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Credit: Hadrian Chevalier
Nearly two years after it was run, Ivan Basso is now a podium finisher at the 2009 Giro d’Italia. Why? Italian rider Franco Pellizotti was today handed down a two year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for having a Biological Passport profile that indicated blood doping. He was stripped of his 2009 results, which means that Basso now moves up to third. Interestingly, Basso only finished fifth at the finish of the Giro. However, Danilo di Luca, who finished second and Pellizotti, who finished third, have since been found guilty of doping. Carlos Sastre, who originally came fourth, can claim second spot.
Today’s ruling also means that Egoi Martinez is now the 2009 Tour de France King of the Mountains, another title Pellizotti claimed that year.
It’s happened before, as in the case of Floyd Landis, and it will no doubt happen again, but its still hard to get used to results being altered so long after the fact. Pellizotti’s case is nevertheless a big victory in efforts to stem doping in the sport. The Biological Passport is a relatively new development that doesn’t rely on testing for prohibited substances. Instead it monitors blood profiles, allowing for riders to be suspended if their profile changes unnaturally. His case was originally thrown out Italian Olympic Committee, who had decided there was insufficient evidence. The CAS thought differently.
If you ever wondered why Danilo Di Luca is nicknamed The Killer, one look at him today on the closing kilometres of the Blockhaus would put you in no doubt. Teeth clenched and wild eyed, he had all the look of a rampaging murderer. Di Luca was going at full gas, once again trying to seize this Giro by the sheer force of his own will.
Up the road was Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas, who after appearing dead and buried on Monday had attacked on the lower slopes in attempt to put himself back into the race. Behind him were several of his key rivals, including Pellizotti’s team mate Ivan Basso and Cervelo’s Carlos Sastre. And glued limpet-like to his wheel was race leader Denis Menchov, who held a slim 39 second advantage over him. Di Luca had to limit the time Pellizotti gained, increase his advantage over the chasing riders and somehow try to shake off Menchov. Such was the fierceness of his riding, that it was easy to believe he could accomplish all three, were it not for the the fact that Menchov appeared stony faced and unflappable as he tracked his rival to the top of the Blockhaus.
Di Luca has ridden this Giro the hard way, always at the front, always on the hunt for stage wins or podium positions to eek out those bonus seconds. He has appeared almost indestructible and it’s almost impossible to believe that a rider can go so hard for two and a half weeks and never show signs of cracking. Somehow he has.
Pellizotti though held on for his stage win and took 40 odd seconds from Di Luca and Menchov. It was good enough to put him put to third place overall, but not enough to really threaten the leading duo, since he finished the day a full two minutes behind Menchov in the overall. Pellizotti though made a serious statement today. While he was largely anonymous for the past few stages, his team mate Basso attacked twice and didn’t make much from it. When Pellizotti went today, he made it count.
If Pellizotti gained the most today, Carlos Sastre was the big loser, finishing 1:19 behind Menchov. Now back in fifth in the overall and 3:30 behind Menchov his slim chance of victory is more or less gone. Yet somehow this adds to Sastre’s appeal as a rider. He’s good, but has feet of clay and paid the price of his big attack on Monday by suffering today. Sastre spent much of the final kilometres riding with Lance Armstrong, who once again looked incredibly strong. Although he caught up with Armstrong by the end of the stage, his team mate Levi Leipheimer had another miserable day in the saddle. His chance of even a podium spot now appears gone for good.
While Pellizotti won the stage, Di Luca, Menchov and a resurgent Stefano Garzelli fought it out for second. Garzelli proved to have the fresher legs adding more points to his already commanding lead in the mountains classification. Di Luca though managed to put a few bike lengths into Menchov and grab the bonus seconds for third place. The gap now stands at 26 seconds between the pair. Those few seconds won’t make a massive difference but the important thing is that Di Luca has seen a chink in Menchov’s hitherto impregnable facade. Having complained on Monday about how it was impossible to break him, Di Luca now knows that maybe a well time attack on the slopes of Mount Vesusvius could give him what he needs.
