The riders leave Lombardia (Pavia) and head to Piemonte to finish after 171 flat kilometres in Ivrea.
8km to go
An early breakaway gets caught with about 80 kilometres to go, and after that no attacks occur. Yes, no attacks at all..... We really don't know why, as the pace of the peloton isn't that high. Probably, the riders fear the following 2 days...
Anyway, Dexia is leading the peloton with about 8km to go, when the Garmin-train is leaving the station and reaching top speed. And our train? Somehow, the riders that should form the train, have problems in finding the necessary speed.
1500m to go
Garmin has taken over the control of the peloton, and with 1500 metres to go, Tony Gallopin is about to launch his team mate Tyler Farrar. This happens at a speed that high, that the other sprinters can be happen if they can follow the pace of Garmin. Our train has found the free left side of the road, but it's too late to compete for the stage win.
Finish
Being perfectly launched by Gallopin, Tyler Farrar sprints to his 2nd stage win. At a few bike lengths distance (!), Theo Bos takes another 2nd place, followed by Edvald Boasson Hagen. EBH regains the maglia rosso again, as Kelderman finishes in 9th (and Sagan in 6th).
Ian Butler wrote:
An impressive lead out, too bad it was too late!
Nah, it wasn't. Dumoulin (Fl) was leading the sprint train at dot 99 (fitness 95, daily form +1) from 4.5km to 2.8km, then Ligthart (Sp 77, fitness 94, daily form 0) started his sprint as a final lead out man at dot 99 and aggressive sprinting. He reached a top speed 10 km/h slower than Gallopin with Sp 74.... Sagan was able to sprint as fast as teh others, only Farrar wastoo fast. And Kelderman, Ruijgh and De Greef were just following Sagan, trying to avoid a possible crash.
I really hate it when teh guy that leads your sprint train and has flat of 78, goes slower than a guy with Fl 70......
Ah, okay. So it was PCM logic that screwed you. I can accept that better than a late lead-out
Yeah, your riders can sometimes be blown away by much lesser riders, I've had it myself a couple of times, too. Hope Sagan can still catch a win here in the last stages
Today awaits 1 of the 2 big mountain stages in the Alps. The riders start in Ivrea, and after 2 big climbs, the Colle di Zuccore (16.2km at 7.5%) and the Colle San Fermo (11.3km at 9.4%), the riders arrive in the small town of Morgex, in the region Valle d'Aosta. There, the riders must climb the Colle San Carlo, 8.1km at 8.9%. This makes a total of 4253 height metres!
It has rained a little bit, what makes the tarmac in the descend very slippery, almost comparable to an ice track! Lots of crashes occur: JoaquÃm RodrÃguez, Tyler Farrar, Marek Rutkiewicz, Giampaolo Caruso and Yukiya Arashiro, to name a few....
98km to go
But then a GC-contender crashes. Michele Scarponi, GC's number 2nd, nearly misses a corner and crashes. Luckily for him, he doesn't land at the tarmac, but at the grass on the side of the road...
56km to go
In the long valley to the foot of the steep Colle San Fermo (11.3km at 9.4%!) Carlos Betancourt (Acqua et Sapone) and Mikel Landa (Euskaltel) go in the counter attack, trying to bridge the gap to Chiarinni and Roy. Scarponi has found his way back into the peloton, with the help of his domestiques Pires and Guldhammer.
The current situation: Chiarini and Roy in the lead, Betancourt and Landa at 3'29 and the peloton at 4'53.
40km to go
The ascend of the Colle San Fermo begins, with Kelderman positioned among the first riders and surrounded by his team mates. This happens 3'36 behind the 2 leaders (Betancourt and Landa at 1'16).
34km to go
5km before the summit of the San Fermo, Giampaolo Caruso attacks and gets countered by...... Igor Antón! This early in the race? We wonder what to do, should we counter or continue the high pace to defend the 3rd place in the GC?
We decide not to counter and nor does Nibali or Scarponi. Looking at the front of the race, Betancourt and Landa have joined Chiaraini. And Roy? He couldn't follow the pace and has been dropped.
31km to go
After 3 more kilometres, Caruso and Antón have created a massive margin to the group of favourites of more than 2 minutes! This is the time for Vincenzo Nibali to counterattack, together with Simon Spilak and Dario Cataldo.
This is too much for Wilco Kelderman, who is suffering with bad legs (daily form -4). He is helped by Francis De Greef and needs to minimize the loss now, hoping that the pace of Antón and Nibali will drop...
29km to go
Igor Antón has joined the leading group, and together with his team mate Landa, Chiarini, Betancourt and Caruso, he crosses the line of the KOTM-sprint at the summit of the Colle San Fermo. Nibali follows at 1'27, SPilak and Rutkiewicz at 1'54, and a group with Kelderman, De Greef, Cataldo and Scarponi at 2'10. Rein Taaramäe follows at 2'47 and a group with Rowe, Ruijgh, Van den Broeck and Mollema at 3'07.
23km to go
Another crash in the descend of the San Fermo. GC's number 6 Bauke Mollemagets surprised by a wet part of the road when entering a tunnel. He will finish at 6'31 today, but will keep his 6th position in the GC.
15km to go
Kelderman uses the first kilometres of the descend of the San Fermo to recuperate. Then he attacks out of the chasing group, trying to bridge the gap to the 6 leaders. Six, because Vincenzo Nibali has joined with the leading 5, thanks to his superb descending abilities. Kelderman follows at 1'00 and the group Scarponi at 1'43.
