The sixth stage is one of those typical stages in the Giro where no one is going to win the Giro but any of the favorites could lose it if they are not prepared. The stage between Urbino and Porto Sant'Elpidio is a continuous of short climbs with high percentages and halfway through the stage the riders will have to face the double climb to Pitino Madonella and the Passo della Capella, both climb with sterrato. The favorites to take the stage win today should be the classics riders, as the route is very well suited to the riders that do well in the Ardennes.
Vacansoleil had no intention to control the break in the initial kilometers of the stage but the size of it was not too big. Among the 6 riders that were ahead for the first part of the stage were Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre), Sacha Modolo (Euskaltel), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (HTC) and Damiano Cunego (Trek). They reached the climb to Cingoli (109 kilometers to go) with a gap of 6 minutes. However, the bad news for them is that the peloton was already accelerating and Rob Ruijgh had lost track with the bunch for a while a few kilometers before. However, Belkin's work put him back where he belongs.
The double climb to Pitino Madonella and the Passo della Capella through sterrato had very high percentages and many riders were struggling to follow the pace, most notably the second placed in the GC, Tyler Farrar. Tinkoff was taking advantage of the climbs to increase the pace in a bid for Rui Costa to have a chance of taking the stage win. The gap of the break had therefore dropped to 3' 40''. All the favorites seemed more aware in the sterrato and no one accidentally lost contact with the front of the pack.
The important attacks started in the climb to Montelupone, which top was 36 kilometers from the finish line. A group of 7 departed from the bunch, including Pieter Weening, Rui Costa and Davide Rebellin. They are already very close to making contact with the break of the day and they opened a gap of 55 seconds over the bunch. Greg van Avermaet was working for Vacansoleil but some BMC riders were very close to the front and ready to replace the Belgian at pace making job.
The break by Rui Costa and Davide Rebellin was soon brought back to the peloton and the penultimate hill of the stage was used by the bunch to catch Sacha Modolo, the last survivor of the break. The Italian will be the leader of the KoM classification at the end of the day. As soon as Modolo was caught there was a void of control at the front of the pack, moment that Simon Gerrans used to attack. He was swiftly followed by Miguel Angel Rubiano and Rui Costa.
The first attack in that hill did not work but a group of four riders consolidated afterwards, including: Pavel Brutt, Rui Costa, Anthony Roux and Davide Rebellin. They reached the last hill with a gap over the peloton, 1' 45'', which seemed enough for them to fight for the stage and maybe for something else. However, the harmony in the group was over with 10 kilometers to go, when Pavel Brutt. Rui Costa was unable to follow. Meanwhile, Bjorn Leukemans was attacking in the hill from the bunch. The Belgian had a good chance to take a stage win today but it looks like he might have missed the chance.
When the race was more interesting we had probably the worst news of the day. Mikel Nieve crashed with a bit more than 5 kilometers to go when he was following an attack by Bjorn Leukemans. It seems like the Spaniard is taking a while to recover and he could lose his chances to get a podium in the Giro. Other riders like Rob Ruijgh and Levi Leipheimer were trying to follow Leukemans' attack but they were not as strong as the Belgian in the flat and could not join him.
Pavel Brutt, Davide Rebellin and Anthony Roux had joined forces again with 3 kilometers to go but they should not play games among themselves as they only had 30 seconds over Bjorn Leukemans and Rui Costa. The group of the leader, with around 45 riders remaining, was 1' 10'' behind, while Mikel Nieve had climbed to the bike again and was losing a bit more than 3 minutes. It seemed like the stage win would be in the front group.
Davide Rebellin took the lead in the sprint with around 700 meters to go in the stage. The Italian was the favorite to take the win in the group of 3 as he is the quickest rider. However, Anthony Roux and Pavel Brutt were still close enough that they were a threat to Rebellin. Behind them, the bunch had charged in the last few kilometers and their gap had gone down to 15 seconds over a group were Simone Ponzi had taken the lead of the sprint very early.
Davide Rebellin wins in Porto Sant'Elpidio! As expected, the Italian was the quickest of the riders in the front group and easily took the stage win ahead of Anthony Roux and Pavel Brutt. They had no response for the last change of pace of Rebellin, who took a much needed first win of the year both for him and Movistar. This surprisingly leaves Omega Pharma - Quickstep as the only team that has not won yet in the World Tour.
