The first rest day of the tour and time for some reflection. How things change. One month ago after studying the Giro parcours we had planned to exclusively focus on the mountains with Soler, and perhaps even snatch a decent GC position, while Cooke would be a token representative in the sprints.
Instead now we have Gasparotto chasing victory in the points competition and Soler can't go with the mountain goats on a stage that is nowhere near the difficulty of the ones coming up in the Dolomites. However, 2 stage victories against the ProTour teams is a huge highlight and will give the team a real boost heading into the 2nd half of our season and the Tour de France.
Meanwhile, Hunter and Pfannberger participated in the Tour de Picardie. They are still building up their fitness for a late season campaign.
Iceman2807 wrote:
congrats on your to stage wins
sadly soler doesn`t seem to be too strong, but you already did great in this giro
Thanks so much. Yeah, Soler's Giro performances so far have been a real anti-climax, for whatever reason. Right now the goal of winning the Tour's KOM jersey seems far out of reach.
Day 10 and its the Urbino time trial. This may shake up the leaderboard so we will watch on with interest.
Gasparotto's riding well and is 8th at the first time check.
He catches his two-minute man Dessel...
...and is currently 10th, 45" behind CSC's Larsson. Gasparotto's in great health at the moment.
Of the top riders, there are plenty of good ITTers up there including Karpets and the GC leader Nibali. However its Dekker who's setting the fastest split times...
...and he goes on the set the best time overall. He started the day 1' 33" down on Nibali, where will this put him?
It's so close now! Karpets takes the pink jersey with only a 2" lead from both Nibali and Dekker. A battle royale is in prospect with the Dolomites coming up soon!
The 11th stage and another mixed bag provided by the race organisers. This 193km stage contains some decent climbs that will tempt the KOM contenders but will the peleton keep them close?
The biggest climb of the day and KOM leader Chavanel has gone up to get some more points.
The hill 15km from the finish and Valjavec, Chavanel and Barredo are over first. Soler is attacking though!
Soler barrelling down the hill with 5km to go. Nobody expected this from the Colombian today but the pack are getting in gear to try to catch him before the finish!
Under the final kilometre banner, Soler is desperately sprinting for the line but Breseghin and Casar are closing fast. Gasparotto has tracked their move!
Its Casar and Francais des Jeux have their first win of the 2008 Giro d'Italia. Gasparotto finishes a fine 2nd and once again will take the purple points jersey back from Fernandez.
The half-way point of the Giro and 171km of flat terrain to Carpi. We don't have a strong enough team to control the peleton for a sprint so we'll have to reply on the bigger teams to lead the pack.
125km out and a group of escapees including Nuyens are clear.
The peleton couldn't decide amongst themselves who should chase down the breakaway and left it too late. In their absence, Nuyens tries to go it alone with 15km left.
Zberg and Muller contemplate their move, while there is over 13 minutes back to the peleton.
Swiss champion Zberg just does Nuyens on the line. Gerolsteiner are on the board.
The peleton sprints for the remaining points but, on the flat, Gasparotto doesn't have the same pure speed of the main sprinters.
The breakaway had no significant effect on GC, while Gasparotto picked up a signal point as this main rival Fernandez got 3.
We've arrived at the Dolomites at the first of several extremely difficult climbing stages. The penultimate climb is long and steep, while the finishing climb reaches gradients of 16% in some places. Soler will hopefully compete, and this is his chance to show us some form.
Alas, Soler showed nothing on this day of ascent. By this time the penultimate climb was over, he had already failed to break from the peleton unlike all the other climbers. Inside the 2km its Ricardo Ricco, the Cobra, who is out in front.
The CSC-Saxo Bank pair of Sastre and Schleck are after him.
Meanwhile Soler is struggling to even stay with his grupetto. A sad sight for our team.
Ricco keeps going all the way to the line and takes the stage victory. A superb display of climbing prowess.
Ricco moves up to 4th overall and he's a real threat for the overall now. He'll also wear the maglia verde tomorrow.
