Specifically, the Dolomites in northeastern Italy. Today’s stage starts in the foothills, in Marostica, and heads generally north for 150km, over two major climbs, before finishing at the top of the Passo Duran.
Croce d'Aune
The route from Marostica initially takes us northeast toward the National Park of the Bellunesi Dolomites. On reaching the town of Pedavena, halfway through the stage, we begin first climb of Croce d’Aune, 9km at an average gradient of 7%, but with peaks at 11%.
The beautiful, but harsh landscape will be crowded with spectators come the day of the race, hoping to catch a glimpse of their heroes!
The village of Aune, at an altitude of 1011m, marks the top of the first climb, and is famous for two things. Firstly, a beautiful church, the Chiesa di San Lorenzo
and a memorial to Tullio Campagnolo, who obviously needs no introduction
Passo Cereda
30km of relatively flat riding to the northwest from d’Aune takes us to the 2nd of today’s climbs, the Passo Cereda. The Cereda reaches an altitude of 1369m, with a climb of 633m. The average gradient is about 8%, but has peaks of up to 15%!
The view from the top is spectacular, but the riders won’t be looking back today!
Passo Duran
Upon cresting the Cereda, the peloton will generally descend for about 25km northeast until the final climb of the day, the famous Passo Duran (nothing to do with the 80s pop group!)
The route is a long 12.5km from the town of Agordo at 609m, to the summit of the pass, at 1601m. The average gradient is again 8%, with a maximum of 14%
From the top, the leaders will be able to look back down the pass, knowing that despite the rigours of the day they have just had, the Alps will return tomorrow, and the next day, and the next……
We enter the stage in good shape, with our main riders rested and ready to go
We will wait and see what happens with the break before committing Thomas Voeckler, tomorrow may well be a better stage for mountain classification points.
The peloton sets off towards the mountains in glorious sunshine, and almost no wind
Nine riders attack early on, and settle into an easy rhythm. The pack lets them go, knowing that the hard work will come later
The break reaches the first climb of the day, the Croce d’Aune, and splinters into 3 groups as the better climbers push the pace. The first group consists of Ruben Martinez of Euskaltel, Iriarte of Saunier, and Mazzanti of Barloworld.
At the foot of the climb, 7’ behind the breaks, the peloton takes the time to admire the scenery
Over the top of the climb and its Martinez and Mazzanti who lead, with Iriarte about 10” behind
The peloton arrives over the summit some time later and suddenly, drama!!! Gesink falls (that’s him in the White Young Riders’ Jersey)! Soler, the Barloworld team leader has stopped as well…..does he have a problem?
Soler gets off his bike, and that’s the end of his Giro! A disaster for Barloworld, as their team leader and climbing expert goes home!
Gesink looks unhurt, and hurries back to the pack
Iriarte has joined his other breakaway companions and the three riders contemplate the next climb of the day, the Passo Cereda!
As the riders make their way up the climb, the beautiful scenery cannot mask the fact that the peloton have started to motor!
Driven by Lampre and Caisse
Halfway up the Cereda, the break’s lead is down to about 2 minutes, and all but Martinez, Mazzanti and Iriarte have been eaten up by the peloton. Suddenly, Hector Gonzalez attacks
The peloton is stunned! With 40km to the finish, and halfway up a major climb, one of the race favourites has attacked! Caisse and Lampre decide that they are going to push on, and the peloton fragments under the pressure
At the bottom of the descent of the Cereda, Gonzalez is out alone! The rest of the break has been eaten up, and only 49 riders remain in the peloton! With 25km to ride, all he can see ahead is the intimidating climb of the Passo Duran
A little way behind, the peloton tries to catch up with Gonzalez. Devine stays close to the front, shepherded by Blanco in the Spanish National Champions jersey
Passing through the village of Agordo, at the foot of the hill, Gonzalez has a lead of 1’30 with 13km left to ride. But has he gone too early?
The peloton starts the final climb, and a number of riders attack, including Jurgen van den Broeck of FdJ.
The riders catch Gonzalez, but van den Broeck attacks past him!
And rides on alone!
The second group, including Gonzalez, pushes on
But the pack pushes on, led by Di Luca, and swallows up the chasers. Only van den Broeck is left out front!
With just over 3km to ride, the favourites attack, Devine and Gesink respond!
Ricco and Di Luca are strong today, and they jump clear.
Van den Broeck is holding on, with Ricco in 2nd and Di Luca and Sammie Sanchez in the 3rd group. These riders are followed by an elite group of Devine, Gesink, Basso, Ardila and Zubeldia
Inside the final km, and vdB is tiring badly. Ricco is closing with every revolution. Can he hold on for an unlikely victory?