8km to go
The moment that Kelderman is about to join the 6 leaders, at the foot of the final climb, Caruso attacks out of it, countered by Landa. The group Taaramäe, Scarponi, Cataldo follows at 1'12.
Now the question is, when will the wasted energy in the chase work against our Dutch leader?
5km to go
With 5km to go, Caruso and Landa have a margin of '44 to Nibali and Antón. Kelderman decides that it is better to climb in his own pace, and takes the lead of the chasing group. Surprisingly, Michele Scarponi has bridged the gap to this group, 1 minute in less than 3 kilometres...
3km to go
When Vincenzo Nibali launches another attack, this time with 3km to go, Kelderman knows that his chance to win the Giro, is gone. He simply hasn't got the energy left to counter the Sicilian, and can only hope that neither Antón nor Scarponi can.
2km to go
Scarponi can't, but Igor Antón can do it: counter the attack by Nibali. The 2 close the gap to Caruso and Landa, and even leave them behind. Scarponi and Kelderman follow at '34. Kelderman knows that the next 2 kilometres can be crucial in defending his podium place against the Euskaltel-rider, and despite he had a nice meeting with the guy with the hammer, he keeps pushing the pedals....
WIlco lost some valuable time today, but considering the daily form, it could have been worse.... He did a great job in the descend towards Morgex to bridge the gap to Antón and Nibali, but already at the foot of the Colle San Marco, he knew that he hadn't got the legs anymore to win. So what he did, continuing in his own pace, really showed his cycling intelligence. Now, with 1 mountain stage to go (and the most horrible one), he is '30 behind Scarponi and 1'50 in front of Antón. And being the better timetrialist of the 3, the podium is possible.
Edited by dienblad on 26-01-2013 09:36
@ Ian Butler: thanks. That's RodrÃguez who almost disappears there.... Scarponi surprised me, that after that crash, he could continue riding like nothing had happened.
6200 height metres. Some riders will love this, but most of them will look at the queen's stage with eyes of horror. Out of Morgex, the riders immediately start to ascend the Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo (26.0km at 4.9%, alt 2188m). After a long descend, the next climb awaits, the Colle dell'Iseran. The 38.3km at an average gradient of 4.8% brings the riders to an altitude of 2766 metres, this Giro's Cima Coppi!
The 3rd climb of the day is the Colle del Moncenisio (Mont Cenis), 9.9km at 6.9%, alt 2081m. After the descend to Susa, today's toughest climmb awaits, the Colle delle Finestre. 18.1 kilometres at an average gradient of 9.3%, half of the climb is unpaved. When the riders arrive at the summit (alt. 2178m), 28 kilometres remain to Sestrière. The last 8.1 kilometres are ascending again (average gradient 5.7%), before the riders finally arrive in the ski-resort after 218 kilometres.
Then a crash in the descend on the peloton. Igor Antón, winner of the 2 previous editions of the Giro and the current number 4 of the GC strangely looses control of his bike, without getting hit by an opponent, and hits the tarmac. Of course, none of his opponents wants to profit from it, so Antón can return back in the peloton, with the help of his team mates.
120km to go
The 4 leaders have finished the long, never ending ascend of the Colle dell'Iseran, after 38 kilometres of climbing. Cayetano Sarmiento is the first to cross the line of the KOTM-sprint, meaning he brings some extra money for his Acqua et Sapone-team thanks to the Cima Coppi.
Surrounded by snow, Knees, Lófkvist and Ten Dam follow at 1'55. The peloton follows at........ 17'52. Being passed by several local grannies on their singlespeed bikes, they ascended the Iseran, trying to let stay as much riders as possible in this peloton.
78km to go
Christian Knees is closing the gap to the 4 leaders. At the summit of the Colle del Moncenisio (Mont Cenis), he is only '44 behind them. Rogers has been dropped due to a crash, Ten Dam halfway the climb and now shortly before the summit, also Löfkvist cracks.
The peloton still believes it is just a ride in the park today and follows at 19'18. For sure, Nibali doesn't want his domestiques to get tired....
70km to go
In the long descend towards Susa, the margin to the peloton increases to 20 minutes.... Yes, 20 minutes with just 70km to go, meaning Caruso virtually jumps to the 5th place in the GC. Please keep this in mind!!
When the peloton continues riding in this pace, it'll probably mean that 145 riders will be send home because of finishing outside the time limit. And as Radio Shack keeps on enjoying the beautiful landscape, our best desecender (Peter Sagan) takes over the control of the pace of the peloton.
46km to go
The BOTD (Knees has joined the South American-orientated group of 4) leaves Susa and starts the ascend of the feared Colle delle Finestre. 18.1km at 9.3%, with the last 9km at unpaced roads. Due to the descending skills of Sagan the margin has decreased to 17'44.
End of part 1 of this report. A few questions need to be answered:
- When will the first rider of the GCs top 5 attack?'
- Has Igor Antón recovered from his crash, or is he too bruised to climb with the best?
- Which rider of the BOTD will win this stage? Or do they all get caught by the peloton?
Tyler Farrar
Theo Bos
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Manuel Belletti
Ben Swift
Francisco José Ventoso
John Degenkolb
Rein Taaramäe
Simon Spilak
Saxo Bank SunGard
BMC Racing Team