Yesterday’s time trial, as expected, did bring about signficant changes to the overall classification and threw up some surprises too. Denis Menchov proved the strongest man on the day, taking the win ahead of pre-stage favourite Levi Leipheimer and a surprisingly fast Stefano Garzelli. Here’s how the overall contenders shaped up against eachother yesterday:
0.00 Denis Menchov
0.20 Levi Leipheimer
1.27 Franco Pellizotti
1.54 Danilo Di Luca
2.17 Ivan Basso
2.18 Carlos Sastre
2.46 Michael Rogers
And here’s how the overall classification looked after the stage:
0.00 Denis Menchov
0.34 Danilo Di Luca
0.40 Levi Leipheimer
2.00 Franco Pellizotti
2.52 Carlos Sastre
2.59 Michael Rogers
3.00 Ivan Basso
Let’s see how the result might affect affect the race for the overall classification.
1. Denis Menchov
The Russian now is holding most of the aces. Although his lead is relatively narrow, the remainder of the race holds three more mountain top finishes and a short, 15km time trial. Menchov has proven already that he has brought his climbing legs to the Giro, riding away from everyone else on the first serious mountain top finish on stage five. It will be hard to put time into him and indeed Menchov may very well go on the attack himself to solidfy his lead. Yet Menchov has been known to have a bad day and crack on a big mountain stage, such as on Alpe d’Huez in last year’s Tour de France. That combined with his slender lead means that victory isn’t in the bag just yet.
2. Levi Leipheimer
Although he came second, yesterday was something of a bad day at the office for the American. Why? His surest route to victory was a resounding win in the time trial and then protecting his lead for the rest of the race. Leipheimer can climb but is more of a man who just follows wheels in the mountains. Astana will no doubt drill it up the climbs, hoping to burn Menchov (and others) off before the finale, but if that doesn’t work Leipheimer will have to resort to something you rarely see him do: attack.
3. Franco Pellizotti
After getting dropped on stage five, I thought Pellizotti was doomed to domestique duty for Basso. Yet he has proved one of the surprise packages of the race, putting time into his team mate on Tuesday and a coming in ahead of him again yesterday. Pellizotti now has a minute on Basso in the general classification. Unless Liguigas bows to pressure of having one of the sport’s stars in its ranks, it is now in the enviable position of being able to play the one-two on its rivals. If either Basso or Pellizotti attack, their rivals have to respond, leaving a perfect opportunity for a counter.
4. Danilo Di Luca
He was never going to win yesterday and the time trial was all about limiting his losses, something Di Luca did remarkably effectively, since he sits only 34 seconds behind Menchov. Yet Di Luca still faces huge obstacles to winning in Rome. Not the best on the really big climbs, he is going to struggle to stay in contention on the three mountain top finishes. His best route to victory may be more stage wins like that achieved on Tuesday. Just as in 2007, Di Luca has bene punching well above his weight in this year’s Giro.
5. Carlos Sastre
Sastre isn’t a time trialist, so the focus yesterday was on staying in touch. Although he rode bravely, he is now 2.52 back on Menchov. Mountain top finishes are his forté however, as he proved last year on Alpe d’Huez, but with the time gap he has, it will probably have to repeat the feat twice. That’s a big ask.
6. Ivan Basso
The chance of a glorious comeback is now slipping through Basso’s fingers. Basso is still there or thereabouts, but is not the dominant rider we saw in the 2006 Giro. A three minute gap and a team mate ahead of him means that Basso is really up against it now. Like Sastre, he may try to attack on the uphill finishes. Unlike the Spaniard, the Pellizotti factor may mean his opportunities could be limited.
7. Michael Rogers
The former world time trial champion had a miserable day in the saddle yesterday and lost a big chunk of time to the other favourites. Although a stronger climber, Rogers isn’t the type of guy who can ride everyone else off his wheel. A top five finish is the best he can hope for now.