He can! A few metres more and Ricco would have overtaken him, but the Belgian holds on!
Our boys come home inside the top ten, but Di Luca will gain even more time on them today!
So at the end of today's epic stage, we hold on to our top ten spots in the GC, but Di Luca is now almost 2 minutes ahead of Gesink. Pacheco manages to hang on to his Sprinter jersey for another day, but Thomas Voeckler will no longer wear the moutain jersey.
Stage Results
1 Jurgen Van den Broeck - Française des Jeux - 4h14'19
2 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - s.t.
3 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - + 20
4 Samuel Sánchez - Astana Cycling Team - s.t. 5 John Devine - Team Columbia - + 37
6 Ivan Basso - Astana Cycling Team - s.t. 7 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - + 49
8 Haimar Zubeldia - Euskaltel - Euskadi - + 1'01
9 Álex Ardila - Rabobank - s.t.
10 Kasper Linde - Lampre - s.t.
...
14 Vincenzo Nibali - Liquigas - + 1'50
15 Héctor González - Saunier Duval - s.t.
21 Gustav Larsson - Team CSC Saxo Bank - s.t.
36 Mikkel Lund - Quick·Step - + 3'04
General Classification
1 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 54h10'34
2 Kasper Linde - Lampre - + 1'13
3 Ivan Basso - Astana Cycling Team - + 1'32
4 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - + 1'44 5 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - s.t.
6 John Devine - Team Columbia - + 2'08
7 Samuel Sánchez - Astana Cycling Team - + 2'41
8 Álex Ardila - Rabobank - + 3'29
9 Vincenzo Nibali - Liquigas - + 3'33
10 Thomas Brigaud - Astana Cycling Team - + 4'13
Points Classification
1 Francisco Pacheco - Team Columbia - 0 - 142
2 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 16 - 113 3 Lars Boom - Team Columbia - 0 - 111
4 Dominique Rollin - Gerolsteiner - 0 - 100
5 Philip Nielsen - Mitsubishi - 0 - 78
Mountain Classification
1 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 10 - 25
2 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - 19 - 25 3 Thomas Voeckler - Team Columbia - 0 - 22
4 Jurgen Van den Broeck - Française des Jeux - 20 - 20
5 Luca Mazzanti - Barloworld 13 - 13
Man, I have to say, I love your reports. The work you put in to it is remarkable. Good luck
alexkr00 wrote:
Ardila ?! is he such a good climber?
Don't forget it's Álex Ardilla, not Mauricio. And facmanpob is in his 4th season of the career so it's no big surprise seeing him doing so well in the Giro
p3druh wrote:
Man, I have to say, I love your reports. The work you put in to it is remarkable. Good luck
alexkr00 wrote:
Ardila ?! is he such a good climber?
Don't forget it's Álex Ardilla, not Mauricio. And facmanpob is in his 4th season of the career so it's no big surprise seeing him doing so well in the Giro
Thanks for the support - always nice to know people are reading
Alex Ardila is a pretty good all round stage racer - he finished 17th in the earlier Time Trial, ahead of Di Luca, Zubeldia and Ricco. In the two mountain stages so far (stage 5 and 14) he has finished 6th and 9th respectively, so he's no slouch in the mountains either!
Gustavovskiy wrote:
Whooohooo
Riccò was beaten
great that Gesink could hold on after the crash but it is a shame voeclker lost the mountain jersey...
Haha, Ricco raced for me last season but now he's gone I want nothing more than to see him lose!
Some of the later stages have mountains early on, which will favour Voeckler, so I'm saving him for later glory!
Stage 15 is complete, I'm just finalising the preview at the moment, and will post it tomorrow B) The only problem is that I took 84 screenshots in the stage, so have to sort through them to see which ones I want to use!
227km long, with 7 categorised climbs in the Dolomites, followed by a final climb to the finish with a gradient of about 12%! Only the strong will survive today.
Our stage can be split into 5 separate sections, and follows a big loop around the Dolomites.
Section 1 heads roughly northwest for 60km from the town of Dont, and takes in the climbs of the Forcella Staulanza and Passo Fedaia
The two climbs come with a total of 30 mountain points on offer, and any breaks will form on these slopes
Looking up at the Staulanza climb
The Passo Fedaia is the longest climb of the day at about 16km, and takes the race to over 2100m altitude
Section 2 is a very tough 45km, and takes the riders over 3 major mountain passes, the Passo Sella, Passo Gardena and Passo Campolongo.
