Already two stage wins from Petacchi! Also Brajkovic seems to be in shape Also a good job from Schleck in the TT, coming in with the same time as Basso and even before vdb and Cunego!
Plenty of grumbling about a very early rest day, which leaves us with a looong stretch of racing around Italy before the next rest day which is after the key Zoncalon stage. Before that there is plenty to test the teams, with most thinking that the next weekends action on the Strade Bianchi and the Terminillo mountain top finish to be an early indicator of who's hot and who's not.
Before even that though there are three stages that are going to test the relative strengths of the teams involved in this years Giro.
First we have that ultimate test of team harmony the team time trial, this will be followed by the first sign of mountain points in this year's Giro. The finish into Novi Ligure is a bit tricky but most of the sprinters should be able to make that one. However stage six looks risky and GC contenders will need to be watchful as riders like Cunego and Garzelli may look to sneak seconds or bonifications at least.
Stage 3 - Team Time Trial (Savigliano - Cuneo)
At 31 and a half kilometres this test will not decide the Giro but will give some riders a slight advantage over the others. Garmin, HTC, Saxobank, Caisse and Sky are usually pretty good at these things. This writer however does suck at these, usually I see 4 riders ride away from the others and this one was no different.
Anyways Lampre rode around quite well with the Pink jersey of Petacchi for inspiration but could only finish midfield. Not enough to protect the precious little lead the sprinter had built up. Oh well thats the end of that moment.
It was always going to be difficult for Scarponi's Androni squad with only 7 riders, they did at least go faster than Miche but finished second last. This is tough for them, they lose the best part of two minutes to the best teams on the day.
The best teams on the day were Caisse D'Epargne, who led at most of the intermediate checks...
... apart from the most important one the finish. It was the familiar sight of the team in yellow who won the day.
Saxo? Well they recovered from a dreadful start (last at the first check) to clock in a half decent time. This was a useful reward as Liquigas had a dreadful performance finishing way down the pack.
Some evil eyes between Basso and Nibali at the end would make the headlines on the next day.
Schleck has 90 seconds on Basso and just over a minute on Nibbles. He is behind Bruseghin and Pinotti but we are not worried about those surely they cannot climb with Andy on the tough climbs to come. In fact we are quite happy to let HTC carry the pink for now.
Stage 4 - Novara - Novi Ligure
This was our first real windy stage, a sprint would surely come anyway but it may make it difficult for some riders to hang on. The headlines of the day, well Dan Lloyd (Cervelo) would be the first King of the Mountains.
Following a crash in the nasty little roads near the end, Robbie Hunter would abandon. A shame for Garmin that who were slightly disappointing at the TTT on the day before.
Perhaps the most surprising part was the sprint Petachi looked in a good place, as did Breschel as the sprint opened out.
But they were blasted in the face by the wind and Francesco Ginanni (Androni) went past for the stage win.
Good reward this for the team that have had rotten luck with the two abandons.
Stage 5 - Fidenze - Marina di Carrara
After not quite doing the business on the Time Trials and Breschel also not really getting any joy out of the sprints it was time for the Saxo Machine to hurt the opposition. First flat merchent Alex Rasmussan haulled in the early break of 11.
Before steady pace by Sorenson and Larsson dropped some of the riders on the appropriately named Passe del Brattelo.
Bye bye Andre and Robbie! Another break of three goes, its a good little move with Bakelants (omega), Cummings (Sky) and Mazzanti (Katusha).
Bert Grabsch in pink is dropped on the penultimate climb as now Lampre and Liquigas set the pace.
The break of three is reeled in and Liquigas indeed try something, but it is well marked by you know who...
With Garzelli struggling towards the back, it's really no competition for Damiano Cunego who sprints out of a 60 man group.
HTC keep the pink jersey as it shuffles onto a more appropriate rider in Marco Pinotti.
The stage profile suggest that this is not going to be the easiest of days, the presence of several gravel roads particularly on the last climb look like making this one quite awkward.
Saxobank have in Jacob Fuglsang, a former mountain biker, a pretty good teammate for today and after looking on form yesterday Andy Schleck should be comfortable enough on this type of terrian. Other GC contenders such as Basso, Nibali and Scarponi already reeling from rubbish team time trials will be nervous about this one.
