Thanks guys. I was actually quite surprised about the TTT because I usually don't win them, rather the contrary But with three 75+ time trialists, I had a good squad for that.
@ tsmoha: I doubt that Rogers can keep up all the way through the mountains, so you would have to rely on Mosquera to overtake Duarte... Well, we'll see.
The hilly transfer stage looked perfectly well for a break so we sent Capecchi in the group of the day which consisted of 14 riders. And indeed they got away and increased the advance. And increased. And increased. Eventually, the pack finished 25'27 (!) behind, which vaults Capecchi to 16th overall. In the sprint for the win, he finished fifth. Mirco Lorenzetto won the sprint easily ahead of Harald Starzengruber.
1
Mirco Lorenzetto
Pro Team Astana
4h28'41
2
Harald Starzengruber
Leopard – Trek
s.t.
3
Steve Chainel
FDJ
s.t.
Stage 15
The action already started on the third to last climb when Sylvester Szmyd upped the pace. Only 15 riders could stay together, some of the Top 10 were missing. The group passed the penultimate climb together as well and entered the last ascent. About halfway through it, Fabio Duarte attacked. He quickly created a gap of 40 seconds and some riders followed. Nibali decided to constantly ride a high pace and slowly closed up to the front.
One after another, he overtook almost all riders in front him until, on the last kilometer, he was side by side to Scarponi and only a bit behind Duarte. The Colombian could hold on to his third stage win and Scarponi outsprinted Nibali but they're only 16 seconds behind. Most important today: Michael Rogers lost almost two minutes on Nibali and falls back to third. The fight for the podium is very tight but the overall seems to be safe for the Italian!
On other note, 25 riders had to abandon today, among them unfortunatly four of ours: Bodnar, Wurf, Viviani and Guarnieri.
Rogers seems to be struggle in the mountains, which is good for Nibali Nice performance again.. Duarte's three stage-wins are pretty awesome, looks like he will be able to take the 3rd Overall at least... and what a break there, 25 minutes.. that doesn't happen so often.
Still cruising towards the GC-win! Too bad 4 riders finished outside the time-limit, but I had the same in my story in the 2011-Giro, as long as you cankeep at least 3 guys to bring Nibali water! GL for the last stages.
@ tsmoha: Duarte looks so strong I actually fear he might be a threat for Nibali. The concluding time trial isn't very long and Nibali's recovery isn't the best...
@ rorzcp: I'd like to see him there as well, would be a nice surprise. But I think Top 5 is the maximum for Rogers.
@ sutty68: Yup, looks nice so far
@ dienblad: I was worried about Bodnar in the first week because I needed him for the TTT. Afterwards, I really don't care much. Szmyd, Brajko and Capecchi will survive for sure, Oss I don't know. So it's fine I guess.
The break of the day consisted of a couple strong riders including Marzio Bruseghin. They got a big advance of more than ten minutes and still 3 of them were left when Bruseghin entered the last 5 kms, now alone in front. The first chasing group was already rather small. No attacks were made until the final kilometer when they began sprinting towards Bruseghin. But the Italian saved some meters into the finish and got a surprising win.
Vincenzo Nibali had his first bad day and lost 50 seconds to Duarte and 38 seconds to Scarponi who both come a bit closer in the GC.
The break of the day consisted of several good climbers including Eros Capecchi. They entered the last climb 18 mintues in front of the favorites. Capecchi soon fell back and finished sixth while Francis De Greef won way in front of Davide Rebellin.
Among the GC contenders, Michele Scarponi and Fabio Duarte were the strongest, just like yesterday, and made up 37 seconds on Nibali, who had another rather bad day. He's still 2'26 in front in the GC with only one MTF left though, so he shouldn't mind too much.
...forgot to take a screen...
