Today is the final tough stage before the race turns to the sprinters as it will be followed by 4 flat stages, a time trial, and a rest day. There two breakaway groups today, a leading group of 2, Albasini and Jacobs, and a group of 7 riders around 2 minutes behind them. The leading group maxed out their lead at around 8 minutes.
With today’s stage suiting Nibali and Schleck, it was no surprise that it was there teams up front doing most of the work.
As we approached the final climb, the breakaway still had about 2 minutes on the peloton. This did not stop the favorites from attacking and the first to go was Schleck.
It was not long after that Nibali put on an attack of his own.
I could have easily attacked with them but Quickstep had a fast enough pace that I was certain they would not stay out in front. Despite this, like yesterday, we decided to send Lowe to the front to put the hammer down.
In no time he had caught all the favorites leaving just Jacobs and Albasini in front. Despite the fast pace, both Nibali and Schleck unsuccessfully tried to breakaway again.
Somehow, even with the fast pace, the morning break was still out in front, but with 1.5km left the peloton was within sight. Would they hold on?
The answer was yes and no. Albasini managed to just barely hold off the peloton while Jacobs was caught just meters from the finish line.
I managed to finish 10th and still hold on to my 6th place overall.
Today's stage begins with a couple climbs but the last half of the stage is either flat or downhill so it should belong to the sprinters. With 8km left and the peloton all together we set our train up with me in front, followed by Bellis, Dodds, and then Sutton.
With 1km left Sutton was in great position, still on Dodds wheel.
With .5km left Sutton was now clearly in front and was clearly gonna take the stage for his first victory of the Giro.
He throws his hands in the air for what is probably the biggest win of his career. What a team effort today.
Today’s stage is a long hilly time trial that should favor riders who can time trial and who can climb. This will most likely be the last day Pardilla will be in Pink as he will have a lot of trouble holding off Nibali and Schleck. As it seems to have been for the entire race, I finished one place behind Dekker in 7th place. Maybe there will be a reversal of roles coming if I don’t pick up the pace.
In 5th place was Joost Posthuma who finished 1’23 behind the eventual winner.
In 4th place was Jakob Fuglsang who finished only 4 seconds ahead of Posthuma.
In 3rd place was one of my biggest competitors in the Tour de Romandie, Mikhail Ignatiev. He finished 1’05 back of the winner.
The winner of the stage was Nibali, who showed off his impressive form by beating Steensen by 38 seconds, and putting himself in the pink jersey. It will be very hard for anyone to knock him off from first.
Today's stage is completely flat, so even JJ Haedo should have a chance today. The break was caught early today with around 35km left thanks to the fast pace set by Rabobank, who was determined to get the win today.
As we approached the finish Dekker headed the train for Sutton, and I think everyone expected to see a train set up for Boonen, but with 6km left it seemed he would have to do it alone.
Because of this we were able to get to the front and establish a lead. With 1.3km left Sutton was still on Dodds wheel, and Boonen had been forced to follow someone else.
But Boonen showed his strength and was able to wipe away the gap that Sutton had and with .5km left it was anyone's stage.
Boonen proved that he is the best rider in the world and took a decisive victory despite having very little team support. Sutton dropped to 3rd place.
We have 2 more flat stages before we finally head into the mountains.
Stage 12 was a very relaxed day for the peloton and I don't think anyone cared to chase down the breakaway. Because of this Tiziano Dall'Antonia was able to take the victory after a two man breakaway led for all of the race.
Game crashed before I could export.
Stage 13
Stage 13 was the third straight completely flat stage and will be the last stage for the sprinters before the final day in Milano. After the breakaway was caught there was a mass sprint. Surprisingly none of the sprinters were far enough upfront to contend for the sprint. Instead it was Duque who barely won his first stage of the Giro.
Without me knowing it, there had been a split in the peloton. All the Garmin riders had been fortunate to be in the leading group but all of the favorites except Nibali and Soler lost over 1 minute. I was surprised to learn that after the stage Dekker was now in 2nd place and I was sitting in 3rd.
Finally, we have returned to the mountains. These next 8 stages will separate the strong from the weak. As of now, it looks like Nibali is the strongest and it will be very hard for anyone to take away the pink jersey. Today there was one rider, Mauro Finetto, who decided to go all by himself. He was able to get 4 minutes on the peloton but there was no way he could stay away without any help.
Liquigas was ready to protect the pink jersey and had the full team relaying at the front.
Of the 3 climbs today, the final one was the toughest so all the riders saved their attacks until they reached that one. At the bottom of it, the peloton was down to 51 riders. The first riders to attack were Visconti and Pardilla, along with 2 others, they built up a small lead over the peloton.
But it would not last long as Gesink and Monfort soon followed bringing Soler with them, they passed Pardilla's group and built up a small lead.
The next to go was Fuglsang who surprisingly left the clearly hurting Schleck to defend for himself in the peloton.
