He has 74 sprint but he seems in good shape and the field is pretty weak. I guess maybe his above-average climbing abilities are helping to keep him a little more fresh compared to the other sprinters too.
Edit: @Alexander, you can press the # button to remove the circles and TAB to remove rider names too if you wish.
Edited by pcm2009fan on 06-08-2011 11:43
Today's stage should be quite nice - a trip into the beautiful city of Florence, and most likely a sprint to finish things off.
Today's escapees were De Vocht, Franzoi, Mariangeli, Labbe, Knaven, Bellis. The peloton kept things under control and reeled them in at the 12km mark.
Disaster for Garmin with 8km to go - 3rd placed Vandevelde loses control and falls. He ended up losing almost 4 minutes and falls down to 6th place in the GC after his valiant efforts thus far. That's a shame for the American.
Up front Bazayev led Roelandts, Paolini and Fischer. Unable to find a wheel late on, Pozzato was coming up late but fast on the right.
But it was Paolini who sprung the surprise on them all, bursting out from behind Roelandts.
And the Italian held on to take the stage for Acqua Sapone ahead of fellow countrymen Gasparotto and Pozzato.
The following teams will be taking part in this year's Tour de France. FDJ and Besson Chaussures Sojasun are the 2 most notable absentees.
AG2R La Mondiale
Astana
BBOX Bouyges Telecom
BMC Racing Team
Caisse d'Epargne
Cofidis - Le Credit en Ligne
Columbia - High Road
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Fuji - Servetto
Garmin - Slipstream
Lampre - N.G.C
Liquigas
Milram - Trek
Quick Step
Rabobank
Saxo Bank
Silence - Lotto
Sky-Cervelo Pro Cycling
Team Katusha
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling
A hilly stage with a steep uphill finish. With time bonifications and possibly the chance for time gaps, it will be interesting to see if there are any late attacks from the favourites or whether we will see a sprint between the puncheurs.
The break: Tosatto, Noval, Lloyd, Frank, Carlstrom, Wyss, Duggan, Pichot.
Paulinho, Sanchez, Vanendert, Rujano and Nocentini attacked over the second climb and managed to hold a lead of a minute for a number of kilometres before they surrendered atop the next climb along with the early escapees.
The final climb was too short for any attacks so it was going to be a sprint. Garzelli was first to kick but Uran was bearing down on his left.
Basso, Cunego, Scarponi and Nibali were all making their way up to Garzelli though...
Somewhat unsurpringly it was Cunego who had the most punch left and he ended up cruising away from the others as the road flattened out. He along with Nibali, Basso, Uran and Scarponi also gained 18 seconds on the peloton during the sprint.
Another lumpy transition stage on which time gaps could emerge.
Today's break: Marcato, Duggan, Lloyd, Noval, Bonnaire, Stadler. Marcato was the last caught at 29km.
There were multiple victims of a crash on the day's first descent, including 3rd placed Di Luca, 12th placed Simoni, and Le Mevel (15th). However the whole LPR Brakes team dropped back and did a good job of shepparding everyone back to the pack.
Pauwels and Francesco Masciarelli decided to attack with 60km to ride but were soon swallowed back up by the pack.
2km from the top of the final climb Vanendert made a move. Other attackers and started up the action.
But meanwhile Nibali was struggling! He and Sanchez (4th) had been caught napping and found themselves falling behind the front group.
Cunego looked to take advantage of Nibali's complacency and went over the top with Karpets, Vanendert, Vandevelde and Di Luca for company.
But Nibali used his descending skills to bridge his way across the gap to them. Soon after they were joined by others to form a 21-man leading group.
8km to go and Basso flew off the front of the group with Paulinho, Gasparotto and Brutt.
And then in a rather amusing turn of the tables it was Nibali and Sanchez who attacked, bringing Di Luca and Gasparotto with them, and suddenly putting Cunego on the back foot.
And as the quartet opened up the sprint they had a 40 seconds advantage over the Magalia Rosa.
Gasparotto and Di Luca's superior sprinting abilities meant nothing to Nibali as he miraculously flew past them both in an effort to put time into Cunego and take maximum time bonifications. Garzelli led the chasing group over the line, 38 seconds down on Nibali.
Nibali is now just 44 seconds behind Cunego in the GC. Could this short transition stage prove to be the turning point of this year's Giro?
We have a cracker of a stage today as we race up Monte Nerone, Monte Catria and Monte Petrano in rapid succession. We still have two more mountain stages and a time trial to go but this seems like the best opportunity of the lot for either Cunego or Nibali to lay a claim to the race...
6 men in the break: Labbe, Marcato, Frank, Carlstorm, Lloyd.