We meet Soler after the stage. He tells us he's got not feeling right and believes he trained too hard prior to the Giro. He's very much down and depressed. We encourage him to consider attacking early tomorrow and go after a haul of KOM points. He nods, but his minds seems elsewhere.
The queen stage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia and its 160km of desperately harsh moutain roads. Soler agrees to attack early and try to get in the KOM race.
However, after early promise, he can't stay with fellow escapees Cyril Dessel and Igor Anton. I don't think we'll persist any more with trying to find success for Soler in this year's Giro.
Dessel leads as he continues to take KOM points.
3km to go and its Anton and Pinotti would lead. Pinotti has nothing more to give so Anton accelerates away.
A kilometre behind, Kirchen attacks. It draws an immediate response from Ricco, Valjavec and Cunego.
Anton takes a great solo win and takes his opportunity to celebrate the win. He looks shattered! Euskatel are having a fine Giro.
Ricco once again proves best of the rest and gets a nice gap to the other GC hopefuls.
The Cobra takes the maglia rosa from Karpets, and within only the Russian and Dekker within a minute of Ricco, could the 2008 Giro be now between these 3?
Kirchen picks up a few more points and is within touching distance of Fernandez and Gasparotto.
Stage 16 and a truly barbaric ITT in store. Only 14km in length, but starts off with a 16% gradient rise, leading up to a 20% incline and finishing up on a 24% gravel road. Only the very best climbers will be in contention here.
Soler is out early, is going well and has already caught Meersman who started ahead of him.
Gasparotto's on the gravel section. The difficulty of the climb is easy to see.
Soler crosses the line and he's in 2nd behind AG2R's John Gadret.
The young Belgian Jurgen Van Den Broeck has done very well leading Silence-Lotto this year. The big names are starting to set the top times now.
Dekker leads at split one; this stage won't suit him as well as Urbino but he's doing well.
Ricco is off and he's come out fast.
Ricco is going really well and is catching Karpets.
He can't keep it going all the way to the line but he's done enough to set the fastest time and extend his overall lead.
Ricco now leads by 1' 48" overall from Dekker. He'll need every second if he is going to survive the final stage, the ITT to Milan.
Kirchen picks up 10 points today and now there is only 1 point separating Fernandez, Kirchen and Gasparotto. Ricco, Cunego and Dekker all scored points today and suddenly the top of the points table is looking a little more congested. There are 5 stages remaing - two flat stages, 2 mountain stages and a ITT. This is going to be close.
The 2nd rest day of the Giro and once again we'll take this opportunity to review. For us, its all been about Gasparotto. A 2nd place stage finish to go with his 2 earlier victories and in contention for the points jersey. The current situation with the points is this:
1 Koldo Fernández de Larrea Euskaltel - Euskadi 0 115
2 Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 10 114
3 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld 0 114
4 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 25 100
5 Damiano Cunego Lampre 20 92
6 Thomas Dekker Rabobank 12 82
With the mountains coming up, thats two days where we won't score any points, and the final ITT is most likely out also. That leaves the next two stages and then hope Ricco, Cunego and Dekker don't amass too many points for the following 2 stages. In the ITT, only Dekker and Kirchen could be expected to be in the first 15 with Dekker being the stronger chronoman as shown in the Urbino ITT. We'll do or best to hang on, but right now Gasparotto would not be the favourite.
Plenty of bad to go with the good, not least the non-performance of team leader Soler. We're just going through the motions with the Colombian now and we'll consider easing things up on him before the Tour starts.
Cooke missed the cut-off time on Stage 15 so we're down to 6 riders now. However there are only a few stages left and these 6 should make it back together.
Late that evening disturbing word came from the press room. ASO had released their list of this year's teams to be invited to the Tour de France. We had anticipated, if not assumed, that our early season Continental Tour form, allied with our Giro d'Italia success would make us a certain starter. Instead we learn that Barloworld have not been invited.
There's pandemonium in the team hotel. Hunter calls on the phone and is going berserk, Gasparotto is disappointed he won't have the opportunity to replicate his Giro success in France, and Soler appears even more depressed.
