The last flat stage for a couple of days. Except for one more stage, this was the last chance for the sprinters. But it weren't the sprinters who fought for the win: On the second KoM sprint, Damiano Cunego attacked and some other favorites followed. Only Vincenzo Nibali could catch up with him and they maintained a solid advance to a group of four, including Marco Pinotti and Paolo Tiralongo.
In the final sprint, Nibali came out of Cunego's slipstream and took his first win in the Maglia Rosa easily.
Result
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas – Cannondale
5h21'52
2
Damiano Cunego
Lampre – ISD
s.t.
3
Marco Pinotti
HTC – Highroad
+ 1'16
…
7
Danilo Napolitano
Acqua & Sapone
+ 2'25
Stage 14
The first of a couple of mountain stages wasn't expected to be too selective, and it really wasn't. 17 riders entered the final kilometers, and with a quick attack with 2,5 km to go, Vincenzo Nibali got himself enough advance to save it into the finish. Second stage win in a row!
Result
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas – Cannondale
5h06'48
2
Marzio Bruseghin
Movistar Team
s.t.
3
Marco Pinotti
HTC – Highroad
s.t.
Stage 15
The queen stage! The climb up to the Monte Zoncolan is really steep, in parts up to 18%. 11 riders entered the final kilometers together, but it were again Vincenzo Nibali and Damiano Cunego who turned out to be the best climbers of the Giro.
In the end, it was a heartbeat final, but Nibali really grabed his third stage win in a row.
After the rest day, the time trial should give more indication of the final general classification. Nibali couldn' make up some time on the other favorites, but didn't lose much either. So in fact, the time trial didn't change much.
Result
1
Simon Spilak
Lampre - ISD
33'16
2
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua & Sapone
+ 3
3
Marzio Bruseghin
Movistar Team
+ 6
4
Marco Pinotti
HTC - Highroad
+ 7
5
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
+ 12
6
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 14
Stage 17
Another mountain stage, but not nearly as hard as the last one. 30 men eventually entered the last climb together, and in the last kilometers, split up. In the end, David Zabriskie surprisingly beat Vincenzo Nibali in the uphill sprint. They could gain 16 seconds to the next 12 riders, and Nibali could also overtake the points jersey from Damiano Cunego!
Result
1
David Zabriskie
Team Garmin - Cervelo
4h28'37
2
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas – Cannondale
s.t.
3
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago – CSF Inox
+ 16
Stage 18
The last flat stage before the three final decisive stages. The sprinter's teams did everything necesarry and it came down to a mass sprint. Mauro Finetto didn't do so well, he only finished 7th, Leonardo Duque won his second stage here.
The first of two mountain stages before the concluding time trial. It's the easier one, but nevertheless, it brought some time differences: Due to a bad positioning on the first mountain, Nibali had to put lots of efforts in coming back to the favorites, and eventually couldn't counter their attacks. Luckily, he didn't lose too much, an Cunego couldn't exploit Nibali's first sign of weakness.
Result
1
Marzio Bruseghin
Movistar Team
5h28'47
2
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
3
Joaquim Rodriguez
Katusha Team
+ 48
…
6
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas – Cannondale
+ 1'12
Stage 20
The ultimate possibility for weaker time trialists to gain some time. This was one of the toughest stages of this Giro, and 20 riders had to abandon so short before the final goal tomorrow. Vincenzo Nibali easily secured another victory, he already broke free on top of the penultimate climb, and kept his advance until the finish line.
Result
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas – Cannondale
5h36'01
2
Marzio Bruseghin
Movistar Team
+ 21
3
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
+ 31
…
9
Damiano Cunego
Lampre – ISD
+ 46
Stage 21
Before this stage, only one spot among the Top 10 was still vacant: Marzio Bruseghin and Marco Pinotti on three and four were on the exact same time. Nibali's win was in no danger.
Nevertheless, he seeked for another stage win, and missed it by only one second: Marzio Bruseghin took the win and secured his third place.
That was a dominant win.
No chance for the others. I like that Garzelli won the KoM jersey without seeing him very often in your reports. Shows that he fought for it probably.
He mostly earned it during the stages 19 and 20, where there were small groups very early and Garzelli attacked at every mountain sprint. Which Nibali didn't. So yes, he really fought for it, and it completed a pretty good Giro for him^^
There was one predominant race in this month: The Giro. But here are the results of all the races:
The only rider who could win more than one race was Kenny Van Hummel. But most important was of course Vincenzo Nibali's win at the Giro. Apart from that, Luis Leon Sanchez won the Amgen Tour of California in a strong field in front of Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Cadel Evans.
Due to his Giro win, Nibali leads this ranking very thin in front of Damiano Cunego, who performed a great Giro as well after his good results in the Ardennes. Therefore, Liquigas returnes into the Top 5 in the team classement, still led by Katusha.
After his two classics victories and good results in Bavaria, Kenny Van Hummel gained the lead in the continental ranking. Mostly thanks to him, Skil is also the main follower of Landbouwkrediet in the team ranking.
Nibali extended his lead to an enormous margin. He has now more points than number two and three together! Also, Liquigas leads quite comfortably
Another ranking, the same image: Both Nibali and Liquigas lead with a nice advance. Leonardo Duque continued his impressive season with another two stage wins in the Giro.
Surprise, surprise: The rider of the month is... Vincenzo Nibali! The numbers speak for themselves. Michael Schär got a second rank on a stage in the Tour de Romandie.
I'm on my way back from Italy. We had a huge party at the team's headquarter to celebrate Vincenzo's victory in the Giro! Everyone was very happy and excited, even the two riders who didn't finish. But that team has set the bar very high for us, for the Tour.