Pauwels, Dessel and Francesco Masciarelli were off chasing them on the first climb but half way up the penultimate climb the peloton were all back together again.
Gradually the peloton thinned out as we made our way up Monte Catria, with Vanendert, Uran and Vandevelde crossing the top first.
30 seconds back were Garzelli, Nibali, Cunego and Basso and just behind them were Di Luca, Scarponi and Sanchez.
A group of 10 approach the foot of the final climb: Scarponi, Nibali, Vanendert, Di Luca, Garzelli, Vandevelde, Sanchez, Uran, Cunego, Basso.
Nibali decided to go for it right away and set off on the attack with 11km to the top, but all he managed to do was split the riders up. He found himself up front with his team mate Basso, Cunego and Vanendert. Sanchez and Vandevelde weren't far back.
6.5km to go and Uran had plugged his way back up to the others. Then Di Luca and Garzelli joined back up again. 9 men were at the front - who would be the first to snap this time?
...It was Vanendert at 5km, and he set off a single file line of counter attacks sprawled down the road behind him.
As the dust settled, Cunego had established a small gap to Nibali, Vanendert, Basso and Uran.
But Cunego began to fade and was caught by the Liquigas duo as he approached the finish line. Vanendert was just about clinging on at the back as the sprint kicked off.
Cunego found second legs in the sprint and the two great Italians were neck and neck on the finish line. Whilst Nibali looked to have sneaked it, a desperate lunge at the last from Cunego was just enough to decide today's victor ahead of Basso. But what great competitors these two are!
Lol a couple of really wierd things have happened recently with this save game:
First of all the San Marino flag has been "pink-squared" even though I have never touched the country flag folder or the country table in the editor.
And now the "Cya Top Tour" has suddenly decided to rename itself to the "Uci Pro Tour" and CQ Ranking has taken over from the Superprestige, just like in the pcmdaily DB... but I don't even have that installed! Sigh... I'll just get back to reporting anyway
This stage may be short but it features the highest and longest climb of the whole Giro at 23km. A long steady climb like this perhaps favours Nibali over the explosiveness of Cunego but we'll soon find out.
A group of 11 riders formed the break. With 40km to go Pauwels launched his now-customary early attack with Brutt and Noe.
At the foot of the Blockhaus climb the break had over 8 mins on the pack but Pauwels' group wasn't far behind. The escapees had a good shout of the stage win today.
At 16.5km, 4th placed Uran was the first to attack the peloton.
Cunego decided to counter and made his way up to Uran. No signs of Nibali yet.
At 14km Paulinho and Chris-Anker Sorensen were next to attack but meanwhile Uran and Cunego had already built up a 2 minute lead.
Vandevelde responded to Paulinho's attack and this basically set everyone left in the peloton off, including Nibali who is seen attacking here with Rohregger.
Up front it was escapee Hermans who was riding solo. With 9.5km left he had a 30 second advantage over Noe. Cunego and Uran were busy collecting up the remanents of the break but they weren't extending their 2 minute advantage.
Next to attack behind were Basso and Vandevelde. Nibali was sitting quietly a little further back with the other favourites.
...And just as I finish typing that he sets off in pursuit of Cunego leaving the others behind. He has 9km to the summit.
4km to go and Cunego and Uran are closing in rapidly on the leading duo of Noe and Hermans. Nibali is still a full 2 minutes back and finds the pink jersey rapidly slipping away from him.
Uran attacked in the final few kilometres and made a small gap to Cunego. Miraculously Noe managed to just about stay on his wheel.
Uran had no difficulty dispatching of Noe to clinch the victory - a great win for the young Columbian which propels him onto the provisional podium. Cunego had to settle for second today ahead of Noe and now waited to see how much time he had put into Nibali.
Nibali came home with Pauwels, 2'11 down on Cunego. The Magalia Rosa is now very firmly in Cunego's grasp and the chances of him relinquishing it seem low to none with just one mountain stage to go.
Vandevelde: +3'22
Sanchez: +3'37
Basso: +4'03
Vanendert, Tankink, Paulinho, Simoni, Chris Anker Sorensen, Rohregger, Brutt: +4'21
Karpets, Di Luca, Duggan: +4'49
A much easier day - one for the sprinter's, if they still have any energy left that is.
Bosiso rode alone at the front for much of the day before a group of 10 poursuivants caught up with him (Willems, Ginanni, Brandt, Pinotti, Louder, Tossato, Hoj, Labbe and Hermans again). They were eventually caught at 9km.
The train: Capecchi led Fischer, Gasparotto, Paolini, Cunego and Hunt. You might have thought having already sealed the points jersey Cunego would have sat back but he was off in the hunt for another stage win evidently.
