We did just skip past stage that counts nothing, and here we are, let the real Giro begin! Pliuschin's form is close to maximum now, 99/100 everyday, so it will be an interesting stage.
The three riders who dared the breakaway was El-Fares (DSC), Maglia Verde (De Waele, QSI) and Ljungblad from Unibet.com.
But as expected, the breakaway was caught before Blockhaus, the biggest stars didn't want to let a stage win to Blockhaus slip away from them.
At the foot of Blockhaus, Nibali and Pellizotti sat a fast pace for Liquigas and Di Luca.
Anyway, Popovych attacked. He was followed by "Gibo" Simoni (SDV), Cunego (Lampre), Pereiro (GCE), Rasmussen (DSC), Moreau (AGR) and Leipheimer (WIE).
They got a gap, even though Pellizotti gave it all he could, it was time for Di Luca to attack.
Pliuschin followed his wheel immediately, and when Di Luca, Danielson (EUS) Fothen (GST) had to stop, Pliuschin continued his attack, and bridged the gap up to Pereiro, Rasmussen and Moreau.
With 10 kilometres we had this situation:
Popovych was leading, but Simoni was closing in on him.
Behind those, Cunego and Leipheimer was trying to chase them down.
Then we had Pliuschin's group, but they were loosing ground to the front four, but taking time on all riders behind them.
Di Luca was trying to bridge it up to Pliuschin's group, but no way. Danielson and Fothen managed to sit in his wheel, so he wasn't riding too fast.
With 4.3 kilometres to go, Pliuschin dug deep to launch and attack, and he got away, he was 15-25 seconds ahead of his former group.
Simoni managed to come across to Popovych, but Popovych leaded out the sprint, and he was too strong for Simoni, and could celebrate a brilliant win!!
Cunego got rid of Leipheimer at the last 2 kilometres and took third.
Pliuschin made a great ride, becoming 5th on the stage, and he is now 4th in the overall.
We are back to those hilly stages where it will be hard for Pliuschin to follow the biggest guns. But on the other hand, as Pliuschin finds it hard to follow the podium places in the big mountains, he has to gain time on a stage like this. But how?
Pliuschin was early surrounded by our team, I was very proud of that our team weared "Maglia Bianca," after the Blockhaus stage.
I thought that this stage maybe would be a stage for a breakaway, and we put Zabriskie in it. He's out of form, but he was the best rider in hills from the breakaway.
Approximately 50 kilometres from the finish line, Nibali launched a very surprising attack, if it was because of speeding up the peloton or for his own chances I didn't know. But his attack forced the pack to speed up.
Nibali was reeled in, and halfaway up the hill, the break held a lead of 3 minutes. Zabriskie was to weak to follow the front riders of the break. Then Pliuschin attacked. He got a green moment, but was followed of near all the favourites immediately. Unfortunately, he had to eat, so Di Luca and many more slipped away from him, but he was 40 seconds ahead of the peloton, and Popovych, nor Cunego hadn't attacked!
But Boasson Hagen seemed to has bad conscience because he left us in front of this season. He pulled in a great effort in Pliuschin's group, and got them up to the front 7. Now the stage would be battled out between some of the favourites for the overall, and the bravest breakawayriders. Uros Murn, who had been in the breakaway leaded out the sprint.
And he was simply the best in the sprint, and took a very deserved win.
Pliuschin hang on for fourth on the stage, but the big question was; will there be any time gaps?
The timekeepers said no, even though there was a clear gap of 15 seconds behind the front 13 and the pack. Unlucky for Pliuschin
Stage:
1 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL 3h48'22
2 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t. 4 Aleksandr Pliuschin TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
6 Alessandro Cortinovis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Malcolm Lange UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Marc Lotz TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
9 Bert De Waele QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
14 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Enrico Gasparotto UNIBET.COM s.t.
One more hilly stage was on the program, this time it ended in San Marino, isn't that an iceland?