All in all, they won eight stages (Nibali: 5, Finetto: 2 and the team time trial), and achieved six further podium places. Nibali also succeeded in the points classification, and only four mountain points were missing for the total domination in all rankings. He – and Mauro Finetto as well – will go into a fully deserved holiday, and both won't return to racing anymore this season.
All in all, it was a Giro with few surprises. I think, my preview was quite correct, Damiano Cunego and Joaquim Rodriguez were a little better than expected, Danilo Di Luca and Rein Taaramäe a little worse. The only complete failure was Riccardo Ricco, who started with outside chances on the podium, and finished way down on place 123, more than four hours behind our winner.
As half of the season is finished by now, I'd like to show you how our team has evolved quite a bit.
The DS singled out three riders, who made particularly strong progresses:
First of all, Peter Sagan evolved into our best puncheur. He still is really fast, and his Acceleration became even more explosive.
Also, Simone Ponzi started the season as one of the weaker sprinters in our team, but steped into the first line by now. His progress is enorm, and still he has a lot of potential left.
And last but not least, the DS praised me a lot for my development in both mountain and time trial. They see me on a really good way to a great stage racer!
Welcome back to Dominik's first race of his second period of racing. It's the first assembly of Liquigas' Tour de France team. Those riders, plus Christiano Salerno, will ride the biggest stage race of the world. Except for Belotti and Szmyd, who conserved a good shape from the Giro, no one is in better than average form.
The Memorial Marco Pantani is a sprinter's classic, but not very frequented with top riders. Liquigas is the only ProTour team present.
Km 1: Dominik Nerz continues where he stopped in the earlier season: He attacks!
Km 20: Everything is back together.
Km 22: The next breakaway tries follow: Now, Kristijan Koren represents Liquigas.
Km 46: While a 14 men group established a lead of more than two minutes, the attacks out of the peloton don't stop.
Km 55: 17 riders are 1'30 in front now. The peloton seems incertain whether or not to let them go.
Km 63: The next riders break free. The front group consists of 22 riders now.
Km 84: Their advance grew to more than 5 minutes now!
Km 104: Farnese Vini starts to increase the pace for their leader Oscar Gatto. The advance decreases.
Km 139: Over the last small hill, the pack is down by less than two minutes. Also, the pack lengthens and some riders have problems.
Km 145: Some riders try to get away again: Among them is Francesco Belotti.
Km 156: With 9km to go and them likely to succeed, there's movement in the front group!
Km 159: Only 6km left, and Jhoan Chaves (Colombia) leads with half a minute to the other escapees. Kristjan Koren is still among them.
Km 163: The sprint for the podium begins, while Chaves is still in the lead and most probably will win this!
Km 165: No one could take this away from him: The Colombian takes his first professional win ever.
Km 165: Behind him, Kenny De Ketele sprints on the second place, while Koren achieves a good tenth!
Km 165: After his early breakaway try, the rest of the race was unspectacular for Dominik Nerz. He finishes in the pack.
A happy day for Jhoan Esteban Chaves.
Result
1 Jhoan Chaves
Colombia es Pasion – Cafe de Colombia
3h57'21
2 Kenny De Ketele
Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator
+ 18
3 Daniel Foder
Team Concordia Forsikring – Himmerland
s.t.
4 Nicola D'Andrea
Meridiana Kamen Team
s.t.
5 Kirk Carlsen
Letua Cycling Team
s.t.
…
110 Dominik Nerz
Liquigas – Cannondale
s.t.
Dominik's Comment:
We all feel that we're not in a good shape yet. But this race was nothing more but and opportunity good increase it. So we didn't attach much importance to today.
But it felt really good to race again, and to attack! I'm really excited about the future races!
12:04: Dominik is the first Liquigas rider today. Let's see what he can do.
12:18: After Peraud has set a great first best time, Dominik finished 56 seconds behind him.
12:43: Robert Gesink might be a good bet for the overall. But he already loses 36 seconds on Peraud.
13:13: In absence of Andy Schleck, Fränk is Leopard's leader here. He's not known as a good time trialist and finishes nearly a minute behind the current leader.
13:27: Peraud's time lasted for nearly one and a half hours. But now, Australian champion Richie Porte lowered it by 5 seconds.
13:56: Garmin's leader Ryder Hesjedal is only an outside favorite, and his time is mediocre. He'll eventually end up 55th.
14:01: Janez Brajkovic shows a good shape, but is 20 seconds slower than Porte.
14:16: Marco Pinotti sets a new best time! 4 seconds faster than Porte. He has conserved a good shape since the Giro.
14:32: Cadel Evans might be one of the favorites for the overall, today he finishes 17 seconds behind Pinotti, and eventually ends up 14th.
14:47: Levi Leipheimer is still one of the best time trialists in the world, and comes really close to the Italian: Only 5 seconds behind!
15:03: Ivan Basso is on his way now. Let's see what he can do in his shape.
15:11: He finishes 41 seconds behind Pinotti.
15:47: Tony Martin almost catches up with Manuele Mori, who started in front of him. Nevertheless, he finishes 7 seconds down to Pinotti.
16:12: Igor Anton developed his climbing abilities even more this season, but still lacks of time trialing. He eventually finishes 112th, more than a minute behind the winner.
16:32: Bradley Wiggins was the last rider to start. But he was the fastest! Six seconds faster than Pinotti.
First win for the British: He seems to be in good shape!
Well, we're all a little out of shape. This result is quite ok, Ivan should have the possibilities to regain the time, as he's considered to be the best climber here. We're lucky that the big riders like Andy Schleck or Alberto Contador obviously take part in the Tour de Suisse.
Tomorrow is completely flat, so it probably won't be too exhausting. Nevertheless, I'm going to bed now.
and nice to see dominik has made his next step to becoming a grand tour contender someday
