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Big win for Riccò as Di Luca strengthens Giro lead
High up the savage slopes of the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo, 23-year-old young gun Riccardo Riccò came of age with a brilliant victory in the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday.
In a show of strength, unity and sportsmanship, the Saunier Duval duo of Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli out-foxed and out-climbed all others on the queen stage of the race in the Italian Dolomites. With arms aloft, Riccò crossed the line just ahead of maglia verde Piepoli, followed by Ivan Parra (Cofidis), 10 seconds adrift, and Mexican Julio Pérez (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare), a further 32 seconds behind.
"On the first mountain, [team leader Gilberto] Simoni told us to go and to win the stage," said Riccò.
This quartet, along with 15 other riders at one point, were part of a daylong breakaway that began on the first climb of the Passo di San Pellegrino, but withered down to that very select quartet by the fourth and final ascent.
Despite an armchair ride to the finish, courtesy of his team-mates, Simoni wasn't able to take back time on race leader Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas), who finished sixth, 2:54 down on Riccò and 37 seconds ahead of his arch-rival. In fact, the maglia rosa actually managed to retrieve more than half of the time he lost the previous day, which left Simoni to contemplate what went wrong.
A newly confident Di Luca had no doubts about his own abilities.
"I have demonstrated I am extremely strong in the mountains," he declared. "Some people said I wasn't suited to the steep climbs. Because of my speed at pulling away and my cadence, I think exactly the opposite."
As a result, Di Luca extended his lead over his nearest rival, Astana's Eddy Mazzoleni, who gave the maglia rosa a brief scare when he became the virtual race leader at the foot of the final climb. However, the slopes of the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo, boasting pitches up to 18 percent near the finish, eventually saw the veteran Mazzoleni run out of juice, and he now trails Di Luca by 1:50.
The rider previously in second place, Lampre-Fondital's Marzio Bruseghin, blew big time, losing a massive 11 and a half minutes, and scrapes into the top 10 by a whisker from Liquigas' Franco Pellizotti.
Team CSC's ever-consistent Andy Schleck finished ninth and is now third overall, 2:56 in arrears, while Simoni and Damiano Cunego, 3:19 and 3:23 back, round out the top five.
A wet start
Sunday's big day in I Dolomiti began on wet roads in Trento, the threat of foul weather ever-present in the Italian Alps.
Following Saturday's action-packed stage, the tension was high, and so were the tifosi's cheers for Simoni, who believed Garzelli - or more correctly, the RAI TV moto - robbed him of a stage win in Bergamo.
After 21km, 22 riders freed themselves from the peloton, and after double that distance, their advantage was already around the four-minute mark. By the base of the day's first climb, the Passo di San Pellegrino, it was another three minutes more.
Among the 22, Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic), Lilian Jegou (Française Des Jeux), Marco Marzano (Lampre-Fondital), David Cañada (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems) had all found themselves part of the early break.
The move up front provoked a counter-attack from within the peloton, containing four of the best climbers in the race: Piepoli, Riccò, Pérez and Parra. And for the second day running, the two L's, Liquigas and Lampre-Fondital, had missed the move.
By the top of il Passo Pellegrino, signaling 91km left to race, the first group had lost two Frenchmen, Pierre Drancourt (Bouygues Telecom) and Loyd Mondory (Ag2r Prévoyance), leaving Bettini and company to press on, unperturbed. Closing fast and just a minute behind, the gruppo Piepoli reached the crest, with the gruppo maglia rosa 3:43 in arrears.
Down to the Val di Cadore, the Piepoli quartet did indeed catch the front-runners after 115km, forming an eclectic 18-man group: Bettini, Cañada, Marzano, Contrini, Piepoli, Riccò, Pérez, Parra, Josep Jufré (Predictor-Lotto), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r Prévoyance), Fortunato Baliani (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare), Pietro Caucchioli (Crédit Agricole), Volodymyr Bileka (Discovery Channel), Aketza Peña (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), Christian Knees (Milram), Salvatore Commesso (Tinkoff Credit Systems), and Aaron Olson (T-Mobile).
With Riccò the highest placed escapee on the overall classification, 6:54 behind Di Luca, it seemed the gruppo maglia rosa weren't yet ready to chase in earnest, which explained their four-minute deficit after 129km - either that, or their directeurs sportif informed them of the icy conditions at the finish in Tre Cime di Lavaredo, where snow was falling.
