Giro d'Italia

Real life: Kreuziger tooke the stage ahead of Hesjedal and Rodríguez

Peraud is out fighting to get the mountain jersey for his own instead of just borrowing it from Nibali.
He takes the first KOM ahead of Hoogerland and Vande Velde.
Going into the last 100 km the break has 8’15’’ to the peloton. And four mountains to the finish line…

Gesink have had a decent start of the race placing 12th in the GC, but without being noticed. That changes when he goes on the attack with Rolland at the foot of Passo Manghen.

The two catch up with the break and pulls it over the summit. Hoogerland sprints to take the most points though. 70 km to go and six minutes between the break and the peloton.

With 45 km to go the break has around five minutes and Contador and Froome have sent their helpers to the front.

Rolland and Gesink leave their breakaway companions behind on the third climb. Still five minutes to the peloton.

22 km left and the duo has four minutes to an 18-rider group with all the favourites. Froome attacks from that group right before the top and quickly gets half a minutes gap.

Everything is brought back together among the favourites before the final climb. Rolland and Gesink still have a two minute advantage though.

Five km to go. Nibali and Froome have bridged the gap to Gesink and Rolland. Gesink tries to counter…

…Froome thanks for the effort and uses it to catapult away from the other favourites. With 2,5 km to the finish line he has 50 seconds to Contador, Nibali, Valverde and Wiggins.
Once again Nibali is showing tremendous strength in chasing the Brit. He still has a small gap going into the last km.

But not enough! Nibali takes another win in the snow.

A lot of riders finished outside the time limit. Swift, Nizzolo and Sarmiento slowest, but Degenkolb also missed it in spite of having four teammates in the group with him. The same fate overcame Greipel and Farrar.

Giro d'Italia

Real life: De Gendt took a glorious solo win 56’’ ahead of Cunego and 2’50’’ ahead of Nieve.

Another day with bad weather.

When Casar cross the first KOM ahead of Meyer and Dupont the eight riders our front have only just built 1,40’’ to the peloton.

At the next KOM the break has established itself with 13 riders. Meyer takes the three points.
It is doubtful if the 5 minutes gap held by the break at this point will be sufficient, but especially riders like Kruijswijk, Niemiec, Dupont, Marczynski and Vande Velde will be hoping to do something spectacular on this final mountain stage.

With 100 km to go the break had 9 minutes but Saxo – Tinkoff and Sky Froome have started reeling them in.

Szmyd takes Passo del Mortirolo 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. The Pole is now leading the mountain classification, but Nibali can still regain it on Stelvio.
With 24 km to go the ascent of Passo del Stelvio begins. The break has only 2’17’’ to the peloton, which has now been reduced to 71 riders. Looks like it’s another one for the big names…

With 14 km to go the Astana/Sky Froome/Saxo train have reeled in the last breakaway rider Kruijswijk and Froome is off!

At first only Wiggins, Hesjedal, Contador and Rodríguez try to follow. Will Nibali pay for his earlier attacks today?

With 10 km to go Nibali still haven’t made an attack on the group ahead, which has now been joined by Sánchez, Valverde and Van den Broeck.

8 km to the top and Froome is caught.

But the Brit is off again. With 5 km he has 30 seconds to Purito, Contador, Valverde and Hesjedal with Van den Broeck, Wiggins and Sánchez 15 seconds further behind. Nibali is desperately fighting to regain contact with this group a further 15 seconds behind in a group with among others Scarponi and A. Schleck.

2 km to the top for Froome. 36 seconds behind Wiggins is now pulling Nibali, Contador, Purito and Valverde. Froome will not be too happy about his countryman after this!

Contador catch the Brit just as they enter the last km. Nibali 33 seconds behind at this point.

Froome has the most left for the sprint and takes the stage.

13 riders have to abandon. Most interestingly Taylor Phinney will not take part of the TT tomorrow.

Giro d'Italia

Real life: Pinotti took the stage ahead of Geraint Thomas and Jesse Sergent. Hesjedal regained the GC lead.

First rider on the course is Australian TT-champion Durbridge. He should make a decent reference time, but don’t expect him to win the stage. 45’56’’ is the time to beat in goal.

That time is completely destroyed by Geraint Thomas. 44’45 is the new best. 43 seconds faster than Boom on second.

Pinotti gets inspired by the many people present on the last stage in Italy and puts in an even better time. 18 and 27 seconds faster than Thomas on the two intermediates and 41 seconds faster over the line!

Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara are the two main favourites for today. Cancellara is off first and beats Pinottis intermediate by 10 seconds. Martin is six seconds slower than Cancellara at this point.

The German is eight seconds slower than Cancellara on the second intermediate.
New best time in goal 43’44’’ from Spartacus. Will the World Champion be able to beat this?
The answer: No. Der Panzerwagen rides in 43’57’’

Time for the last ten riders. Andy Schleck is preparing to defend his spot in the top 10 in a discipline that he really hates.

Samuel Sánchez is capable of a decent TT and will be aiming to pass Rodríguez in the GC.

Wiggins have lost a few minutes over the last few stages and will be determined to regain some of the lost time today. On the first intermediate he is 18 seconds faster than Cancellara!

It looks like it will be a great day for Great Britain today as Froome gets provisional 2nd best on the first intermediate only 13 seconds slower than Wiggo.
That puts the pressure on Contador and Nibali.
But they can handle it placing 5th and 6th on the first intermediate. 17 and 28 seconds slower than Wiggins.
Sir Wiggo catch up with Valverde right at the second intermediate where he beats Cancellara’s time by 25 seconds. Froome copies the feat but only beat the Swiss by 1 second.

Contador is starting to worry around now as he is only 7th best on the second intermediate. Now 49 seconds down on Wiggins. La Maglia Rosa two seconds slower.
43’01’’ looks to be the winning time, but how will it affect the GC as we leave Italy?

Giro d'Italia

General Classification

Mountain Classifications

Points Jersey

Young Riders