The sprint of the group was taken by Simone Ponzi ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas and Joost van Leijen. David Millar survived one more stage as the leader of the race but tomorrow could well be his last day in pink. A few of the riders in the top 10 dropped from those positions and we already have favorites like Bauke Mollema, Rob Ruijgh and Peter Stetina very close to the top.
The seventh stage brings the first mountain-top finish of the Giro d'Italia. After yesterday's hard stage with the sterrato it will be interesting to see whether the riders will be on an attacking mood and who pays the efforts from yesterday. Nevertheless, the climb to Rocca di Cambio is not a tough one and the differences at the finish line should be minimal among the favorites for the final win in the Giro.
A group of 6 riders managed to break away from the main bunch in the opening kilometers of the stage. The group included the leader of the Giro for a few days two years ago, Johan Vansummeren (Quickstep). Additionally, there were riders like Francesco Gavazzi (Cannondale), Julien Simon (FDJ), Luca Paolini (Astana) and Rafal Majka (Garmin). They reached the Colle Galluccio, the first categorized climb of the day, with a gap of 6' 30'' over the bunch. The climb completed a difficult middle part of the stage, which featured a few hills. In the main bunch, Lotto and BMC were the two teams that were most interested in chasing the break back and they were making Vacansoleil's day a bit easier.
Some of the outsiders for the stage did not want to wait for the final climb and a group of 4 attacked from the bunch: Davide Rebellin, Rui Costa, Stefano Garzelli and Simon Gerrans. With around 50 kilometers to go they were close to catching the early break, while the bunch was losing 3' 30''. Ag2r joined the chase in the peloton but it seemed like they were managing the gap and did not have any rush in bringing them back too early. Besides, it could well be that some of the teams are not willing to take the leader's jersey this early in the race.
The flat part before the final climb to Rocca di Cambio was not very interesting. The group of outsiders joined the early break and they started the final climb with 2' 45'' over the bunch. Even though the climb is 17 kilometers long they could well have a chance of succeeding at today's stage, given that the gradient of the climb does not go above 6% at barely any point. Additionally, Stefano Garzelli was very active in the break and he attacked straight away as the road began to climb. Lotto was setting the pace in the bunch with Rigoberto Uran and Sergey Firsanov both leading the pack.
Stefano Garzelli kept on attacking and with 10 kilometers to go he had opened a gap of 20 seconds over a group of 4 formed by Julien Simon, Simon Gerrans, Rui Costa and Davide Rebellin. Lampre is in dire need of points in the World Tour, so the Italian is working hard to look for a win. Meanwhile, Laurens Ten Dam had made the first serious attack in the main bunch and had built a gap of around 25 seconds. Emmanuele Sella and Miguel Rubiano were soon on the chase. It will be difficult for the main riders to open a gap as the climb is not too steep.
Laurens Ten Dam was quickly reeled back in even though Francesco Gavazzi waited for him to help him make progress. As soon as he was caught a group of 4 attacked: Jerome Coppel, Bauke Mollema, Igor Anton and Michele Scarponi. The attacks in the main group meant that the gap of the break was consistently decreasing and their chances of making it to the finish were decreasing. The chasers had caught Stefano Garzelli but were only around 30 seconds ahead of Mollema's group.
A few more favorites joined the group that had formed in the slight descent that runs through the 5 and 4 kilometers points. This group, which was 20 seconds behind the break, included almost all of the favorites for the final win of the Giro. The tiny gap means that it will be rather difficult for them to take the stage. Among the favorites that are missing from the group are Juanjo Cobo and Mikel Nieve. It seems like the Discovery Channel rider is paying for the crash he suffered yesterday and could say a final goodbye to a podium in Milano.
The break was finally caught by the group of favorites with around 2 kilometers to go and Jelle Vanendert took the chance to attack at that point. The Belgian's attack was not immediately followed by anyone in the group and by the time when someone had decided to chase the Lotto rider already had built a gap of 20 seconds. It looks like the winner of this year's Paris - Nice is going to take the win at Rocca di Cambio. It was Rob Ruijgh who decided to chase, followed by Robert Gesink, Rui Costa and Simon Gerrans in a group of 16 riders. The group of David Millar is already 4 minutes down.