On the slopes of the epic climb to Sestrière, Stefano Garzelli is gunning for glory. It’s the queen stage of this year’s Giro, 260 kilometres through the mountains. The stage was originally meant to mirror the epic stage of 1949, when Fausto Coppi went on a 190 kilometre solo break to put 11 minutes into his rivals. However, issues about different radio frequencies between Italy and France, combined with the risk of landslides meant that the stage route was altered some time back, stripping Colle della Maddalena, Col de Vars and Col d’Izoard. What was set to be a savage affair still has enough to lend it the air of an epic.
Garzelli clearly has a sense of history and while he won’t rack up as many solo miles as Coppi did on that famous day, he will end up spending the guts of 120 kilometres out on his own. Although he has built up more than six minutes on the maglia rosa of Danilo Di Luca, his chances of vaulting himself back into contention for the overall classification are practically non-existant. Instead he is hoovering up the mountains points to cement his lead in the green jersey and maybe just about hang on for a win reminisicent of Claudio Chiappucci’s lone attack to Sestrière in the 1992 Tour de France.
Behind him he has two groups of chasers and ones he crosses the summit, they begin to make ground on him. Garzelli still retains the hope of latching on to his pursuers and perhaps grabbing the win.
Behind them, nothing much is expected from the main bunch. While the stage is incredibly tough, the last climb of the day is the relatively short Pra’ Martino. It’s summit is 11 kilometres from the finish and the consensus is that the run in isn’t difficult enough for any of the overall contenders to make a move.
It comes as something of a surprise then when the fireworks start at the bottom of the Martino. Liquigas once again are the team who light the fuse, with the excellent Sylvester Szmyd setting a ferocious pace that sees riders being shelled out the back of the bunch. Once Szmyd has done his work, Franco Pellizotti flies off the front. His caption Ivan Basso pauses for a moment, trying to let Pellizotti get away. The first time they try it, the bunch chases. Pellizotti’s second attack is successful however and before long he is passing and dropping Garzelli and co.
Basso is playing a clever if risky game. Pellizotti still is high enough up in the overall classification to count as a threat. Basso can wait for his rivals to launch the chase and then perhaps capitalise on it. Sure enough, race leader Danilo Di Luca begins a furious pursuit. Di Luca is protecting his jersey, but also now has the sniff of a stage win, since he stands a good chance of winning from a small bunch of the favourites, possessing as he does, a bigger kick than any of his rivals.
Not surprisingly, Di Luca catches and passes Pellizotti on the descent. Surprisingly though, Leipheirmer, Basso and a few others lose contact. Sastre, Menchov and Pellizotti manage to stay in touch. Bassos’s game has blown up in his face.
Entering the finishing town of Pinerolo, Di Luca kicks on the final drag. Only Sastre seems capable of going with him, but even the diminutive Spaniard is distanced in the end. Di Luca solos home for another stage win, having put every one of his rivals to the sword.
The stage ended up telling us far more about the race for the overall classification than we could ever have expected it to. Di Luca has put a marker firmly down that he is a contender to be reckoned with. He still has the challenge of two time trials and two mountain top finishes, neither of which suit his punchy style. Yet when he won in 2007 he proved a master of limiting his losses on such stages. Whether he can do it again against stiffer opposition remains to be seen.
Sastre, Menchov and Pellizotti have cemented their positions as dangermen and the Spaniard in particular should be written off at your peril. While everyone assumed he was building towards the Tour, he now looks like a man with the form to win.
Leipheimer and Basso looked more like mere mortals and will be kicking themselves about losing time to such a group. Although their losses are minimal, they could still count in the final shakeup. Mick Rogers meanwhile appeared to get dropped on the Martino, which doesn’t bode well for a man facing two mountain top finishes later in the race. All told, the race is still wide open.
