
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Like Sastre, the received wisdom is that the Russian is riding the Giro in preparation for the Tour, something he did last year too. That didn’t stop him from coming in 5th, so Menchov can’t be ruled out as a serious operator. It’s also easy to forget that he has two Vueltas already under his belt. Menchov is in no position to bank on a Tour win, so if he senses an opportunity here, he may well go for it.
9. Stefano Garzelli
Garzelli’s sole Giro win came in 2000, when his team mate Marco Pantani was on the wane. Since then Garzelli’s career has had its ups and downs and includes being thrown out of the 2002 event for doping. Now racing for the Pro Continental outfit Aqua e Sapone, Garzelli rode a good Giro in 2007, when he won two stages. However, his team failed to garner an invite for last year’s event. Garzelli doesn’t appear to have the legs to be an overall candidate any more, but judging by his form to date this year, which includes a second place at the Tirreno – Adriatico, he is likely to feature at the business end of the race and could very well grab a stage or two.
Italian rider Damiano Cunego has been talking about his ambitions for a second Giro d’Italia this year. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport he expressed a hope that this year’s race would be less tainted by doping than the last one. Remember, Riccardo Riccò and Emanuele Sella both rode strongly, but were subsequently busted for the new blood booster CERA. According to Cunego:
“I only hope that there is a balanced playing field, otherwise those who have talked so much about transparency would be better to keep quiet.”
Ivan Basso, who is back this year after a two year suspension, then took a swing at Cunego on Twitter:
“im reading gazzetta del sport if cunego refers to me about trasparency.i find it very funny..”
No love lost there then.