1
Francis De Greef
Omega Pharma – Lotto
4h57'17
2
Davide Rebellin
Katusha Team
+ 5'24
3
Simone Stortoni
Colnago – CSF Inox
+ 6'15
Stage 18
We sent Sylvester Szmyd into the break, but without success. 14 riders passed the biggest climb together. Some attacks were neutralized, but on the last climb, the group again split and only five riders sprinted for the win. Duarte won his fourth stage gaining another 20 seconds on Nibali who finished fourth behind Scarponi and Rujano. Mosquera was the fifth member of that group, Michael Rogers might have lost all his podium ambitions today as he finished about a minute behind the leaders.
An easy stage before the last epic queen stage. Not surprisingly, a break won this. Thomas Rohregger left his companions in the dust on the last hill and finishes first. The favorites finish 23 minutes behind them. Nibali uses the last descent to gain another 36 seconds on his opponents. Michael Rogers crashed and lost almost 3 minutes, he falls back to GC fifth.
… forgot to take a screen ...
1
Thomas Rohregger
Leopard – Trek
5h00'55
2
Davide Malacarne
Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 5'20
3
Rob Ruijgh
GreenEdge Cycling
+ 7'29
Stage 20
Here we are at the sickest of all stages! After three incredibly hard weeks, the organisation tops it all with 180 deathly kilometers.
As if the riders made a gentlemen's agreement, the day began very quiet. A group around Mikel Nieve and Alexandre Geniez got away and quickly created a large gap. Over the first mountains, the favorites stayed completely together. A group of 19 riders entered the last climb together while the front group was still seven minutes in front. By and by, the group decreased until only the top 6 of the GC were together.
The GC before the concluding time trial looks as follows:
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
92h52'33
2
Fabio Duarte
Geox - TMC
+ 44
3
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 1'11
4
Ezequiel Mosquera
Movistar Team
+ 6'17
5
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
+ 9'03
Nibali shouldn't lose his overall lead anymore, although Scarponi showed up to be stronger in the previous days. Duarte should, if nothing extraordinary happens, fall back to third.
Stage 21
The fight for the overall involved the fight for the stage win today. Michael Rogers set a great best time, and it soon became clear that it would last! The Australian grabed the last stage win of this year's Giro.
More important was the battle of the Top 3: At checkpoint one, Scarponi led with 21 seconds to Nibali, it looked as if he could maybe attack him. Duarte followed only a second behind.
Checkpoint two showed the same image: Scarponi increased his lead to 32 seconds on Nibali and 35 seconds to Duarte. Scarponi would need another 39 seconds for the win.
But Nibali stroke back on the last part! He even cut 2 seconds out of the gap to Scarponi, who has to cope with the second spot both today and in the GC.
1
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
34'51
2
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 42
3
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 52
...
8
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 1'12
...
19
Fabio Duarte
Geox - TMC
+ 1'57
...
32
Ezequiel Mosquera
Movistar Team
+ 2'21
The full classifications and a complete review will follow.
Vincenzo Nibali takes home his second Giro win in a row. He might not have been the strongest in the mountain, but he just was the cleverest, gaining multiple seconds with nicely timed late attacks on mediocrely hard stages. Plus, he convinced in the time trials.
Fabio Duarte showed up to be the best climber, underlined by four stage wins. A rather bad first week and his lack of time trialing skills denied him a better placement.
The most positive surprise surely was Michael Rogers. During the first half of the race, he even had realistical chances on a podium spot. In contrary to him, Ivan Basso surely was the most negative appearance here, finishing even behind his 38 years old team mate Garzelli.
Final Points Classification
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
207
2
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
188
3
Fabio Duarte
Geox - TMC
187
4
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
134
5
Ezequiel Mosquera
Movistar Team
105
At every point of the race, the climbers were in charge of this ranking. Nibali took it due to his consistency.