The official word from ASO is that they selected their wildcards purely based Contintal Tour rankings, to which we've fallen to 7th, albeit there is 80 points coving 4th to 8th. Unofficially, rumour has it that the weak teams Barloworld sent to ASO races and then turning down invitations to ASO events (i.e. Liège-Bastonge-Liège) were a factor in the decision.
A hastily arranged call to our sponsors last night explained our situation to them, and while they were furious over the lost opportunity to return to Le Tour, which constituted 2 of our 5 major goals, they were sympathetic to our predicament and accepted that we would focus on returning to the top of the Continental Tour rankings and try to get into the Vuelta a Espana.
The 17th stage of 21 and it's back to work for our team. The squad has been instructed to put any thoughts about the Tour de France to the back of their minds and focus on getting the points jersey for Gasparotto. The 146km stage today should suit the Italian.
An early breakaway has about a 7' 30" gap to the peleton with 75km remaining. We send Cheula to the front to drive hard to bring them back.
He does sterling work and with 12km to go, the escapees are caught.
Inside the final 4km and Gasparotto is on the wheel of Ballan. On our wheel, double World Champion Paulo Bettini sits, while O'Grady is being led out by his compatriot McGee.
1500m left and Gasparotto goes. Bettini is still on his slipstream but both Ricco and Fernandez are back towards the peleton and Kirchen isn't even in the front rank. We could take back the points jersey today!
Bettini shows his class, pulls out from behind Gasparotto and sprints to victory. We hold on to 2nd place ahead of Cofidis' Colombian sprinter Duque.
Post-Race:
Bettini gets his and Quick-Step's first victory in this year's Giro while Gasparotto is runner-up for the 2nd time but we'll gladly take it, as we now have the maglia ciclamino by 19 points. Ricco managed to get 9 today, while Cunego just got a couple.
The 19th stage and the Swiss mountains are ahead of us before returning to Lombardy. There is an intermediate sprint 28km from the start that we might try to get involved with.
The peleton were about welcome back a breakaway before the sprint but Gasparotto seized his chance and broke away from the pack. He sprints with all he's got and takes the 8 points on offer - great work by Gasparotto!
15km to go and on the Passo della Presolana, Sastre attacks, resulting in a host of counter-attacks.
The final climb and its our points rivals Kirchen and Ricco leading the field!
Ricco is just too strong and powers on to take his third stage win of the Giro.
Post-Race:
Ricco, Dekker and Kirchen fill the top 3 and that couldn't be much worse for points jersey aspirations. The importance of the bonus sprint that Gasparotto won today is now evident as Ricco now is only 8 points behind with one of the toughest mountain stages in the Giro tomorrow, while Kirchen is another 4 points back. Cunego and Dekker will need miracles to get involved now.
Overall Ricco has extended his lead to over 3 minutes and must feel the 2008 Giro d'Italia is within his grasp.
The penultimate stage, and the final stage before tomorrows ITT, and it features both the Passo di Gavia and the Mortirolo. There is an intermediate sprint at 73km meaning that Gasparotto is simply going to have to join a breakaway and hope it is still clear at that marker. His rivals for the maglia ciclamino are too focussed on the GC so they should let him go. Whether it will be enough, we can only wait and see.
Into the valley and he goes! Gasparotto has joined two other escapees with other riders now trying their luck further behind.
3km from the sprint and Lotto's Van Huffel broke again and is 52" up the road. Gasparotto needs to get ahead of his companions when reaching the sprint but the long climb is draining his energy.
He tries to go for it but the others won't let him and outsprint him. Why they did that I can't say; perhaps they just fancied the prize money available for their work today. Gasparotto only picks up 2 points. The dream seems over.
At the top of the Gavia, Soler tries his luck to get away. He passes an exhausted Gasparotto at the summit.
On the descent, Sastre and Van Den Broeck try to separate themselves from the favourites.