Jelle Vanendert wins in Rocca di Cambio! Lotto was working all day in the front of the peloton and they got their reward with the win by Jelle Vanendert. The Belgian surprised the rest of the favorites with an attack from 2 kilometers and built a gap big enough to take the stage. His lead at the finish was 18 seconds, not enough for him to take the pink jersey, which will be inherited by Bauke Mollema from his teammate David Millar. However, in the stage it was Robert Gesink who took the second place by winning the sprint of the group.
The top 5 was completed by Peter Stetina, Davide Rebellin and Rob Ruijgh. This first mountain test has cleared who are the strongest men of the race as only 17 riders were within 1 minute of the winner of the stage. Among those who unexpectedly lost time are Juanjo Cobo and Mikel Nieve. Nieve will have it very difficult now, sitting almost 6 minutes behind in the GC. The leader's jersey will also by in play tomorrow at the finish in Lago Laceno as the gap that Mollema has is only 1 second over Ruijgh.
The second weekend of the race finishes with another stage where the favorites will have to battle in the last climb of the day. The Colle Molella is only 5 kilometers from the finish line in the Lago Laceno and the climb is hard enough to provide the chance to put a few seconds among the best climbers. Besides, the stage is almost 230 kilometers long, which might weigh on some of the riders after the two previous demanding stages. Today the break might also have the chance to fight for the stage as there are many riders that are not threatening in the GC anymore.
The stage started with the climb to the Piano Cinque Miglia but the break had been formed even before starting to go uphill. In fact, the 5 riders that formed the break reached the top of the climb with a gap of 5 minutes over the bunch. They were: Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (HTC), Sacha Modolo (Euskaltel), Jan Barta (Lampre), Michael Morkov (Tinkoff) and Kenny Dehaes (Sky). Tiernan-Locke and Modolo continued their battle for the KoM jersey and the British won the sprint at the top. Vacansoleil was setting the pace in the bunch with the help of Daniel Martin from Ag2r but with 200 kilometers remaining they were in no rush.
Even though the break seemed completely consolidated at the top of the Piano Cinque Miglia, Simon Gerrans thought differently and attacked in the last part of the climb and tried to bridge the gap. The Australian got to the top of the second climb of the day, the Valico di Macerone, losing only 1' 45'' with the break. Meanwhile, the peloton was losing 8 minutes. However, the chase from Gerrans had already lasted more than 40 kilometers. Gerrans is fifth in the GC, so if he makes it to the break their chances of success will be considerably reduced. The chasing is still being led by Vacansoleil but now with sporadic help from Belkin.
Simon Gerrans finally made it into the break shortly after the Valico di Macerone. However, the long section of flat in the middle of the stage was not good for the break. The gap had been reduced to only 3 minutes at the intermediate sprint, in Benevento. The peloton was managing the gap, given that they still had 69 kilometers to go, and BMC, Cannondale and Lotto were now controlling the pace. In the sprint for the points Tyler Farrar was quickest ahead of Matthew Goss and Andre Greipel.
The bunch was already very close to the break at the bottom of the Colle Molella, the decisive climb of the day. This was the trigger for Simon Gerrans to go on his own and try to maintain the lead in the 8 kilometers long climb. The only rider from the break that wanted to catch him was Jan Barta, while the rest of them seemed unable to follow the Australian. However, with Bjorn Leukemans and Alessandro Ballan pushing in the flat before the climb the gap to the bunch had reduced to 1' 20'', probably not enough for Gerrans. The size of the bunch had considerably reduced and only around 90 riders stayed in the group of the leader.
Cannondale took the lead of the main group in the first part of the climb and it was mainly Jurgen van den Broeck doing the job at the front. The Belgian has brought everyone back but Simon Gerrans, who is doing a great job of maintaining the gap at 1' 10'' with 9 kilometers remaining but only 4 to the top of the climb. It seems like the favorites are far more conservative today given that the GC is still very close and no one needs to risk an attack, especially in a 230 kilometers long stage.
The first attack from one of the favorites was done by Frank Schleck with a bit more than 2 kilometers to the top of the climb. The Luxembourgish brought Rob Ruijgh and Pavel Brutt behind and in the end all of the favorites followed, what gave Simon Gerrans a respite. The gap for the Australian was decreasing but not at a huge pace. He was at that moment still 40 seconds ahead. The main favorites, Bauke Mollema, Peter Stetina and Jelle Vanendert played it cool with Schleck's attack and let others do the work of closing the gap. In particular, Stetina will probably wait for the last week to shine.