Cunego burst away from the sprinters on a slope near the finish...
And he took an 8th stage victory, his 7th individually! Despite Nibali's best efforts, the Little Prince's dominance has been incredible. Gasparotto even held on to make it a Lampre 1-2.
The final mountain stage sees the riders climb up Vesuvius. Although it is a mountain top finish, Cunego's overall victory looks a near certainty and Nibali will probably have to be happy with his 2nd place and best young rider award.
13 men in the break today but they were all caught on Vesuvio.
Di Luca (4th), Vanendert, Garzelli, Simoni and Cardenas were first to attack at 13km.
After they were brought back along with the remaining escapees we had a surprisingly quiet 10km without further attacks. 4km from the top, Nibali, Cunego and Basso began to drift away from the others.
The riders must have been absolutely exhausted from this year's scathing Giro, and Nibali was clearly resigned to his second place. A group of 12 led by Cunego and Nibali made it to the 1km banner.
And Basso took it on the line! No, Just kidding - Of course it was Cunego who dashed away to pick up an incredible 9th stage win in this year's Giro ahead of the Liquigas boys.
The last flat stage before we head to Rome for the concluding time trial. However it is probably not a stage for the sprinters as the finish is on a slope, and comes after 6 days in the mountains and countless other kilometres of climbing. Unless Pozzato or Gasparotto really feel up for it, my money is on Cunego for a 10th stage win.
Lampre were happy enough to set the early pace and the break are easily caught.
Nibali decided to attack on the descent of the day's climb... sorry Vicenzo but even your 79 DH isn't going to be enough to make up 3'47 on a 14km run-in. Or is it?
To be fair to him, he really rode hard and Lampre were happy to let him go on ahead and take a nice consolatory stage win. Infact he even managed to put a good 1'46 into the peloton - enough to make Lampre a little nervous in the last few km, but not enough going into the short time trial tommorow.
Another group of attackers on the descent came home behind Nibali: Sanchez, Vanendert, Di Luca, Chavanel and Larsson.
No doubt after his victory yesterday Nibali will be willing to give his full today, but in all likelyhood he'll probably need a large bag of tacs, a good-looking podium girl for some pre-starthouse distraction, and the services of a stray dog - infact make that a stray lion - to have any chance of prizing the Magalia Rosa from Cunego. More interesting will be the battle for 4th place, for which Sanchez must make 30 seconds on Di Luca.
Grabsch went out and set the early best time.
+45 (14th)
Italian champion Pinotti bested his time by a second.
+44 (12th)
Another national champion, Tuft.
+22 (6th)
Now it was the turn of the GC men. Karpets
+21 (3rd)
Vandevelde
+21 (4th)
Basso was on really good form as he took the provisional best time from Karpets.
+13 (2nd)
Sanchez was on course to snatch 4th overall from Di Luca at the second checkpoint. He put out a good time for 5th place and waited for Di Luca.
He'd done enough. Di Luca finished 31st, 1'05 down.
Now it was just Nibali and Cunego. Nibali zipped around the course and took a second time trial win with a time of 21'34, but checkpoint times were well in Cunego's favour for the overall.
Cunego came home with a smile on his face to conclude this year's Giro. He'd only conceded 44 seconds to Nibali and now awaited his rightful presentation of the final Magalia Rosa.
(The camera faded so the pic is artificially brightened.) Anyway congratulations to Damiano on his second Giro d'Italia win! 5 years on from his first as a promising youngster, he seems to have refound his legs and really put on a show this year, taking a pretty astonishing 9 stage wins in the process.
Nibali really fought hard and loses out by just 56 seconds but Cunego is more than deserved of his victory. A great win atop Blockhaus inspired young Columbian Uran to a podium place.
Cunego takes the two other jerseys avaliable to him as "King of the Sprints" and "King of the Mountains." Nibali was the best young rider ahead of Uran and the team classifcation pretty much sums up the Giro: Liquigas ousted Lampre by 11 minutes in the end, but 3rd place Katusha were almost 50 minutes back.
Basically I made this database quite poorly, and the teams and stats were only partially completed. So I'm going to stop writing this but I hope that I will write another story sometime because I found this more fun than I expected it to be
In the meantime I've been working on a much better database for PCM09 and I've also downloaded PCM07. so hopefully between that I'll be able to find something that I can write a new story about, probably in the same format as this one. For now I'll probably try a season in 07 and see how that goes.
And thanks a lot for all the views and compliments on this story, short lived as it was
Pretty impressive that he has already more than 10 minutes on place 3. What is his MO stat?