The Passo Sella is the highest climb of the day, 11km at 8%, to an altitude of approximately 2240m. The 3 climbs in this section offer a further 30 mountain points
The climb up the Passo Sella is a very tough one
The climb to the Passo Gardena is one of the easiest climbs today, with an average gradient of about 5%
Looking down from the Campolongo to the north, the riders come through the picturesque town of Corvara
before tackling the winding roads to the top of the 5th climb of the day
Section 3 takes the riders east from the Campolongo over the Passo di Falzerago
9km at about 7%, with another 10 mountain points on offer
The village of Falzerago will be a welcome sight as the riders will have 35km of downhill riding after this to catch their breath!
The race then turns south and heads towards the Forcella Cibiana
10km long, this climb averages at 9%, but the final 5km are all at gradients of 10% or higher
nice power lines!
Over the top of the Cibiana, and the riders will have 50km to ride to the finish, in the very pretty town of Belluno
The run in is extremely steep, at about 12%
and finishes at the Case Bortot, where the riders can enjoy a well earned drink!
Over 70 mountain points are on offer today, and anyone taking the KoM competition seriously will need to think about making it into the break!
Pacheco remains in the Points jersey, and has enough of a lead that nobody can catch him today. Voeckler lost the mountain jersey yesterday, so will be riding in the French Champions Jersey today. He will be looking for an early break to gain some mountain points. Gesink rides in the Young Riders jersey again, and he and Devine will shadow the leaders and react to their movements as necessary to maintain or improve their GC positions.
Cloudless skies as the peloton leave the outskirts of Dont and start the Forcella Staulanza.
2km from the summit and the pack hasn’t allowed any breaks to form. Voeckler stays at the front ready to react if anything happens
At the top of the Staulanza its Maxime Bouet of CSC who takes the points, with our old friend Inigo Cuesta in 2nd place. Voeckler takes 3rd spot, and regains the lead of the KoM classification on the road!
Voeckler and Cuesta ride together and form the lead group on the road, several small breaks form behind them
The peloton starts the climb up to the Passo Fedaia, and the riding settles down
Voeckler and Cuesta keep up the pressure on the long climb, but Bouet is riding hard to catch them. It looks like Bouet is strong today, and wants those mountain points!
Voeckler gets the points on the Passo Fedaia, but Bouet joins them and takes 2nd spot
Voeckler keeps the pace high on the downhill, and the front group’s lead over the pack extends to over 5 minutes!
The pace is still high as the break heads up the Passo Sella, the 3rd climb of the day. Voeckler’s energy levels are suffering, and he needs to conserve himself for the later stages!
The peloton sets an easy pace up to the Sella, and the gap grows even larger
Over the top of the Passo Sella, Bouet attacks and takes the maximum points. Voeckler gets 2nd place
Our intrepid riders reach the midpoint between the Passo Sella and the Passo Gardena, and extend their lead to over 10 minutes. Half a dozen riders are dotted in between the lead group and the peloton
Bouet again wins the mountain sprint. Voeckler only manages 3rd place behind Cuesta
At the top of the 5th climb, the Passo Campolongo, Bouet again takes the points. He is closing in on Voeckler in the Mountain Classification
On the Falzerago now, and the peloton reaches halfway through the stage. With the gap to the leaders at 12 minutes, Agritubel and Caisse start to increase the tempo
Once again, Bouet takes the points on the penultimate of the major climbs
The break leaves the central Dolomites behind as they begin a 30km descent towards the last major climb of the day, the Forcella Cibiana
Through the intermediate sprint at the foot of the Cibiana, the riders have 65km to ride. The gap to the peloton is down to 7 minutes
Bouet leads the break up the lower slopes of the Cibiana. The peloton is now 6’30 behind and is gaining rapidly
As the peloton nears the top of the climb, Ricco attacks, and Di Luca responds!
Over the top of the Cibiana, Bouet takes the maximum points. Has Voeckler done enough to take back the jersey, or has Bouet gained too many points?
The pack is fighting hard to bring back Di Luca and Ricco at the top of the Cibiana, when Gonzalez and Zubeldia attack to join them
37km to ride, and Cuesta has been dropped by the leaders. The pack is only 2 minutes behind them and will surely swallow them up
Meanwhile Ricco, Di Luca, Zubeldia and Gonzalez have a 30” lead over the peloton
But Astana are fighting to bring them back!