We did have a break, Marichal (FDJ), Polivet (C.A), Grillo (MRM), Schmidt (WIE), Contrini (GST) and Joachim (AST).
Again, as last stage, Nibali attacked surprisingly, 7 kilometres from the top of the climb halfaway on the stage.
The pack kept the pace high, and at the bottom of the "San Marino-climb," Di Luca attacked.
Pliuschin was fast to follow, so was Ricco.
Pliuschin didn't have the strenght to follow the big names. When the sprint started the situation was this:
Ricco leaded, ahead of Di Luca, Popovych in third, Cunego 4th, Pliuschin struggling in 5th, Simoni was 6th, and Danielson (not on the picture) was 7th.
Ricco was the fastest and showed he is not out of the competition for overall. Cunego and Di Luca bridged the gap to Ricco in the sprint, and they gained 31 valuable seconds on the pack.
Yet again, a hilly stage on today's menu. We hoped that Pliuschin didn't need to counter-attack the big favourites, he is simply not strong enough in this terrain.
Today, the break consisted of 10 riders. Bert De Waele was again in the break, hunting Maglia Verde.
With 85 kilometres left, Piepoli (SDV) attacked. He was soon followed by Nibali, Rodriguez (GCE), Augustyn (Barloworld) and Vandevelde (CSC). Piepoli was the strongest, and started chasing the break on his own.
But the 4 that attacked together with him, didn't give up, they co-operated well, and in the end Nibali and Rodriguez would bridge the gap to Piepoli.
When Piepoli attacked, the pack suddenly slowed down the pace, but after a while the pack upped the pace a little, and with 14 kilometres left, we had this situation:
Up front, smelling the stage win; Nibali, Piepoli and Rodriguez
Augustyn +1,44
Vandevelde +2,50
the pack +4,39
It seemed for sure that the three up front would fight for the stage. But then, suddenly the pack started an enourmous chase. And suddenly they were all caught with 4 kilometres left. Maybe they ran out of energy? The sprint was well prepared of Pliuschin, he was on the wheel to his former team mate, Boasson Hagen. It seemed like Boasson Hagen was going to win, but on the last 300 metres, Capecchi from Liquigas overtook him for the win.
Pliuschin was fighting hard for the last podium and valuable bonus seconds. It was a very close sprint against Gasparotto:
As you may have noticed; I'm simulating those stages that I don't think is worth playing.
An enourmous stage was the challenge for the riders today. Pliuschin is in a very good condition, I'm afraid his biggest problem on this stage will be to have enough team mates around him as long as possible.
8 guys jumped on the break today, and Bert De Waele in his Maglia Verde jersey was there again, he was really trying to win this jersey!
He didn't get too many points, he didn't win a single mountain sprint, but he hang on for 2th and 4th in the first two mountain sprints. With 105 kilometres to go, Iglinskiy attacked. He was 9 minutes down on Popovych in the overall, so he wasn't a big threat.
But just as yesterday, the pack slowed down the speed, and at the bottom of Passo di Pradarena he held a lead of 7'26 to the peloton, he was a real threat to Pliuschin now.
With 13.4 kilometres to go, Di Luca attacked. Popovych followed at once, and then Pliuschin had to go to. It was a bad day for Pliuschin, he had been without team mates for a long time before the real attacks started, and hadn't his blue bar filled up.
Iglinskiy must have cracked, because 8 kilometres later, he wasnt near the front. Popovych had the most powerful attack and was alone in the front. He seemed like a superhuman in this year Giro. He was followed by 5 chasers: Simoni, Cunego, Rodriguez, Di Luca and Ricco. Pliuschin was really struggling, he cracked and dropped back to the peloton. He was out of power compared to the guys up front.
Popovych just extended his lead and rolled over the line on his own.
Behind him, Cunego and Simoni had ridden away from the other 3, and sprinted for second. Cunego took it.
Then Rodriguez led home a group of 13 riders.