Simon Gerrans was close to reaching the top of the Colle Molella ahead but he was joined by an attacking Frank Schleck in the last few meters of the climb. The two of them had a gap of about 20 seconds over a group of 20 riders led by Jelle Vanendert, Kanstantsin Siutsou and Davide Rebellin. There a few big names that had lost contact with this group, most notably Mikel Nieve, Rui Costa and Levi Leipheimer. It was even worse for Euskaltel's leader in the Giro, Igor Anton, who would be losing several minutes at the finish line in Lago Laceno.
Frank Schleck and Simon Gerrans had no luck and the group of the favorites was determined to fight for the stage win. They were too close to let the win slip with 5 kilometers remaining. As soon as they were caught Jelle Vanendert tried the same strategy as yesterday. The Belgian attacked with a bit more than 3 kilometers to go as everyone looked at each other. However, this time Peter Stetina was quick to react and the American was only 5 seconds behind as they entered the last kilometer of the stage. The group of the favorites had broken into 2 and only 10 riders followed around 15 seconds behind Vanendert.
Jelle Vanendert wins in Lago Laceno! The Belgian takes two stages in a row and this could well already be one of the best seasons of his career. Even though Peter Stetina tried to follow his late attack the American could not catch Vanendert and had to settle for the second place in the stage. The differences were very small in the finish line and no time differences were awarded among them and the group of the leader. Nevertheless, Vanendert will get to within 5 seconds of the pink jersey.
The sprint of the group was won by Laurens Ten Dam ahead of Bauke Mollema and Rob Ruijgh. As always the Dutch are topping up the best places of the GC in the Grand Tours. Among the riders that did lose time are Denis Menchov, Levi Leipheimer and Mikel Nieve, all of whom lost a bit more than 1 minute. The GC is still very closely packed and it will probably remain that way for a few days, given that there are no stages with major difficulties.
The race turns north towards the Alps after the stage finishing in Lago Laceno. Today's stage will be much more relaxed for most of the riders as it is shorter than the ones from the last few days and is mostly flat. The only difficulties will be three small hills in the last 30 kilometers but they should not prevent a mass sprint finish in Frosinone. Andre Greipel will be the man to look at today as he has already taken 2 stage wins in the Giro.
The four riders that formed the break of the day attacked early in the day but they did not have an easy life for the first few kilometers as other riders tried to bridge the gap but the teams of the sprinters wouldn't let them. They were Bradley Wiggins (Katusha), Bryan Coquard (FDJ), Zdenek Stybar (Euskaltel) and Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar). With 114 kilometers to go their gap was 4' 15'', clearly not enough to think that the main group would allow them to make it to the finish line as even at that point Trek was helping Vacansoleil to keep up the pace at the front of the pack.
The intermediate sprint was placed in Cassino, 69 kilometers from the finish line. The gap of the break had been reduced to 3 minutes by then, which suggested that the teams of the sprinters were not keen on letting the stage slip through their fingers. The sprint for the points in the main bunch was won by Jose Joaquin Rojas, who narrowly beat Marcel Kittel and Tyler Farrar. Andre Greipel was next and the points he took were enough to be the virtual leader of the points' classification again.
The chase of the break was uneventful and with 10 kilometers to go only Bryan Coquard, who had tried a late desperate attack, was still ahead of the bunch. However, the gap for the French was only 20 seconds and he was not a worry anymore. Trek seemed very motivated after the great performances by Andre Greipel and the American team had riders like Simon Gerrans, Fabian Cancellara and Michael Rogers working on the chase. Astana and HTC were also collaborating with Trek to guarantee that a mass sprint took place in Frosinone.
The fight for the position in the final kilometers of the ninth stage of the Giro was very crowded. The two best trains were as always the Trek and the Astana ones. Trek was going to have Giacomo Nizzolo working for Andre Greipel, while Simone Ponzi had taken the German's wheel. Meanwhile, Astana was a little bit ahead with Robbie McEwen set to lead Marcel Kittel out. Yauheni Hutarovich was right behind Kittel. The HTC train was a bit behind and Borut Bozic was going to work for Jose Joaquin Rojas. Other sprinters that were well positioned included Tyler Farrar, Kenny van Hummel and Chris Sutton.