Our break is caught by the Pink Jersey group at the 20km mark, but Voeckler is about out of steam and won’t be able to keep up
With 4km to ride, at the base of the final climb, Ricco and Di Luca attack. Basso has joined them and attacks, but Bouet and Gonzalez can’t respond. Zubeldia has been swallowed up by the chasers 1 minute behind
Gesink and Devine hit the front with 4km to ride. They have conserved their energy all stage and are both strong! Linde of Lampre goes with them
Only 2km to ride, and Di Luca attacks again! Can anybody stop him in this Giro? Ricco can’t respond!
Gesink, Devine and Linde ride straight past Gonzalez, Bouet and Basso, and have Ricco in their sights!
But no-one can catch Di Luca today
And he wins his third stage (Stage 5 and 8 being the other two)!
Ricco has nothing in the tank, and is limping to the line, but Gesink and Devine are closing!
Devine is on fire and manages to pass Ricco on the line to take 2nd! Gesink comes home in 5th place!
And the rest of the field come home in dribs and drabs after that!
An excellent result for us today. Once again, Di Luca was unstoppable and extends his lead by almost a minute, but 2nd place for Devine and 4th for Gesink cements both of our riders in the top 10.
Voeckler suffered today, but just managed to gain enough points to win back the mountain jersey. We will have to mark Bouet tomorrow while Voeckler recovers!
Stage Results
1 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 6h30'22 2 John Devine - Team Columbia - + 50
3 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - s.t. 4 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - s.t.
5 Álex Ardila - Rabobank - + 1'14
6 Kasper Linde - Lampre - + 1'30
7 Héctor González - Saunier Duval - + 1'49
8 Ivan Basso - Astana Cycling Team - s.t.
9 Juanjo Cobo - Saunier Duval - + 1'58
10 Samuel Sánchez - Astana Cycling Team - s.t.
General Classification
1 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 60h40'36
2 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - + 2'46 3 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - + 2'54
4 Kasper Linde - Lampre - + 3'03 5 John Devine - Team Columbia - + 3'06
6 Ivan Basso - Astana Cycling Team - + 3'41
7 Samuel Sánchez - Astana Cycling Team - + 4'59
8 Álex Ardila - Rabobank - + 5'03
9 Vincenzo Nibali - Liquigas - + 5'51
10 Thomas Brigaud - Astana Cycling Team - + 6'31
...
12 Héctor González - Saunier Duval - + 6'37
Points Classification
1 Francisco Pacheco - Team Columbia - 0 - 142
2 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 25 - 138 3 Lars Boom - Team Columbia - 0 - 111
4 Dominique Rollin - Gerolsteiner - 0 - 100
5 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - 16 - 88
Mountain Classification
1 Thomas Voeckler - Team Columbia - 55 - 77
2 Maxime Bouet - Team CSC Saxo Bank - 75 - 75
3 Iñigo Cuesta - Serramenti - 38 - 38
4 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 5 - 30
5 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - 2 - 27
The third mountain stage in as many days, today sees the peloton enter Austria, riding 198km from Udine near the Adriatic cost, north through the Passo di Monte Croce Carnico (otherwise known as the Plocken Pass), and Gailberg Sattel, then turning west over the Staller Sattel before finishing in the Italian town of Anterselva.
The first two categorised climbs today come in close succession, within20km of each other. Following a 60km ride north from Udine, the road climbs up to the Austrian border, via the Plocken Pass
then continuing north over the Gailberg Sattel
The road then turns west, and rolls through the Austrian countryside, before climbing up to the dramatic Staller Sattel on the Italian border
The long relatively gentle slope of the Staller sattel will suit our riders, especially Robert Gesink, as his hill climbing is slightly better than his out and out mountaneering capability
Today’s stage will be a good one for Gesink due to his hill stats. Voeckler will be staying well and truly in the pack to recover from yesterday’s epic breakaway, in which he scored 55 mountain points.
The attacks come immediately, and Pacheco goes with them to try to get some more sprint points!
And success! He gets all 8 points on offer, and drifts back into the pack
The pack works hard to reel in the breakaway, but in the high winds the peloton splits!
6 riders take advantage of the confusion and slip away. The peloton allows them to go and reforms
At the foot of the Passo di Monte Croce Carnico, the break has 6 minutes lead over the peloton, and the riders look up to the first of the day’s ascents
Meanwhile further up the road, the break crosses into Austria
At the top of the 2nd climb, the Gailberg, the break is down to 5 riders, as Sinkeldam of Rabobank has been dropped.
The peloton looks ahead towards the Staller Sattel, and its return to Italian soil. The break has 6 minutes lead with 70km to ride, but most of them are uphill!