On the way up the savage, 9.4 percent slopes of the Passo di Giau, Piepoli, winner of Stage 10, was again on a mission, making life difficult for his companions - which, by the 2236-meter-high summit, numbered just four: Riccò, Rasmussen, Pérez, and Baliani.
Two and a half minutes behind, things were getting interesting in the gruppo maglia rosa. Di Luca and Cunego found themselves without teammates; Astana's Paolo Savoldelli and Eddy Mazzoleni would've helped them if they were there, but they were gone, a further minute behind. And Saunier's Simoni was clearly enjoying his backstage pass, waiting anxiously, ominously.
Hurtling down to the world-famous mountain resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo with 22km left to race, Savoldelli and Mazzoleni staged a daredevil descending clinic, catching - and passing - the gruppo Di Luca, and later hooking up with Baliani and Rasmussen, who had been dropped from the lead group.
Over the Tre Croci, 14km from the finish, it was Piepoli, Riccò, Parra and Pérez, all still together, and each of them thinking only of a stage victory. The chase, four minutes behind, numbered nine: Di Luca, Simoni, Cunego, Schleck, Petrov, Sella, Pozzovivo, Savoldelli and Arroyo.
Seven kilometers from home at the base of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Riccò was the first to make a move, but Parra was having none of it and gave chase. However, Saunier Duval packed a one-two punch in this group. As soon as Parra pulled back Riccò, Piepoli upped the pace. Eventually, Parra and Perez both faded back, with the former only relenting 400 meters from the line.
Those last meters were all Piepoli needed to allow his young apprentice the finest victory of his young career.
"To win the hardest stage on the Giro is just amazing,” the young rider said. “It's the best day of my life."
A defeated, despondent Parra arrived 10 seconds later, followed by Perez, a half-minute back. Fifth-placed Mazzoleni, who came back from the brink of exhaustion only to drive himself to the brink again, was rewarded for his tenacity, finishing 1:29 behind Riccò.
Equally, Di Luca rode well to finish sixth, 2:54 adrift of the stage winner. But far more importantly, the maglia rosa gained 35 seconds on Simoni, reversing the time he lost yesterday, and putting a further 41 seconds between him and Cunego.
The road ahead - Monday brings a welcome day of rest for the 90th Giro d'Italia peloton. With plenty more major mountains and a 43km time trial packed into the next six days' racing, the race is far from over. However, so far, the maglia rosa has come under fire, and come back, and shows no signs of tiring. Could 2007 be Danilo Di Luca's lucky year?
"In this Giro, it will be hard to beat Di Luca," said Eddy Merckx, arguably the greatest cyclist of all time, who was on hand to witness the action on Sunday.Results – Stage 15
1. Riccardo Ricco' (I), Saunier Duval, 184km in 5:47:22 (31.781kph)
2. Leonardo Piepoli (I), Saunier Duval, same time
3. Ivan Ramiro Parra Pinto (Col), Cofidis, 0:10
4. Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 0:32
5. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), Astana, 1:29
6. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas, 2:53
7. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, 3:30
8. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 3:36
9. Andy Schleck (Lux), CSC, 3:52
10. Emanuele Sella (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 6:03
11. David Arroyo Duran (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, 6:07
12. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Astana, 6:07
13. Michael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 6:27
14. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, 6:59
15. Evgeni Petrov (Rus), Tinkoff Credit Systems, 7:11
16. Vincenzo Nibali (I), Liquigas, 7:32
17. Fortunato Baliani (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 8:07
18. Domenico Pozzovivo (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 8:43
19. Josep Jufre Pou (Sp), Predictor-Lotto, 9:50
20. Andrey Mizourov (Kaz), Astana, 10:21
Overall
1. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas, 68:00:55
2. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), Astana, 1:51
3. Andy Schleck (Lux), CSC, 2:56
4. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, 3:19
5. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 3:23
6. Riccardo Ricco' (I), Saunier Duval, 3:39
7. David Arroyo Duran (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, 6:05
8. Emanuele Sella (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 7:02
9. Evgeni Petrov (Rus), Tinkoff Credit Systems, 7:29
10. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Lampre, 9:29
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