A LOT of climbs on Stage 15! Albeit not so much in the final part of the stage.
So it goes without saying that Uran went chasing after KoM points, winning the first climb ahead of Luca Mazzanti
Edwin Orozco - 2nd on the previous stage - then decided to go on a very ambitious early attack which saw the peloton chase everything down.
But Uran tried again, this time forming a move with Santaromita and Mazzanti again. Mazzanti soon rode off though and unable to follow, Uran stuck with Santormita and settled for taking 2nd place over the majoirty of the days climbs.
By the time of the Forcella Cibiana, the last big categorised climb of the day, Uran had already been swept up by the peloton. There were a few skirmishes, which ultimately led to Soler and Ricco holding a 30 second lead at the summit.
Annoyingly Soler had managed to pick up enough KoM points to keep Uran out of the lead!
52km from the top of that climb to the finish, but that did not put off Ricco, he tried to keep his slender advantage all the way to the end. Evans just sat back in the peloton of 33, with Pellizotti, Efimkin and Lloyd for company.
Incredibly Ricco managed to survive all the way to the final climb which ended the stage, but it was our pleasure to wipe him out with Pellizotti setting up Evans for an attack.
The long efforts have been Cadel's downfall, but here is an opportunity. He moved into a small lead with 2.5km to go, and still held it approaching the final kilometre. Van den Broeck impressing behind him.
But here comes the swarm, led by Soler and Popovych
And Soler makes it 2 wins in a row, in a front group with Cunego, Popovych, Di Luca and ... Evans!
5 riders - including Pellizotti - trailed in at 38 seconds, with further gaps beyond that. Evans is up one spot to 8th overall, which is at least something!
This means KoM point opportunities. Despite having a terrible daily form, Uran is able to go with the moves and win the first two climbs.
Come the final climb, the Colombian dominance has switched back to the GC riders. Saunier Duval's Ortega leads over it, but Soler is chasing in 2nd.
Evans tried to follow but couldnt. He is at least with Ortega, who is the current target, being 1 GC position higher.
Will it be 3 Colombian stage wins in a row? Popovych and Cunego are leading the chase of Ortega. Behind Soler in this group is Van den Broeck. Given his stats, it is quite surprising that he is riding so well, when Evans is not!
Cunego wins the stage. Notable by his absence is Di Luca, losing 43 seconds in 6th, thus lifting Popovych's GC lead above two minutes.
1
Damiano Cunego
TEAM ASTANA
5h08'15
2
Yaroslav Popovych
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
3
Mauricio Ortega
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
4
Mauricio Soler
DISCOVERY CHANNEL
s.t.
5
Jurgen Van den Broeck
PREDICTOR - LOTTO
s.t.
6
Danilo Di Luca
T-MOBILE TEAM
+ 43
7
Franco Pellizotti
DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED
+ 1'28
8
Riccardo Riccò
BARLOWORLD
s.t.
9
Kim Kirchen
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
10
Rinaldo Nocentini
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
11
Eros Capecchi
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
12
Edwin Orozco
BARLOWORLD
s.t.
13
Cadel Evans
DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED
s.t.
14
Sandy Casar
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
s.t.
15
Julián Rodas
TEAM ASTANA
s.t.
Giro d'Italia, 2010 Stage 17: Bolzano - Monte Baldo
Yep, more mountains. Summit finish this time too - which is where Evans has suffered the most so far in this race.
Early climb = Uran territory. Now leading the KoM competition any early points are vital to combat what Soler can gain at the finish.
A new tactic is used on the final climb today. Rather than have Evans try to go with the attacks when they launch, lets see if Pellizotti can try to chase them down.
Ok, so he won't chase them down, but limit the damage at least!!!
And you know what, he isnt doing a bad job! Keeping the next trio's gap to less than 30 seconds which is important as it features the two Barloworld riders who are just above Evans in GC: Ricco and Orozco.
It looks like the Giro is being decided here too. 2nd overall Di Luca is in the Evans group, while Popovych rides strong up ahead.
Into the last 3km, Evans now tries a move to close the gap to Barloworld himself.
And yeh ... that backfired.
First, caught by the Pellizotti group again...
Then, completely hitting the wall in the final kilometre to lose buckets of time.
Meanwhile, Popovych completely dominated the stage. The Giro title is on its way to Ukraine!
Soler was 2nd, and that puts him on level KoM points with Uran, the fight goes on!
Once again, breakaway for mountain points for Uran.
He has to ride hard on the 2nd climb to stay clear though, with the peloton already closing in
He manages it, which is vital, since by the 3rd big climb Soler is clearing off into the distance with Popovych.
Behind there is the rare sighting of a Bernhard Kohl attack. Winner of the 2008 edition, 3rd in last year's Tour, he has cut an anonymous figure since moving to Ag2r this year - only 18th overall.
It is brief from Kohl though, and he drops off further up the climb. But Evans and Pellizotti do not! In a much improved day they are able to stick with the 2nd group on the road, although Evans had had to really dig deep.
Its a nice 4th on the stage for Pellizotti, meanwhile Uran outscored Soler today, so takes the KoM lead!
1
Yaroslav Popovych
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
5h55'54
2
Mauricio Soler
DISCOVERY CHANNEL
s.t.
3
Riccardo Riccò
BARLOWORLD
+ 1'28
4
Franco Pellizotti
DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED
s.t.
5
Maxim Iglinskiy
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
s.t.
6
Cadel Evans
DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED
s.t.
7
Damiano Cunego
TEAM ASTANA
s.t.
8
Edwin Orozco
BARLOWORLD
s.t.