15km from the finish and on the final climb, the Passo Aprica. Frank Schleck has gone up the road, while Karpets leads Ricco to 2nd and 3rd for the KOM points. That will seal the maglia verde for Ricco. Can he take the points jersey now to sweep all four competitions: GC, points, mountain and young rider?
Ricco is leading the descent to catch Schleck with Cunego, Dekker and Kirchen right behind him. If Ricco gets more than 10 points, or Kirchen more than 14 then the points jersey is gone for sure.
They are coming into the final kilometre and Schleck is still clear...
...and he's going to hold on to take it!
The sprint for 2nd is fierce - it looks like Dekker is going to get it, while Ricco and Kirchen don't have the energy to match him! This is unbelievable, what will happen to the maglia ciclamino now!
Post-Race:
Absolutely heart-stopping! Ricco is pipped in the finish and only finishes 7th while Kirchen can only get 13th. The 2 points Gasparotto picked up prove vital as he leads Ricco by a single point. There are a whole host of permutations to consider before the final stage tomorrow, and will be outlined in the next entry. But wow, what a great finish!
For the overall, Ricco's near 3-minute advantage over Dekker must be enough now. However his time-trialling skills are poor compared to the young Dutchman who will give it everything tomorrow.
So it all comes down to the last day. The points standings for the contenders are as follows:
Points: 1 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld 2 144
2 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 9 143 (-1)
3 Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 3 133 (-11)
4 Thomas Dekker Rabobank 20 122 (-22)
There are basically a myriad of potential outcomes but there really is only one likely scenario.
For Ricco, Kirchen or Dekker to overtake Gasparotto they are going to have to score points in the ITT and that means a top 15 finish. Looking at the time trial to Urbino (ignoring the unique ITT to Plan de Corones) as a reference, the following were their respective results:
1 Thomas Dekker Rabobank 49'24 20 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld + 2'17
64 Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 3'41
76 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott + 3'57
This was a much longer time trial that tomorrow's (the final stage should take about 30 mins), but its quite clear that its now really between Gasparotto and Dekker. In fact, if Dekker really puts the hammer down tomorrow he could potentially beat Ricco by 2' 55" that he's currently behind, although its an outside chance.
Either way, the only way Dekker can take the points classification is if he wins tomorrow's ITT, as there are 25 points for 1st and only 20 for 2nd. Its going to be a very nerve-racking day...
After three long, hard weeks in the saddle, its the final day and the 24km ITT to Milan. Can Gasparotto hold on to the jersey he's worn now for 7 days, or will Thomas Dekker swoop to take the maglia ciclamino on the very last day?
Gasparotto is through the first time check and he's 17th. If he wants points he's going to have to step it up and finish in the top 15, but we know deep down that's unlikely.
He crosses the line at sets the 8th best time provisionally. It probably won't be enough for a top 15 as there are a lot of riders to come, but we applaud his effort nonetheless.
Kirchen is through the first time check and he's not close to the lead. We can rule him out of the equation but Gasparotto is now out of the top 15.
Dekker sets the best time at split one! He's only 4" up on Gutierrez however - will he manage to hold on?
Ricco is through the first split and he's over a minute down on Dekker - too far for the points jersey but close enough to keep the maglia rosa. It's all on Dekker's performance now.
Kirchen finishes and sets a slower time than Gasparotto. We are only watching Dekker now.
He's in the final kilometre and he's giving it absolutely everything he has. The seconds tick down. Our hearts are pounding!!!
He thrusts the bike across the line. Our eyes move slowly to the leaderboard...
...it flahes up....
Post-Race:
A heart-breaking result for Gasparotto and our team, as Dekker takes the stage by 9", meaning he wins the maglia ciclamino by 3 points. The atmosphere in the team bus is truly miserable but Gasparotto's teammates try to cheer him up and tell him that 2 stage wins, 2 stage 2nds and 2nd in the points jersey constitute an incredible result. He's still a bit despondent, but he appreciated their words.
Ricco did enough to hold on to his maglia rosa and also takes the maglia bianca for best young rider, to go with the maglia verde for King of the Mountains.