Then finally Pliuschin crossed the line, beaten by Boasson Hagen on a mountain stage! He lost 5'21 to Popovych and his overall chances seems to be gone. But anyway, his realistic goal was top 10, and that's still doable!
A disappointing stage for us, very bad tactic, I shouldn't have followed Di Luca and Popovych in their first attack, that's easy to say now, they were just too strong.
4th is in reach, I will definately gain time on the TT, and I think it is possible on mountain stages too, that isn't that hard before the last mountain. For example the stage to Blockhaus suited me good, the team managed to protect Pliuschin nearly all the way before he attacked. It will definately be interesting...
A big stage on today's menu, ending up the short, but steep Zoldo Alto. Pliuschin had to be on his very top to still keep 4th in the overall in sight.
Today, there wasn't a real break, but on the very first climb, Gomez Marchante and Carrara, both from Lampre just rode away from the pack. What a strange move.
And at the second climb of the day, Piepoli and Bertagnolli from Saunier Duval did the same, it was looking like it was a teampair-timetrial today!
Rodriguez was as usually hasty on the attack, he attacked with 88 kilometres left¨, it was for sure a suicide.
Unlucky, all this attacks meant a speed-up in the pack, and soon we were only left with Belkov and Pliuschin in the pack, it seemed very critical.
It was Gesink that made the job, surely for Popovych, was he going to extend his lead in the overall?
Popovych had to feel awesome, as he attacked on the penultimate climb, with 20 kilometres to the line.
He didn't get a big gap though, and strong-going Cunego and Simoni soon caught him in their chase.
Then, Simoni attacked, Popovych couldn't follow, nor could Popovych, this was a real threat to Maglia Rosa!
Pliuschin was really struggling down there, he was out of energy, and pedalled on pure willpower. He was down in the 4th group, loosing time on the front 7 at every pedall. How much time will he loose?
Up in the very front, Simoni extended his lead all the way to the finish, and he crossed the finish line, totally exausted, he didn't manage to celebrate. How much time had he gained?
He gained a lot, Cunego sprinted away from Popovych and took second, but it was nearly 3 minutes since Simoni crossed the line!
Pliuschin crossed the line in a brave 11th. He didnæt loose too much ground to the guys in front of him in the overall, with some great days he can still manage 4th-6th.
Stage 14 was a hard stage too, this time Pliuschin couldn't afford to loose time if he wanted a top 5. He was in his absolutely greatest form, and he could only do his best.
We tried to put Belkov in the break today, but when his breakawaycompanions don't want to cooperate, it isn't easy
He did take the first climb of the day though, and his Giro was saved....
Very surprisingly, Leipheimer launched an attack 500 metres from the top, and he just kept pacing. He is number 5 in the overall, so what was he thinking about. Pliuschin was happy with this start, Leipheimer was for sure out on a suicide, and that means one place up on the rankings.
As Pliuschin felt very good today, +3, he launched an attack as no other had attacked with 4.7 kilometres to the top of the final climb of the day.
Simoni and Cunego were quick to follow, Simoni in his super form just flew past them both. Pliuschin managed to hang on Cunego's wheel though.
Simoni hold the lead over the top. Pliuschin was still on Cunego's wheel, it was looking very promising. But unfortunately, Cunego was giving it all he had on the downhill, he pushed it so hard that Pliuschin actually cracked on the downhill. Right now I'm very angry why he is given 57 in downhill
Simoni did again sail solo to the finish line, he took his second in a row. Great riding!
I'm so annoyed of Pliuschin's downhill stats, if he had followed Cunego in the downhill, he would only have been ca. 20 seconds behind Di Luca in 4th in the overall. Instead Pliuschin made the finish line together with Di Luca's group, who was nearly 2'30 behind Cunego.
But anyway it was a good day for Pliuschin, he had taken some time, and is now 5th in the overall, but it's only 21 seconds down to 7th.