9
Mauricio Ortega
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
10
Saul Raisin
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
11
Kim Kirchen
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
+ 2'22
12
Jurgen Van den Broeck
PREDICTOR - LOTTO
s.t.
13
Bernhard Kohl
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
14
Danilo Di Luca
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
15
Leonardo Piepoli
SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA
s.t.
16
Julián Rodas
TEAM ASTANA
s.t.
17
Juanjo Cobo
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 5'16
18
Sergio Pardilla
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
19
Emanuele Sella
DISCOVERY CHANNEL
s.t.
20
Tadej Valjavec
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
21
Joaquim RodrÃguez
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
Giro d'Italia, 2010 Stage 19: Livigno - Como
That's it for the mountains. Next is a hill stage to Como. As earlier in the race has shown, these stages provide opportunities!
2 climbs in the last 15km and on the first, Evans and Pellizotti both go charging off.
Ricco has caught them by the top though. Popovych, Barberi, Soler and Cunego join on the descent.
But there is still the second climb! Pellizotti: Go!
Franco is on a +5 day, this is his chance. There's the finish:
There's Popovych:
And here is Pellizotti winning!
A ride judged to perfection. Had the stage been any longer, it would have been game over.
Still I don't know how you can play soo good in that game.
PCM07 was for me somehow much harder than PCM06 so I never got around 07 and it was/is more or less a dust collector.
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
Certainly on Extreme, it is quite important to get the hang of the fitness system in order to do well - making sure to peak at the right time, and limit race days since race day form drops once 50 is passed.
One last TT, with some climbing involved. It isnt the longest of courses.
TT king Julian Rodas secures another stage win here. He caught Pellizotti on the line, beating him by 1'22. Not sure how that works out in terms of starting intervals!
Rodas started the day 1 position behind Evans, but the reality is that Cadel is in GC no mans land. 9th place, with no chance of change. A solid ride gives him 6th on the stage.
The final stage is a flat one, which usually is good terrain by Edvald Boasson Hagen. His fitness has deliberately tailed off in the second half of the race though, to help him out later in the season. Originally the plan was for him to abandon the race midway through, but the Points jersey changed that!
Chtioui got into the breakaway and was the last to be caught - with just 4km to go.
CSC lead the sprint out for Haedo with Gerolsteiner's Cardoso on the wheel. Both EBH and Sulzberger are up there.
And it is Cardoso who takes the win from Haedo. Sulzberger isnt as good as these guys, so 3rd is a good result for him.
EBH takes 7th, points jersey comfortably secured.
While Ricco somehow managed to lose 3 minutes, dropping a couple of GC places. What a pity!
But the team's success came elsewhere. A total of 7 stage wins, 4 of which came from Edvald Boasson Hagen and he takes the Points jersey, while Rigoberto Uran is King of the Mountains.
EBH actually managed to finish 5th in the Young Rider classification - admittedly at 30 minutes down.
And we won the Teams classification, which is always nice.
And yes, the GC was a bit disappointing, but 3 classifications does make it a quite successful GT.
---
Midway through the Giro, another ProTour stage race took place: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. It's a race DFL has shone in previously. Contador won it in 2008, then Igor Anton did last season.
This year's race saw a battle between two riders, in a fairly weak field. One of them was Igor Anton, but he now rides for Barloworld. The other is DFL's young Spaniard Justo Tenorio.
Amets Txurruka as more of an outsider here.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2010 Stage 1: Lerida - Lerida
Saunier Duval won the TTT, led home by Bauke Mollema. But despite having a strong lineup DFL came last. 1'03 behind them, and 25 behind Barloworld.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2010 Stage 2: Lerida - Luchon
Stage 2 took the race straight to some climbing.
On that final climb, Barloworld were setting the pace for Anton. But it was Tenorio who attacked, to no response.
He rode off alone, but there was no stage win as he could not catch the remainder of the breakaway in time.
Tassinarri and Txurruka also got a gap with late attacks, but Tenorio's ultimate gain on the peloton was a very good 1'27, moving him up from the lowest ranked GC contender to the highest.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2010 Stage 3: Luchon - Seu d'Urgell
A second hill stage, and on the main climb of the day it was Anton who went first this time. Tenorio took off in pursuit, as they picked through the break of the day.
Tenorio managed to catch up with Anton
Together they rode away from the rest of the field. 2 minutes at the top of the climb, slightly less by the time of the finish after the long descent. Anton outsprinted Tenorio at the end, but thanks to Stage 2 Tenorio now takes the race lead.
Meanwhile Andy Schleck - probably the best GC rider in the world following Contador's drugs ban - crashed on the descent. The fact he wasnt too active on the climb anyway, suggests he is out of form - probably building to the Tour which is a couple of months away still.
We got early proof that Andy Schleck (83 Mo) is out of form when he tried to follow an attack by Thomas Lovkvist (74 Mo). The Swede built a minute's lead on the peloton, Schleck got caught.
GC outsider Txurruka was amongst those to attack on those midstage climbs and try to hold a lead on the descent towards the summit finish.
Tenorio and Anton kept themselves safe in the back then, and onto the final climb, Tenorio struck first.
That's Anton launching a move behind him, and he flew straight past.
Tenorio struggled, and the gap went up to 30 seconds.
But a resurgent final kilometre reduced the deficit to 13 seconds.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2010 Stage 5: Puigcerda - Sabadell
Paul Voss took the stage in the breakaway, while Serbian - and former DFL rider - Ivan Stevic sprinted to 2nd place. Ignatiev showed off his all round abilities by taking 15th.
Giro d'Italia, 2010 Stage 15: Dont - Case Bortot a Belluno
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2010 Stage 1: Lerida - Lerida