Robbie McEwen seemed strongest than ever today but in the narrow corner before the last kilometers Marcel Kittel lost his wheel and was having trouble getting it back. Meanwhile, Trek was as perfect as they have been always in this Giro and Giacomo Nizzolo was going to deliver Andre Greipel to the last kilometer in a good position. This could well be the third win for Greipel. Among the outsiders, many lost their positions in the last two corners but Yauheni Hutarovich and Tyler Farrar still look threatening.
The lead out men seemed very strong today and it was not until they reached the 300 meters point when Marcel Kittel took the lead of the stage. The German looks good but beatable while it does not look as it is the day for Andre Greipel. The Trek rider is still behind Giacomo Nizzolo and does not look strong enough today to fight for the win. Among the rest of the sprinters, Tyler Farrar looks very threatening as he is making progress on the two Germans. There might be an alternative to Greipel's dominance today.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Frosinone! The Dutch surprised everyone by coming from the back and beating all the other sprinters in the last 100 meters of the stage. It looked like it was not the day either for Andre Greipel of for Marcel Kittel and Van Hummel took advantage of it. He had already won the first stage of the Paris - Nice earlier in the year, so it is not a big surprise that he managed to win among the top sprinters.
Marcel Kittel had to settle for the second place of the stage ahead of Tyler Farrar. Jose Joaquin Rojas and Theo Bos completed the top 5 in the stage. The other interesting point of the stage was to see who took the points' jersey. It was Rojas who now leads the competition, 5 points ahead of Andre Greipel. Tomorrow's finish in Assisi should be a good opportunity for the Spaniard to extend that lead.
Today's stage is all about the uphill finish in Assisi. The route of the stage is totally conditioned by the double short climb to the historical town, which is hard enough that no sprinter will think about trying to fight for the win. The rest of the stage is mostly flat, with only one short climb with about 50 kilometers to go but that should be no problem for anyone. The uphill finishers will surely be keen on taking the stage if given the opportunity.
There was a big battle during the first 50 kilometers between a big group of 15 riders and Vacansoleil, who feared a massive gap in the finish line considering the size of the group. At the intermediate sprint in Bagnaia, with 121 kilometers to go, they had a gap of only 1' 30'' and even Greg van Avermaet was working to chase. Among the riders in the break were Johan Vansummeren (Quickstep), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (HTC), John Gadret (FDJ), Franco Pellizotti (Astana), Wout Poels (Belkin), Diego Ulissi (Lampre), Jure Kocjan (Katusha) and Pablo Lastras (Discovery).
Vacansoleil finally gave up on the chase and no one else took the lead in the bunch. By the time they reached the only climb of the day (not even categorized) it was clear that the peloton would not be fighting for the stage. With only 46 kilometers to go the gap had sky rocketed to 9' 30''. If they did not chase Jose Serpa could even threaten Bauke Mollema's pink jersey. Johan Vansummeren looked interested in making the stage a bit harder and set a high pace in the climb but it was not hard enough to put anyone in problems.
The break reached the last 20 kilometers knowing that the stage win would be for one of the 15 members of the break. Some riders considered that they had no chance in the uphill finish against the like of Johan Vansummeren, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Wout Poels. Carlos Barredo, John Gadret and Sergio Henao formed a group of 3 that took a few meters over the rest of the break but their gap under the 10 kilometers banner was only 10 seconds. Meanwhile, Cannondale and Quickstep started increasing the pace, probably anticipating an attack from one of their teammates.
The three riders that were at the front surprisingly survived the first part of the final hill to Assisi and with a bit less than 3 kilometers to go Sergio Henao attacked again in a bid to increase the 20 seconds gap they help over the other 12 riders. Alexandre Vinokourov is leading the chase ahead of Wout Poels. Johan Vansummeren, who won in Assisi 2 years ago, is well positioned in the group. Meanwhile, Bjorn Leukemans attacked from the bunch and he was allowed to go ahead because he is not dangerous in the GC.