Early on in the stage however Saxobank have other priorties as Alex Rasmussen and Matti Breschel work hard for Sprint points.
[
It is pretty clear that Mattster does not have the speed to beat veteren Petacchi fairly so he is going to have to use the Thor Hishovd method of prying away the jersey from a more deserving rider! Following the first sprint, a break of three forms.
Its Vanendert (Omega) again, he is looking pretty useful early on, he is joined here by Muto (miche) and Quickstep man Wynants. Wynants looks pretty weak on the first climb of the day and is replaced by the now obsessive points hunter...
the next week will be an interesting game of cat and mouse for the points jersey. Breschel just has to keep in the game!
The break is doomed really, as the peleton led by Lampre ramp it up over the penultimate KOM primer. This is nice to see with 19km to go....
A bit of panache by the current pink jersey, alas all it really tells us is that Marco Pinotti is feeling a bit insecure. He has every right to be as the Saxo plan comes into action on the Strade Bianchi.
Liquigas are looking observant here, but as we clamber on the key uphill section the telltale gaps are beginning to appear. Its strongman Voigt who is causing the damage, the German really is a priceless teammate!
Yesterdays stage winner Cunego is being observen, thats faithful leiutenent Pietropelli with him. Also bridging but alone is the game Michele Scarponi...
and donkey boy Bruseghin.
Camaras are zooming in on Nibali and Basso who are looking a little flustered, they have missed the moment. In the technical finale, Cunego still has his nasty little kick which is enough to hold off Andy Schleck in the sprint.
Whilst Cunego with two stage win bonifications is becoming a slight threat, another blow by Team Saxobank to the Italians. Though to be fair Liquigas and the Pink jersey did claw back time in the tarmaced finale - another minute is valuable.
Schleck has jumped rather prematurely into pink, the pressure is really starting to build on the Liquigas boys to be a little more proactive here. They have been on the defensive since the TTT. Cunego is looking very strong, but we suspect he will fade as we approach the high mountains. Tomorrows stage up to Monte Terminillo will give a complete assessment of his aspirations. But for now some nice kisses for Andy...
The fun and games of the first week is over folks, it's time to get serious it's the mountains.
Considering the climbs left on the menu after today Zoncalon, Kronplatz, Mortirollo and Gavia - this climb looks a little less threatening. However following a pretty dreadful week the boys at Liquigas will be looking to do something here. Its also a day of reckoning for some of those who have done well. Can Cunego make it three in a row? Will Scarponi, Bruseghin or Pinotti be able to play with the big boys here? Can the Italians do anything about Schleck?
After the usual shenanighans at the beginning a perculiar break forms.
Its Nibali with Larsson not working with rather sticking to the young Italians wheel. Nibali is pulling really hard and the Saxo led peloton is trying to keep this under control never letting it drift any further than two minutes clear. They do want to let Nibali hang out there though to waste his energy. Later Lampre, clearly confident in Cunego help Saxo chase.
Jens puts the final nail in this bizarre move, but it has tired a lot of key helpers out. 140 riders are coming in to the bottom of the climb. Early on, Tom Danielson (Garmin) goes.
This is a strong move, a number of riders try to respond. But they cannot get across to the American, after a short Szmyd burst Basso goes and quickly bridges to Danielson.
Its quite an early move this with 14km still to ride - but the peleton has quickly reduced to just 67 men. Jacob Fuglsang is the only rider left to pace, and he is trying to keep the Bass/Danielson move on a leash. At 10km its just 34 riders left in the main group, a lot of guys are being found out here. Fuglsang buries himself but Basso is beginning to push the gap up to a minute. Schleck decides its now time with 6km to go..
It takes a while but under 4km to go he does bridge to Danielson, but Basso is kicking again and so Schleck is forced to go round Danielson and try and get on the strong Italians wheel...
Its a classic duel and all your favourite fans are adding to the atmosphere...
As this is going on, its shadow boxing back in the pack. Scarponi makes his move and Cunego cannot get on to the Androni mans wheel.
