THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Simoni gamble pays off at Giro
Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni wrestled the maglia rosa from Stefano Garzelli after a daring attack in a dramatic shoot-out Tuesday between the Giro d’Italia’s two strongest riders.
Simoni jumped hard on a steep but unrated climb 40km from the finish in the difficult, four-climb 202km 10th stage from Montecatini Terme to Faenza. Simoni took an 8-second time bonus after finishing third behind winner Kurt Asle Arvensen (Team fakta) to erase a 31-second deficit to move two seconds ahead of Garzelli.
With Thursday’s difficult climbing stage to Monte Zoncolan on the horizon, Simoni took the race into his hands. Garzelli, who came across 21st at 26 seconds back, was exposed without Caldirola-Sidermec teammates while Simoni had Saeco teammate Leonardo Bertagnolli to help drive him into the jersey.
For Simoni, who was kicked out of last year’s Giro for testing positive but later cleared for cocaine, taking the pink jersey is an emotional breakthrough.
“I really didn’t believe I had the pink jersey until I was on the podium,” Simoni said. “It is with great job that I have this jersey. After the year of troubles I had, I have turned the page. I am very happy.”
Garzelli, meanwhile, had little support to help minimize the losses. Only a handful of riders were helping him push hard in the closing kilometers.
“Simoni was extremely strong. I cheer his courage and audacity,” said Garzelli, now second at two seconds back. “But I hope that he has used a lot of forces today, especially with the upcoming meeting with Zoncolan. In my group, many didn’t seem to realize we could win the stage if we caught Simoni. Apart from Casagrande, I didn’t have a lot of help. But sure it’s difficult to lose the pink jersey by two seconds.”
Early break drives away
The stage was ideal for a break and that’s just what happened as 16 riders jumped off the front early.
In the group were: Denis Lunghi (Alessio); Paolo Lanfranchi and Paolo Tiralongo (Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo), Freddy Gonzalez and Raffaele Illiano (Colombia-Selle Italia), Matteo Carrara (DeNardi-Colpack), Marzio Bruseghin and Dario David Cioni (Fassa Bortolo), Rinaldo Nocentini (Formaggi Pinzolo), Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner), Costantino Gutierrez Zaballa (Kelme), Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Lampre), Volodymyr Bileka and Ruslan Gryshenko (Landbouwkrediet), Kurt Asle Arvesen (fakta) and Leonardo Bertagnolli (Saeco).
Out of that group, the biggest GC threat was Saeco’s Bertagnolli, who started the day 16th place overall at 4:28 back. The group built up a lead north of three minutes heading into the day’s first climb, the Category 2 Colla di Casaglia at 90km. Colombian Gonzalez shot ahead to score more points to fatten his hold on the green mountain jersey.
With the lead hovering around 3:30, Gonzalez took the points again at the day’s second Cat. 2 climb at the Colle Carnevale at 114km and was unchallenged at the Cat. 2 Colle Albano at 142km.
At 150km at the unrated Valico la Valleta, things fell apart, or, into place if you’re a Simoni fan. With the lead break group fracturing on the steep climbs, Kelme’s Zaballa went on a solo move.
Simoni, meanwhile, shot out of the lead bunch and hammered up the grinding climb. Garzelli had nothing to answer and Simoni topped over the crest with a 24-second gap. Simoni continued to hammer and bridged up to Saeco teammate Bertagnolli and opened up a 58-second lead over another unrated climb at 167km.
Garzelli was doing the best he could, but the main bunch was feeling the pain, with the sprinters the first to fall off the pace and other favorites such as Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo), Bo Hamburger (Formaggi Pinzolo) and Julio Perez Cuapio (Panaria) left off the back.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me. I thought I was good but I don’t have forces,” Gonzalez said before the start. “Despite all that’s gone wrong, I’m not thinking about abandoning. Perhaps I can rebound to do well in the time trials or win a stage.”
On the day’s final climb at the Cat. 2 Monte Trebbio, Garzelli’s world continued to crumble as he was left isolated without teammates and Simoni had 36 seconds on Garzelli.
With 25km to go, Simoni had the help of teammate Bertagnolli, fakta’s Asle Arvesen and Panaria’s Tiralongo. Simoni drove the group while Garzelli was losing more time. But more riders bridged across after the final summit and there were enough interested riders – namely Francesco Casagrande (Lampre), Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo), Pavel Tonkov (CCC-Polsat) and Marco Pantani (Mercatone Uno) -- to help the chase.
It was going to be close. The gap hovered around 30 seconds coming into the finish.
Win for Norwegian
Garzelli was clearly strong in the chase group, but seemed to get little cooperation when he tried to pull through. Casagrande was also limited in keeping Simoni in check.
“I was surprised when Simoni attacked so far from the line. I thought it was too early, but when the gap was 50 seconds, I started to work to limit the damages,” Casagrande said. “I had good sensations today and that’s encouraging. I think I just had a bad day at Terminillo.”
Simoni, meanwhile, was chasing every second he could get while Arvesen and Tiralongo were hanging on the wheel trying to save energy for a sprint. Simoni chugged toward the line with 1km to go, looking for the 20-second first-place time bonus. Saeco teammate Bertagnolli sat up and Tiralongo worked to reel in Simoni. Arvesen shot around the Italian to score the victory.
“This is the biggest victory of my career,” said the Norwegian national champion. “When Simoni joined us, we went twice as fast and I just had to follow. I was only thinking about winning the stage. With the sprint, I was only worried about Tiralongo.”
For Simoni, taking the pink jersey is a strong message to the rest of the peloton going into Thursday’s difficult stage to Monte Zoncolan.
“I didn’t have a plan to attack. I felt good and I especially wanted to create some confusion. Sure, I am tired, but the others were forced to work as well,” said Simoni, when asked if he burned too many matches. “I don’t regret what I have done.”
Wednesday’s 222km 11th stage from Faenza to San Dona’ Di Piave is dead flat as it goes along the coast to finish near Venice. Well, actually it does go downhill a little bit; the start at Faenza is at 35 meters above sea level and the finish is at 3 meters.
To see how this tough 202km stage unfolded today, just follow this link to bring up our Live Update window.
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