The second part of the climb to Assisi was too much for the three leaders as Alexandre Vinokourov launched the final sprint towards the top of the hill. However, Wout Poels was very aware and soon overtook the Kazakh rider. The Dutch is one of the best riders in the hills in the break, so the other favorites should be ready to react. However, the riders that followed Vinokourov with 800 meters to go are Damiano Cunego and Jose Serpa. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke is fifth but could be paying the efforts of the break he has been involved in because he does not seem to be making any progress.
Wout Poels wins in Assisi! This is the first win of Wout Poels as a professional cyclist. The Belkin rider has been a long time domestique that finally has found the taste of victory and this is not a minor win. The win by Wout Poels is the second in a row for Belkin, who took the stage yesterday with Kenny van Hummel. Poels' win was a clear one as Alexandre Vinokourov, second, was far behind. Jose Serpa took the third place ahead of Damiano Cunego and Pablo Lastras. The final hill was rather disappointing for Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Johan Vansummeren as both were supposed to have fought for the win.
The peloton made it to the final hill when Wout Poels was already celebrating but the gap was not going to be enough to gift Jose Serpa the first place in the GC. Bjorn Leukemans and Simone Ponzi started the hill a bit ahead the bunch but the first interesting attack was done by Frank Schleck. He was soon followed by Jelle Vanendert and Rob Ruijgh. Omega Pharma - Quickstep did a good job for Schleck to prepare this attack. Levi Leipheimer tried to react a bit afterwards but the three riders had already opened a bit of a gap.
The second part of the hill started with a very hard attack from Jelle Vanendert, who was about to catch Simone Ponzi with 700 meters to go. The Belgian is only a few seconds behind in the GC and he has opened a gap that would be big enough if he managed to maintain it at the finish line. Frank Schleck and Rob Ruijgh were a bit behind while Peter Stetina was trying to react in the main bunch. It did not look like Bauke Mollema was in his best day as he was having trouble following these attacks.
Bjorn Leukemans and Simone Ponzi crossed the finish line ahead of Jelle Vanendert but the Belgian was the other winner of the day. He managed to put 28 seconds between himself and a group of 4: Rob Ruijgh, Peter Stetina, Frank Schleck and Laurens Ten Dam. The group of the leader finished 48 seconds behind. As Vanendert was only 5 seconds behind in the GC this means that he will be the new leader of the race.
Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema were among the biggest losers of the day. The Ag2r rider is already 2' 27'' behind in the general classification, which puts his target of at least a podium in the race in jeopardy. In the case of Mollema, this drops him to the fourth place in the rankings behind Jelle Vanendert, Ruijgh and Stetina.
Cadel Evans is enjoying his seventh year in the World Tour and at 30 he is enjoying his best years as a professional. The Australian has always been a decent climber but in general he has had a tough time shining in the teams he has joined. Until last year his best had been the first one he rode for Discovery Channel. Evans joined the American team shortly after taking his first win in a Grand Tour, in the Vuelta a España. Janez Brajkovic and Levi Leipheimer were the leaders of the team but Evans enjoyed a freedom that allowed him to take a podium in the Volta a Catalunya. It seemed like his career might be on the rise but he never repeated a performance like that for Discovery Channel.
The management in Discovery Channel got tired of the lack of results of Evans and he joined Movistar, where he would take a leader role for the first time in his career. The other leader of the team was Davide Rebellin, so their targets did not overlap. The role worked wonders for Evans. It took him a while to set up in his new team but at the Criterium du Dauphine he took the second win of his career and wore the yellow jersey for three days. He went on to finish fourth. His Tour de France was not great but his performance in the very important for Movistar Vuelta a España was again very good. He won the time trial in Tarazona and narrowly missed the top 10 in the GC due to a crash in a flat stage.
2015 has been even better for Evans so far. He got good results in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Fleche Wallonne and Tour de Romandie, a part of the season where he had achieved no results in 2014. Now he is recovering from those efforts as Movistar decided that he should skip the Giro and focus instead in the Tour de France. If Evans is able to reach a peak in form similar to the one he had during the last Vuelta he could easily be in the final top 10 of the Tour.
It is difficult to predict whether Evans will manage to find a place among the best Grand Tour riders in the future years but he is not that young anymore and he might not have more than 4 - 5 years at the top.