The peloton increases its pace, and Sinkeldam is quickly eaten up
The pace is much too high for the sprinters, and riders drop off the back of the peloton. The break is now only a minute up the road
40km to ride, and the break is caught!
Caisse d’Epargne push the pace for another 15km up the Staller Sattel, until, with 10km to the top, Ricco and Zubeldia attack!
Di Luca and Ardila respond
Gonzalez, Basso, Nibali and Linde attack to join the leaders.
The pack is still working hard and the gap is small, so Devine and Gesink wait
They attack in the last 2km of the climb, to bridge across to the leaders!
Back in Italy, the leaders are all together on the descent, and no-one is willing to work so the pace slows
With 4km to ride, and the finish almost in sight, the remains of the peloton catch the leaders
As the riders wait to see how the sprint will develop, Gesink attacks!
The pack responds, but Gesink has got the jump on them!
And has 100m lead!
Ardila leads out the sprint behind, but Devine is strong
But no-one can catch Gesink, and he punches the air in joy at his first stage win at the Giro!
Ardila, holds on to take 2nd, with Devine taking a very good 3rd place
Gesink was given the same time as the rest of the front riders, despite finishing a good 100m ahead of them (typical favouritism!), but the time bonus for winning the stage takes him into 2nd place overall! Devine moves up into 4th due to his 3rd place time bonus. Di Luca could only manage 4 points for the stage, so Pacheco extends his lead in the points classification to 8 points! Voeckler keeps his Mountain Jersey.
All in all, a suparb day in the saddle for us!
Stage Results
1 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - 5h20'22
2 Álex Ardila - Rabobank - s.t. 3 John Devine - Team Columbia - s.t.
4 Haimar Zubeldia - Euskaltel - Euskadi - s.t.
5 Vincenzo Nibali - Liquigas - s.t.
6 Ivan Basso - Astana Cycling Team - s.t.
7 Jurgen Van den Broeck - Française des Jeux - s.t.
8 Carlos José Ochoa - Française des Jeux - s.t.
9 Marco Osella - Quick·Step - s.t.
10 Alexandr Kolobnev - Gerolsteiner - s.t.
General Classification
1 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 66h00'58 2 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - + 2'34
3 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - + 2'46 4 John Devine - Team Columbia - + 2'58
5 Kasper Linde - Lampre - + 3'03
6 Ivan Basso - Astana Cycling Team - + 3'41
7 Álex Ardila - Rabobank - + 4'51
8 Samuel Sánchez - Astana Cycling Team - + 4'59
9 Vincenzo Nibali - Liquigas - + 5'51
10 Thomas Brigaud - Astana Cycling Team - + 6'31
Points Classification
1 Francisco Pacheco - Team Columbia - 8 - 150
2 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 4 - 142 3 Lars Boom - Team Columbia - 0 - 111
4 Dominique Rollin - Gerolsteiner - 0 - 100 5 Robert Gesink - Team Columbia - 25 - 91
Mountain Classification
1 Thomas Voeckler - Team Columbia - 0 - 77
2 Maxime Bouet - Team CSC Saxo Bank - 0 - 75
3 Iñigo Cuesta - Serramenti - 0 38
4 Danilo Di Luca - Caisse d'Epargne - 2 - 32
5 Riccardo Riccò - Agritubel - 4 - 31
Edited by facmanpob on 09-02-2009 12:47
60km to the west of yesterday’s finish, on the road from Verona to Innsbruck, lies the beautiful mountain town of Bolzano, the start point of today’s 208km stage.
Although the stage is straightforward in comparison to previous stages, with only 2 major climbs, the finish is at the top of Monte Baldo, and the winner of today’s stage could win the overall classification!
The race winds its way up the dramatic cliff road to the top of the Passo della Mendola, 15km of climbing at an average of 6%, but with a peak of 9% gradient
Before gradually descending for approximately 100km as the race rides south towards Lake Garda.
Once it reaches the shores of the Lake, the riders will face a daunting ride up Monte Baldo
27km at an average of 5.2%, but with the final 5km at over 8%, with maximum gradients of in excess of 11%!
Team Columbia start in a great position for this stage, holding 2 riders in the top 10. Our main aim is to try to limit any damage done by the best climbers in the Giro, Basso and Gonzalez. In addition, Voeckler will try to attack and take the mountain points on the initial climb, to extend his lead in the KoM classification.
Just so you're all aware - I've raced up to Stage 20 of the Giro. I will post Stage 17 in a moment, then probably 18 and 19 tomorrow, then 20 and 21 on Wednesday!
Soler, the Barloworld team leader has stopped as well…..does he have a problem?