At the top its 1km to go, Basso has a horrible moment where he seems to lose all power...
It's not terminal on the Terminillo though as he finds Schlecks wheel on the sprint, but cannot come round.
Danielson held on for 3rd ahead of Scarponi, as the Caisse duo of Arroyo and Bruseghin work together to keep hold of Brajkovic and Pozzovivo.
Here are the stage results of the day...
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Andy Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
4h56'19
Player
2
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
3
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
+ 34
4
Michele Scarponi
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
+ 1'09
5
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 1'31
6
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
7
Marzio Bruseghin
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
8
Janez Brajkovič
Team RadioShack
s.t.
9
Christophe Moreau
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 1'49
10
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
11
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
12
Marco Pinotti
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
13
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
14
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
s.t.
15
Sylwester Szmyd
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
21
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
22
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
26
Thomas Rohregger
Team Milram
s.t.
27
Óscar Pereiro
Astana
s.t.
30
David Zabriskie
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
36
Michael Albasini
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 3'58
39
Nicki Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4'40
Player
40
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
46
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
55
Gilberto Simoni
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
61
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana
s.t.
69
Evgeni Petrov
Team Katusha
+ 6'42
83
Vladimir Gusev
Team Katusha
+ 9'46
91
Peter Velits
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 10'18
92
Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
110
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
+ 13'06
Player
126
Jonathan Bellis
Team Saxo Bank
+ 20'42
Player
144
Alex Rasmussen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 27'06
Player
147
Baden Cooke
Team Saxo Bank
+ 32'58
Player
175
Matthew Hayman
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 46'26
It was a great attack from Liquigas, but Schleck held strong on the day. Tom Danielson certainly showed that he is motivated to do a great ride, the result favours the proactive riders again here.
The GC situation then...
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Andy Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
28h17'48
Player
2
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 2'32
3
Marzio Bruseghin
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 2'37
4
Marco Pinotti
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 2'43
5
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 3'16
6
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'21
Player
7
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
+ 3'41
8
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 4'03
9
Michele Scarponi
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
+ 4'05
10
Christophe Moreau
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 4'20
11
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 4'22
13
Janez Brajkovič
Team RadioShack
+ 4'47
14
David Zabriskie
Garmin - Transitions
+ 4'48
16
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'19
17
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 5'34
20
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 5'47
23
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'51
Player
25
Óscar Pereiro
Astana
+ 5'55
26
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
s.t.
29
Thomas Rohregger
Team Milram
+ 6'05
35
Michael Albasini
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 6'50
36
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 7'06
Player
40
Nicki Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 8'35
Player
53
Gilberto Simoni
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 10'33
68
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
+ 15'34
Player
77
Evgeni Petrov
Team Katusha
+ 19'51
85
Bert Grabsch
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 21'46
94
Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 26'35
131
Jonathan Bellis
Team Saxo Bank
+ 47'54
Player
135
Baden Cooke
Team Saxo Bank
+ 49'47
Player
156
Alex Rasmussen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h23'52
Player
175
Wim Stroetinga
Team Milram
+ 2h02'01
Andy's position looks strengthened, however there were times on the climb when it looked like he was not going to get back to Basso. With tougher climbs to come its clear that Liquigas are ready to attack. Nibali is not finished either he finished in the big main leaders group.
Its Schleck in Pink with a two and a half minute gap, which is very nice indeed. However the rider directly behind launched a big move over the weekend and much of the press feels it put the young man in difficulty. Liquigas finally have arrived in the race proper now, and as time gaps have opened up it may offer an oppurtunity for a breakaway.
The next three stages...
... might not go the way of the sprinters, in particular the very long stage into L'Aquila. That is one that Saxobank will be saving themselves for I think!
Stage 8 - Frosinone to Cava de Tirrini
There is a hill at the end that some of the GC favourites may fancy, Cunego is listed as a favourite for example. Not a lot in the middle to be excited about, the 11 man break is the focal point...
Muravyev of Radioshack is best place on GC nearly 19 minutes down. Androni and Lampre are keen for a sprint finish, Ginanni has shown already that he is in the form of his career. But today is not going to be his day as he was watching Cunego, it was old man Petacchi who showed he still has juice with a fine third stage win of this years Giro.
