THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Brutt battles to stage-5 win
Tinkoff’s Pavel Brutt feinted and feigned his way to victory in the final kilometers of a five-man breakaway that held off the chasing peloton by 30 seconds in Wednesday’s fifth stage at the 91st Giro d’Italia.
The blond Russian said he was too tired to take pulls. He said he had nothing left. And then, a few meters before the 1km flag, Brutt hit the accelerator on the short climbing finish into Contursi Terme to win ahead of his dismayed fellow escapees. It was the first Russian victory since 2004, when Pavel Tonkov offered the crowd an intemperature hand gesture as he crossed the finish line.
Brutt’s chances were greatly improved when David Millar’s chain broke just as the Slipstream-Chipotle captain was stomping the pedals to counter the move.
Millar had already negated a stab by Spanish climber Fran Pérez (Caisse d’Epargne) and looked to be the strongest in the group. When he realized he had lost his chance to add a Giro stage to his wins at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, he flung his useless bicycle over the fencing in a fit of rage.
“I was totally motivated to win the stage. All my rage just came out at the moment,” Millar told Italian TV at the line. “I will try again, not tomorrow, but in a few more days. I hope to win a stage in this Giro.”
Ahead, Brutt struggled up the rising finish but had enough in the tank to hold off Johannes Fröhlinger (Gerolsteiner) by four seconds and Luis Laverde (CSF-Panaria) by 10. Pérez limped across at 25 seconds back while Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) cursed an opportunity missed by having left the chase too late, leading the pack across the line at 31 seconds in arrears.
“I didn’t believe we’d make it to the finish, but then I was with some very strong guys and it made the difference to pull clear,” said Brutt, whose press conference was translated by legendary Russian star Dimitry Konyshev. “I like go into breakaways. That’s my best chance and I’ve done a lot of them. I do that as often as possible.”
Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) enjoyed his fourth day in a row in pink and safely negotiated the rising finish to retain his one-second grip on the maglia rosa ahead of second-place Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream-Chipotle).
Russian on the fly
The 203km stage from Belvedere Marittimo to Contursi Terme saw a five-man break go clear about 20km into the rolling stage, with Brutt, Laverde (CSF-Panaria), Frohlinger (Gerolsteiner), Millar (Slipstream) and Francisco Perez (Caisse d'Epargne).
Once again the skies opened up on the race and riders rode through rain on and off all day.
The break built a gap of more than nine minutes before the peloton got serious about chasing. Liquigas took the front, with Charley Wegelius once again cranking out the revs for his race leader, while Quick Step lent a hand for world champ Paolo Bettini. LPR came to the fore, too, hoping to set up Danilo Di Luca in the finale.
But the bunch waited too long to launch its pursuit, and as the break took a lead of two minutes into the final 4km, it was clear that the winner was going to be one of the five leaders.
“The group didn’t react and when our gap grew to more than nine minutes, we understood that we had good chances to make it to the line,” said Pérez, who rode much of the day in the “virtual” pink jersey after starting the day 1:57 back.
“I dreamed of taking the maglia rosa, but the stage victory was still there. I felt good and tried to attack on the hill, but Brutt took advantage of us. In the final, the Russian didn’t take any pulls and said he was dead, but he was still able to beat us! I’m a little disappointed to lose this good opportunity, but satisfied that I have good legs.”
Fröhlinger jumped first to no effect, then Pérez went, but he, too, was caught. Millar appeared to be the strongest and Brutt the weakest, but when the Scot suddenly snapped his chain, the Russian went, grabbing an insurmountable lead with 450 meters to race.
The breakaway specialist’s rope-a-dope worked and he rode away with the biggest win for both him and his upstart team.
Brutt is part of the gaggle of young Russian riders being nurtured on the Tinkoff team under the watchful eye of team owner Oleg Tinkov. The millionaire Russian businessman started the team last year and earned invites to the Giro.
The team animated last year’s Giro with a seemingly endless stream of breakaways, but nothing ever stuck. That all changed Wednesday when things went just right for Brutt.
“Oleg said if I got into a breakaway, I could give his wife a kiss. I don’t know if that’s true, but it was a good group to be in today,” Brutt said. “I prefer to race on a Russian team than on a French or Italian team. The ambiance is different.”
The 25-year-old Brutt is an old-school Russian who hails from St. Petersburg. A winner of a dozen races since turning pro in 2004, Brutt raced for Itera and Lokomotiv before joining Tinkoff in 2006.
Pellizotti steady in pink
What a difference a second makes.
Pellizotti enjoyed his fourth day in the maglia rosa after riding up the short climb to Contursi Terme in eighth place.
“I only have a one-second lead in the GC, but what a difference it makes!” Pellizotti said. “I’ve had four days in pink thanks to that one second.”
Vande Velde remains poised in case anything happens to the curly-haired Italian, but so far Pellizotti shows no signs of cracking.
Slipstream took a dazzling win in Saturday’s opening team time trial, but had the unfortunate luck to run into a challenging stage the very next day. Vande Velde put up a great defense, but Pellizotti was strong enough to take back 10 seconds to Vande Velde’s nine-second head start and it’s been deadlocked ever since.
There were no major shakeups in Wednesday’s fast run up the finish line. Alberto Contador (Astana) was 10th in the stage and fifth out of the main pack behind Bettini.
Contador will decide next week if he’s in winning form or if he’ll pull the plug on the Giro and set his sights on other goals.
“I am better than I had hoped,” Contador said. “In the seventh stage that ends on the summit, I believe I will know if I am in condition to challenge for this Giro or go home. We’ll see then, but I might stay around until the time trial (stage 10) before making the definitive decision.”
Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Prodir) also looked fresh on the final charge, finishing three spots behind Bettini. A winner of the second stage at Agrigento, Riccò said he’s feeling better after crashing hard in Monday’s stage.
“When the breakaway left, I thought the peloton would control it and we’d have a shot for victory, but they left it too late,” Riccò said. “My finger is slowly getting better, it only hurts when I am out of the saddle, but it’s better day by day. I don’t expect it to be a problem in the mountains. The Giro is getting harder? Better. The harder the Giro is, the better for me.”
Attackers will get another chances in Thursday’s longest stage from Potenza to Peschici. Race organizers agreed to eliminate a final 33km loop and reduce the stage from 265km, but it still ranks as the longest of this year’s Giro.
Another short rising finish will provide the Bettinis and Riccòs with another shot at the win — if a breakaway doesn’t stay clear.
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