The trip north of the race looking for the Alps continues with the longest stage of the Giro. The riders will have to cover 243 kilometers today between Assisi, where the race finished yesterday, and Montecatini Terme. The stage is mostly flat, with only the Poggio alla Croce halfway through the stage. However, the organizers included a loop around Montecatini that climbs to Vico, which should spice the mass sprint a little bit and maybe give a chance to different riders.
The break of the day had a though day in front of them when they went away with 220 kilometers to go. The group of 6 riders included Gregory Rast (Orica), Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar), Bradley Wiggins (Katusha), Zdenek Stybar (Euskaltel) and Alois Kankovsky (Lampre). They reached the climb to the Poggio alla Croce with 8' 20'' over the main bunch but the climb is not hard enough for them to suffer. The pace making in the bunch is mainly done by Lotto but they get sporadic help from the teams of the sprinters.
The Intergiro was placed in Empoli, 44 kilometers from the finish line. The peloton was not in a rush to bring the break back and the gap was still 4' 15'' at that point, which suggests that the break might have an outside chance of a win. In the sprint of the group the fight for the red jersey continued and Andre Greipel beat Jose Joaquin Rojas and Marcel Kittel. Lotto keeps setting the pace in the peloton but it seems like the teams of the main sprinters are not as involved as in other stages. It might be that the distance of the stage or the last climb to Vico might be putting off some of the main sprinters.
It was not long before the riders reached the final circuit in Montecatini Terme, where the chances of the break died. Sebastian Langeveld attempted a late attack in the climb to Vico but he was the only rider ahead at the top of the hill. He had 30 seconds on the bunch. Surprisingly, it was not the teams of the sprinters but Bjorn Leukemans who reeled almost all of them in during the climb. This climb after 230 kilometers might hurt some of the sprinters and it might be the day for someone like Jose Joaquin Rojas.
Lotto is the only team that has a presence in the front of the group but it is not easy to judge who they are working for. It would seem unlikely that Jelle Vanendert would take a risk wearing the pink jersey, so it must be John Degenkolb sprinting for them. The rest of the usual teams don't seem to have a representation at the front of the bunch but Tyler Farrar, Andre Greipel and Ben Swift are close behind the Lotto riders and seem ready to fight for the stage. It looks like a few of the typical sprinters have not been able to join the front of the group.
Tyler Farrar took the lead in the sprint with 800 meters to go and he seemed to have quite a margin at the front. Sergey Firsanov was still second in the sprint but the most threatening rider for Farrar is undoubtedly Andre Greipel. Lotto's train was a mess and it is still unclear who is sprinting, maybe Bjorn Leukemans, who was 5th on the road at that stage. Among the other sprinters that are close behind are Kenny van Hummel, Matthew Goss and Ben Swift.
Tyler Farrar wins in Montecatini Terme! The American was probably not the fastest in the sprint but his good positioning gave him his first win of the season. Tyler Farrar's win was never in danger but Kenny van Hummel recovered lots of positions in the last meters to take the second place. The Dutch was close to getting the third straight win for Belkin. Andre Greipel lost had to settle for the third place and he seems to have lost his speed from the first week. The top 5 was completed by Matthew Goss and Ben Swift.
The bad news close to the finish came in the form of a big crash in the middle of the group. Only 66 riders were awarded the same time and luckily most of the favorites were at the front at that point. The worst part of the crash was for Sergio Henao, who had to retire from the Giro injured. This leaves Orica down to only 6 riders. The most important riders to lose time were Jerome Coppel, previously 10th in the GC, and Denis Menchov.
Tomorrow's stage should be one for the break if none of the hills riders feels strong enough. The stage is a continuous uphill and downhill in the Tirreno coast finishing in Sestri Levante. This is the kind of stage that suits Jelle Vanendert perfectly but the real test for him will come in the high mountains of the Alps and the Dolomites.
The sequence of flat stages is broken by a not very long medium mountain stage between Servezza and Sestri Levante, in the Ligurian Sea. The first part of the stage is very flat but once the difficulties start there is a continuation of climb until the finish line. The hardest climb is the Valico Guaitarola, which top is 58 kilometers from the finish line. However, it is difficult that the favorites will make a move there. The stage is perfect for a break of men that are not dangerous in the GC.