Stage 9 - Avellino to Bitonto
Its quite a little tough bundle of a stage this one, nothing for GC men to worry about, but one probably for the sprinters who can climb well. Saxo are realising that Breschel is not going to win the points jersey by waiting for final sprint they send him in the breakaway.
Its dominated by the presence of two Sky men Carlstrom and Froome. The Sky team sent here is not really challengers for GC or sprints but thats okay if they lighten up the race with attacking riding. Matti Breschel does well to drive with the breakaway to take both intermediate sprints. The one at the end was touch and go..
The peleton was not going to let this one go and Petacchi was strangely out of sorts today. Step forward Francesco Ginanni and take a second stage win. The stages are not really being shared around in this years Giro
Stage 10 - Lucera - L'Aquila
Its a long day and Saxo want to make it a hard day. Baden Cooke goes to the front early and creates a split.
Frustratingly for us though, Fran Ginanni is in wonderful form and powers away with the two intermediate sprints...
Saxobank have been on the front all day chasing down any breakaway that forms. Vanendert (Omega), Muto (Miche) and Mazzanti (Katusha) were one such breakaway!
Towards the end, the real hammer time was setting in as Jens Voigt absolutely blew apart the remainder of the 75 man peleton to just 37 men. Brajkovic and VdB were still there but struggling at the back.
But no really big move was landed and Damiano Cunego fulfilled his role as medium tough stage winner of this years Giro...
On second glance some small gaps had opened up, making the long day worthwhile for Saxobank.
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
6h53'03
2
Andy Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
3
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
4
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
5
Leonardo Bertagnolli
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
s.t.
6
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
s.t.
7
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana
s.t.
8
Michele Scarponi
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
s.t.
9
Francesco Ginanni
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
s.t.
10
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
11
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
12
Michael Albasini
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 33
13
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
14
Marzio Bruseghin
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
19
Marco Pinotti
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 41
21
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
22
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 49
23
Óscar Pereiro
Astana
s.t.
27
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
29
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
30
Janez Brajkovič
Team RadioShack
+ 57
32
Thomas Rohregger
Team Milram
s.t.
34
Nicki Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
45
David Zabriskie
Garmin - Transitions
+ 6'01
47
Gilberto Simoni
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 6'09
57
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
+ 6'25
Player
69
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 11'21
Player
79
Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 20'09
88
Baden Cooke
Team Saxo Bank
+ 20'49
Player
103
Vladimir Gusev
Team Katusha
+ 24'09
104
Bert Grabsch
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
135
Jonathan Bellis
Team Saxo Bank
+ 34'57
Player
168
Simone Campagnaro
Miche
+ 1h00'57
It's pretty clear that Bruseghin and Pinotti are beginning to find the going tough, perhaps their form is going. However the Liquigas duo of Basso and Nibali remain dangerous as is Scarponi and Cunego!
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Andy Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
44h54'28
Player
2
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 2'32
3
Marzio Bruseghin
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 3'10
4
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 3'16
5
Marco Pinotti
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 3'24
6
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 4'03
7
Michele Scarponi
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
+ 4'05
8
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4'10
Player
9
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
+ 4'14
10
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 4'22
13
Janez Brajkovič
Team RadioShack
+ 5'44
15
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'51
Player
16
Stefano Garzelli
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
+ 5'55
17
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 6'08
18
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 6'23
20
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 6'28
23
Óscar Pereiro
Astana
+ 6'44
26
Thomas Rohregger
Team Milram
+ 7'02
28
Michael Albasini
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 7'23
30
Nicki Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 9'32
Player
33
David Zabriskie
Garmin - Transitions
+ 10'49
50
Gilberto Simoni
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 16'42
56
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 18'27
Player
62
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
+ 21'25
Player
92
Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 46'24
116
Baden Cooke
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h10'36
Player
130
Jonathan Bellis
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h22'51
Player
168
Wim Stroetinga
Team Milram
+ 3h04'37
Alex Rasmussan was one of seven riders eliminated on todays longest stage. This is a concern, but not a great surprise he was here for the TTT and was fully expected to leave soon after that. The points jersey situation is probably a three horse race.