I could not stay in the peloton much longer because I realized that Soler and Gesink were riding toward victory, so both Dekker and I attacked, closely followed by Nibali.
Not only did I catch the leading group but I flew past them taking only the strongest with me.
Pardilla rode well and with 1km left I was in the lead with only Soler and Pardilla with me.
Nibali was putting in everything he had to catch up but would he? As we approached the finish I was passed by Soler who took the win away from me. I turned around to see who finished 3rd. It was Nibali, who had erased all time gaps and managed to pass Pardilla at the finish line.
I only gained a few seconds on Nibali but I do move into 2nd place and push myself farther ahead of all the other favorites. Tomorrow will be the toughest stage of the Giro so everyone better be rested.
Today is the toughest stage of the Giro, with many difficult climbs it will be tough, even for the best. This was apparent when on the first climb of the day, Schleck was dropped and began losing time. He got no help from his team and he lost over 15 minutes, destroying his chance at a top 5.
As it has been for the mountain stages, the most aggressive rider has been Pardilla. Today was no exception, as he was the first favorite to attack.
I waited patiently, keeping an eye on Nibali. As soon as Nibali attacked, I grabbed his wheel and followed.
Dekker came along and initially I was unable to keep up with Nibali, so Dekker paced me back to the lead group.
Dekker did a remarkable job and was able to get me back to the lead group.
I didn’t have the legs to contend for the stage, and luckily, neither did Nibali. In front Soler took his 2nd straight victory.
I finished right next to Nibali. Since no time bonuses were up for grabs neither one of us tried to outsprint one another. Apparently he beat me by less than an inch.
I don’t have the results but I was able to hold on to 2nd and finished in 6th place. I neither lost or gained time on Nibali.
Today is another mountain stage, but the finish is downhill so anyone can win it. A group of 4 riders tried to ruin the stage for the climbers and win it for themselves.
However, it was not meant to be and at the bottom of the final climb the breakaway was reeled in. Were there any questions on who was going to be the first to attack?
Yep, as expected Pardilla was the first to attack. It was not much later when we decided to send Dekker to the front to keep the leaders in check.
He did a remarkable job and pulled them within 30 seconds. Once Dekker tired I attacked and looked back to see if Nibali would follow.
Of course he stayed right behind me and joined me in a leading group of 4, along with Gesink and Fuglsang.
With 1km left Gesink had been dropped and I was forced to lead out.
I was passed by both Fuglsang and Nibali, and Nibali was the stronger of the two and took the time bonus while I settled for 3rd.
Tomorrow is the final rest day before we head into the final stretch.
Today is yet another mountain stage. My body is aching and I’m mentally and physically exhausted, but I can’t show any weakness or I will lose any chance I have of catching Nibali. Throughout the race Nibali has consistently been better than me, but will today be any different? A large group of riders got away on the flat section early in the race. Despite Liquigas leading the peloton, at the bottom of the final climb they still had a sizeable gap.
Today, Nibali must have been feeling great because he caught everyone by surprise by being the first to attack.
I had to scramble to try to counter but by the time I attacked he was a few seconds ahead.
Somehow I managed to catch back up to him.
I was feeling so good that I attacked, and when I turned around Nibali was slow to react. Had he finally cracked?
No. Not only did he catch back up to me, but he stormed past leaving me to chase him down.
My legs were worn out from the climb and on the downhill I could not chase him. Dekker was too far behind to help me, so I was forced to stay with Soler, Gesink, and a few other riders and let Nibali run away with the race. Up front Francesco Masciarelli, who was part of the morning break, held off Nibali to take the victory.
I only finished 33 seconds behind Nibali but the fact that I threw in everything I had and he still was able to beat proves that I’m racing for 2nd place.
I guess the game decided it wasn't done toying with me as this one got skipped for some reason. The results were a Rovny win and I finished in 10th place and Nibali finished in 14th, 28 seconds behind me.
Today is a hilly stage that will probably be my last chance to gain any time on Nibali since he will be the favorite for tomorrow’s mountain TT. A group of 10 riders broke away and they quickly built a large lead.
The first favorites to attack were Soler and Fuglsang. They were able to get way ahead of the peloton with a 2 minute lead. But they were still a couple minutes behind the breakaway.
I expected the peloton to chase them down but they chose to let them go.As the peloton began to lose more time to Soler and Fuglsang, Nibali decided to attack.
I followed right behind him, bringing a few other riders with me.
A group containing, Dekker, Nibali, two other riders, and I, desperately chased after the breakaway and the Soler group, but we were unable to make up the time.
At the finish Matthew Lloyd of Katusha took a major victory, and finished 3 minutes ahead of the favorites. Back in my group, I decided that this was the best opportunity to attack Nibali and tried to accelerate away from him,
It was successful and as I crossed the finish line I was sure that I had made up some time on Nibali.
Nibali crossed the line a few spots behind me, but there was definitely a gap between us.
But no. We were awarded the same time, so I made up no ground on Nibali. However, I now hold about 4 minutes over 3rd place.