The riders made it to the first categorized climb of the day, Biassa, without a break settled at the front. A handful of groups are ahead of the bunch, the first of them including Arthur Vichot (FDJ) and Martin Elmiger (Orica). They had 10 seconds on Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre) and Luca Paolini (Astana) and 45 seconds on a group of 5 including the KoM leader, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (HTC), and Michael Rogers (Trek). However, several teams including Lotto, Movistar and Tinkoff were not willing to let the break progress and the bunch was trailing only a few seconds behind the group of 5.
Lotto did not give up in trying to bring the break back and they finally managed to do it in the Valico Guaitarola after a very long chase. However, they only allowed a much more dangerous break to form in the hard climb. A group of 4 had almost 1 minute reaching the top of the climb: Pieter Weening, Martin Elmiger, Kanstantsin Siutsou and Eros Capecchi. However, the Swiss was by far the weakest in the climbs and was starting to lose ground. The size of the group of the leader was already under 100 riders and the sprinters should be careful with the time limit today as they still had 58 kilometers to go.
The break grew a little bit more in the descent towards the Valico La Mola. Mikel Nieve, Marco Pinotti and Miguel Rubiano joined the riders at the front, while Martin Elmiger crashed in the descent trying not to lose contact with the group. Lotto finally realized that they could not control the stage properly and let the group open a gap of 3' 30'' before the penultimate climb of the day. However, they should be careful because Marco Pinotti is only 6' 19'' behind in the GC. They will have to chase at some point if Jelle Vanendert wants to keep the pink jersey.
The attacks among the favorites started in the Valico La Mola and a group of 3 riders seemed to be quite strong at the top of the climb: Frank Schleck, Robert Gesink and Laurens Ten Dam. Bauke Mollema had tried to join them but was in between them and the group of the leader, who was allowing his teammates to set the pace without panicking. Nevertheless, he had to chase a further attack himself in the last kilometer of the climb. Meanwhile, the break lost Kanstantsin Siutsou in the climb so only 5 riders remained. They had a gap of 2' 35'' over Ten Dam's group and 3' 30'' over the main bunch.
Eros Capecchi was very brave to attack in the descent of the Valico La Mola and his gamble seemed to pay when he started the last climb of the day, Villa Tassani, with a gap of 1' 05'' over Pieter Weening. The attack from the Italian casted doubts on who should chase in the group and allowed him to build a gap. The rest of the break was trailing 1' 40'' behind, only a few seconds ahead of Ten Dam's group. Bauke Mollema had finally bridged the gap to that group in the descent. In the main bunch, now 2' 35'' behind it was BMC who put Emanuele Sella at the front of the group. Peter Stetina did not want his rivals getting ahead in the GC in this kind of stage.
Eros Capecchi made it to the top of the climb to Villa Tassani with a gap of 30 seconds over Pieter Weening. It could well be enough for him to take the stage if he does as good a descent as he did in the Valico La Mola. Meanwhile, Michele Scarponi had been setting the pace in the group of the leader and decided to attack in the last kilometer of the climb. However, it seemed as all of the favorites were reacting to the attack. Mikel Nieve was also trying to attack from Ten Dam's group but the Dutch quickly followed the wheel of the Spaniard. The differences were really small at the top among the groups of the favorites.
Eros Capecchi was able to maintain the gap in the descent and he was entering the last 2 kilometers of the stage with the 30 seconds gap intact. Meanwhile, the favorites had all come together at the descent and it was Igor Anton who had opened a gap. The Spaniard is not dangerous in the GC as he had lost 10 minutes in the stage finishing in Lago Laceno. It seems like the stage will have no effect in the GC but the effort that many of the favorites have done today could be felt in the upcoming Alps.
Eros Capecchi wins in Sestri Levante! It was a perfect day to win from a break and the Italian rider showed precisely that. Capecchi attacked in the descent of the Valico La Mola and held the lead to win with 38 seconds over Pieter Weening, who was the only rider from the break to chase Capecchi. This is the second win of the season for the Lampre team but it will not be enough to take them outside the last place in the World Tour rankings. Weening was about to be caught at the finish line and the group of the leader was awarded the same time.
The third place in the stage was for Igor Anton, while Jose Joaquin Rojas won the sprint in the group ahead of Peter Stetina. In the end there were no differences among the favorites but the Alps are only 2 days from now and the stage was very hard. On the other side of the race everyone managed to end the stage inside the time limit so there will be no further riders eliminated today.