Riders are beginning to get tired now as we approach the key final week in the Giro. Lets remind ourselves we still have Mortirolo, Kronplatz TT and Gavia to come, but what is on peoples minds at the moment it the Zoncalon climb. There have been no rest days and the three stages leading up are not exactly straight forward.
Stage 11 and 12 are tough but will probably end in a group sprint, though plenty of sprinters will be dropped its just a matter of whether Breschel, Petacchi or Ginanni are among them. Stage 13 involves Monte Grappa, but the descent may make it a little less decisive then the usual mountain affair.
Stage 11 - Citta Sant Angelo - Porto Reccanti
Yesterday's pressure by Saxobank let to a lot of splits towards the end, but today Saxo decided to take it a bit easier. Quite a useful break went away...
in here were Bertagliati (Androni) , Lowik(Omega) , Rosseler(Radioshack) , Guitterez (Caisse) and Mikhialov (A+S). It was a game move, and with 75 to go it had a gap of 6.20. But the pack had control of it and in true Piano form at 25km to go it's a more manageable 1.30. Its going to be caught, not that Caisse man Guitterez thinks so...
Now we all now of this fellow's excellent TT skills, not that he exhibits it much outside of Spain, but here he is giving a decent fist. He gets caught though and we have the battle of the Italian Sprinters who can climb
Yeah that's Cooke in the background, sick of trying to lead out Breschel he tries for himself today! Anyway Petacchi had the edge in a straight up sprint and the experienced man showed he was still the master and Ginanni was still the learner.
The big question is can the two Italian dominators get over the climbs, I am not talking about Basso and Cunego but those bastard sprinters Ginanni and Petacchi. If they were the other way round perhaps, the pointy climbs seem more decisive. But Saxo decide its not worth the bother trying with bigger fish to fry later. In theory the breakaway should have a chance of staying away by now.
Guitterez (Caisse) is there again, Froome (Sky) is another name British fans will like to see, Gaia (CSF) is best GC placed but he is over 30 minutes back. Two Radioshack boys McCartney and Muravyev not really riders that anyone else would sign to be honest they must be delighted to be here! The break vs peleton battle had a Beautiful backdrop...
With 75km to go, its 6.20 back, yeah they are chasing again Lampre already with what 5 stage wins want another.
Over the two climbs which are with 60 and 40 to go, guys like Chicchi, McEwan and Griepal get camara time as they are dropped. But I am not going to sully my report with such free publicity for being crap at climbing! With 20km to go its 2 minutes perhaps... but at 10km its 54 seconds and is closed down. Lampre's hard work pays off as well...
Breschel managed to snag 3rd off of Ginanni which was quite a nice result with Gasperotto getting second.
Stage 13 - Ferrara - Asolo
So Monte Grappa tops out at 40 km before the finish, but most would have it as tougher than the Terminillo so we could well see another GC reshuffle. Its time for Andy Schleck to pay attention!
The early break goes and with two early sprint primes, the Saxo DS orders Breschel to get in it and take the 12 bonus points.
Also in this was former Pink jersey man Grabsch and former Green jersey (Mountains) Dan Lloyd. Also here but former nothing is Pierfelici who is the best climber, oh and Engels, nothing to say about the Quickstep man. As they come to the bottom of Monte Grappa
They have 3.45, you know thats not going to be enough its Astana who initially stretch things out.
Then Saxo decide to put a lot of hurt into everyone as Fuglsang does a terrific job and paces away with Andy Schleck.
The breakaway has mainly been reeled in, but I think its worth mentioning that Pierfelici is doing a good ride.
He has 1.20 with 10km of climbing left, he is not going to stay away but some promise is shown here. The favourites are moving across to the Saxo duo, this is a day for seeing which of the GC favourites are not here really!
The 11 men here are Fuglsang + Schleck, Nibbles + Basso, Bruseghin + Moreau, Cunego, Scarponi, Periero, Garzelli and Danielson with Pierfelici now at back of the group. So Who is not here? Pinotti, Arroyo, Brajkovic, Inexausti, Van den Brouk and Pozzovivo. Pinotti in particular had been flying high and now his Giro looks in tatters. At the top of the climb we had Liquigas giving it some as Nibali took the points but he was caught on the descent.