Final Mountain Classification
1
Fabio Duarte
Geox - TMC
90
2
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
65
3
Marzio Bruseghin
Movistar Team
65
4
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
55
5
Francis De Greef
Omega Pharma - Lotto
52
Consequentally, the best climber wins this racing. Marzio Bruseghin and Francis De Greef benefited from multiple breakaways.
For a long time, Talanksy and Valls were still in the game. But on the last queen stage, stage 20, Geniez left them completely behind and took the lead in the ranking.
Final Teams Classification
1
Liquigas - Cannondale
280h00'36
2
Katusha Team
+ 41'29
3
Androni Giocattoli
+ 1h09'52
4
Movistar Team
+ 1h29'21
5
Geox - TMC
+ 1h44'12
Liquigas smashed the concurrence! Although only four riders finished, three of them were within the Top 15.
Tops
Fabio Duarte
With four stage wins, Duarte was the shining figure of this Giro. It was due to his weak time trialing that he missed the win but with his first Grand Tour podium he finally fulfills his prosising potential.
Vincenzo Nibali
You have to mention the overall winner here. Sure, last year he won five stages, this year only the time trial. But the startlist was unevenly harder. He made perfect use of his strong team, his downhilling and his cleverness to collect the advance he needed for his second win in a row.
Leopard – Trek
The team came to Italy without a real GC leader and no one expected much. Therefore, three stage wins and a second spot, all from breakaways, are a fantastic result. Especially impressive was Davide Viganò, who won two stages in three days. The team was a enrichment for the race.
Other positive appearances:
Michael Rogers – Surprising GC fifth
Stefano Garzelli – 38 years old and normally domestique for Ivan Basso, he finished seventh overall.
The wild card teams – Three riders in the Top 10 and 6 stage wins. Only Acqua & Sapone couldn't really contribute anything.
Flops
Cadel Evans
The Australian crashed early in the race and never could keep up with the leaders. He eventually finished 18th, more than an hour off. Very disappointing.
Ivan Basso
Started as one of the overall contenders, the winner of 2010 and 2006 was never near the podium. Finishing eigth, he even arrived behind his luxury domestique Stefano Garzelli. A weak performance.
The sprinters
Sure, the route wasn't really made for sprinters. But there were opportunities. Thus, it's very rare that not a single stage was won in a veritable bunch sprint.
Other negative appearances:
Mikel Nieve – Top 5 contender in the first week, he couldn't live up to the expectations and fell back to 13th.
Tejay Van Garderen – Came here with the goal to win the young riders classification and didn't even finish.
Daniel Martin – Similar to Nieve, he seemed to be capable of a Top 10, then fell back to 26th
We can hardly say anything negative about this Giro. Sure, we didn't win 8 stages like last year but still: Nibali won the overall and points classification and we completely dominated the team classification with the overall places 1, 14, 15 and 21.
The only bad thing might be that only four riders finished. But considering the difficulty of the race that's not too bad. No team finished with more than seven riders, some brought only three riders to Milano.
Edited by cunego59 on 18-11-2011 10:39
Nice summary of the Giro and a great win for Nibali against some very strong climbers like Scarponi and Duarte! The smartest rider won this race, collecting some important seconds on descents and doing very well in the timetrials.. A nice Giro with some surprises and the best climber winning the KoM-jersey as well I think it's time for a Duarte-podium @Dark Dog, too
tsmoha wrote:
Nice summary of the Giro and a great win for Nibali against some very strong climbers like Scarponi and Duarte! The smartest rider won this race, collecting some important seconds on descents and doing very well in the timetrials.. A nice Giro with some surprises and the best climber winning the KoM-jersey as well I think it's time for a Duarte-podium @Dark Dog, too
But anyway: for this Giro (reports and results)
Nothing to add about this great Giro, maybe only one more
But with three 75+ time trialists, I had a good squad for that. 
Nice performance again.. Duarte's three stage-wins are pretty awesome, looks like he will be able to take the 3rd Overall at least... and what a break there, 25 minutes.. that doesn't happen so often.