Its a tricky one and one rider, Hernandez (Astana) gets across at the expense of another who comes a cropper.
Its Tom Danielson who would lose over a minute because of this crash. The descent flattens out and we saw a lot of attacks, perhaps this is the oppurtunity to put time into Saxo's Luxembourger!
Nibali seems most active and here has a good gap, without any teammates Cunego looks resigned to let this one go but Garzelli and Moreau think they have a chance and they haul the gap back. But Nibali holds on for Liquigas' first stage win of this years Giro.
The gaps, well Danielson loses 1.11, then the next group is at 1.40. Brajkovic had an awful day and finished in the third group some 4 minutes back.
It has been a while readers, as some may have seen I have been busy writing a myriad of reports in the Man-Game. This has unfortunately led to me being unable to write so much here. Decide to make a new years resulotion to try and update this one every week on Sunday evenings. So here we go to pick this one up - Andy's adventure in Italy - which was working out quite well.
Part seven - Monte Zoncalon
Well we have arrived at the Zoncalon and all week the Italian press have been having a right old go at Liquigas. Seems a bit harsh as both Nibali and Basso are in the top five and what can they do against the brilliance of Schleck (and more to the point their team manager).
They have a plan here and send Bellotti to attack from the gun.
They are not the only ones with plans, Saxoback know the only chance of getting Breschel in that points jersey is to chuck him in breaks - hey whats good enough for Hushovd is good enough for Matti.
He is there to take all the sprint primes, which of course he does comfortably.
This means Matti is on 150 points, closer now to Pettachi(155) and Ginanni (161). On the climbs leading up to the Zoncalon, the break whittles down to just three riders including Bellotti but not Breschel.
With 20km to go the gap is six minutes, which is a fair bit but of course they have the brutal Zoncalon slopes to climb.
Who is the first to attack Garate and Brajkovic (calm down janne ) with 10km to go - the fools.
But it is Ivan Basso who sets a terrible pace, by terrible I mean fast.
We decide to put in action - the do not attack until you need to operation today. With 5km to go Basso is doing a fine job of pacing Schleck and sweeping up the breakaway.
Pozzovivo does a great job of convincing everyone he is a podium candidate, but he doesn't last long.
Realising that Pozzovivo is a lame duck, Scarponi and Garzelli try to make a move.
Up front Schleck decides it is time to ditch the Basso
... only now does Schleck go full gas
Andy will feel very confident now of taking the Giro d'Italia, the Italians will feel second best now.
The nasty gravel track to the top of Kronplatz, they don't seem to like a road stage up it any more because it is iffy getting cars up it.
The last part of the climb is not only steep as mentioned before it is on gravel. The performing monkeys (the cyclists) dance their way up it. It is a long wait whilst until we get to the serious times of interest - Brajkovic is the first worthy of mention.
He clocks pretty much 37 minutes dead good enough for 7th on the day. The next to go quicker was Marzio Bruseghin, Donkey Kong has been sliding down the GC but he will arrest that today.
36.45 good enough for 5th and it is Garzelli who is slaphead in the middle of Braj and Brus. Scarponi went very well, very well indeed looks like the 'ex'-doper will be perhaps the best non Liquigas Italian. Mr Savio can boast nicely about that.
Scarponi then 36.21 better than Brusighin but we still have the GC, Nibali for himself, Basso not as good on TTs as he wants to be and of Schleck happy that we are going uphill. Here is a picture of the three of them on the gravel section.
After experimenting with our early starters, some big fails we decide to keep Andy for a last push, it works a treat as we see one of those picture perfect moments of him catching Basso on the Time Trial.
It implies absolute domination and Schleck has done that. Vini, Vidi Vici I believe. Andy posts 34.53, a massive winning time.
Also a good job from Schleck in the TT, coming in with the same time as Basso and even before vdb and Cunego!
But SaxoBank really dominates here. Only 8 stages left, and I think if there is no big surprise, Andy can keep his maglia rosa.
