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Plan de Corones crowns Pellizotti
Contador tightens grip on maglia rosa
At least there were two riders who were in high spirits after Monday’s grueling 12.9km climbing time trial up the spectacular summit at Plan de Corones.
While nearly the entire peloton was a chorus of complaints over the difficulty of the controversial 16th stage up slippery gravel roads with grades as steep as 24 percent, Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) and Alberto Contador (Astana) both had plenty of reason to celebrate.
Pellizotti grunted out a narrow six-second victory over Emanuele Sella (CSF-Navigare) while Contador tightened his grip on the maglia rosa by snatching eight seconds on arch-enemy Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) and widening the gap to more than two minutes to such dangerous rivals as Danilo Di Luca (sixth at 2:18) and Denis Menchov (seventh at 2:47).
“I will race up whatever they throw at me,” said Contador, who finished fourth to widen his lead to Riccò to 41 seconds. “My objective was to maintain my maglia rosa and even take some time if I could. I’m content. Tomorrow I can rest and enjoy this pink jersey a little bit.”
It was the curly-haired Pellizotti who upstaged the GC riders as tens of thousands of fans lined the narrow, ski area service road that some said was simply too hard.
The surprising Sella, a winner of back-to-back Saturday and Sunday, almost pulled the Dolomiti hat-trick when he stopped the clock at 40:32 to take 43 seconds out of the early fastest time set by José Rujano (Caisse d’Epargne).
Pellizotti, who held the pink jersey for four days after snatching it away from Christian Vande Velde by one second in Stage 2, made up for disappointment in Sunday’s summit finish up the Marmolada to claim his second career Giro stage victory.
“It is very important for me; everyone was looking forward to this and were critical of the stage. It required a lot and it was a very hard climb,” said Pellizotti, who moved back into contention in fifth at 2:05 back. “I saved myself for the second half of the course. I knew it was going to be hard. If it had been a bad weather day, it would have been a lot worse.”
Two-time Giro champ Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni-Androni) also revived his podium hopes by climbing to third in the stage, at just 17 seconds off the winning pace, and bouncing from sixth to third overall at 1:21 back.
“I was hoping to win, but I am satisfied because I didn’t expect to do so well the past few days, so let’s see,” Simoni said. “I believe this Giro is one of the hardest ever. The level is very high and it’s still very open. This time trial reshuffled the cards a little bit.”
Team CSC’s Jens Voigt showed he’s riding into form in time for the Tour de France with a solid 11th 1:55 back, but both Di Luca and Menchov were hoping for more.
Like Voigt, Menchov is here to prepare for the Tour, but struggled against the pure climbers to forfeit important time in the GC fight after stopping the clock 10th at 1:49 slower to dip from fifth to seventh at 2:47 back.
Defending champ Di Luca thought he was doing well, but was stunned when he crossed the line to see he was ninth at 1:45 slower. “The Killer” tumbled from third to sixth, now at 2:18 off Contador’s pace.
“The rhythm wasn’t so bad; I just couldn’t generate the speed. It wasn’t the performance that I expected,” said Di Luca. “There’s still time to attack. Even though I’m not as strong as last year, I keep saying that this Giro won’t be decided until Milano.”
Jason McCartney (CSC) led the North American contingent with 31st at 3:41 back. Levi Leipheimer, who will now switch to helping team captain Contador in the final week, paced up at 53rd at 4:38.
The precocious Riccò remains Contador’s top challenger after riding to a solid fifth place at 30 seconds slower in an encouraging result for the climber from Modena.
After attacking up the Fedaia on Sunday to take a third-place time bonus of eight seconds, Riccò ceded that back to Contador on Monday.
“I gave all I could. I’m satisfied. Alberto is more of a specialist than me, so to only lose eight seconds to him is very good for me,” said Riccò, the only rider within 1 minute of Contador. “This Giro is far from over. There is still some terrain to attack.”
Contador tightens grip
Contador finally breathed a sigh of relief after coming across the line fourth at 22 seconds back.
Dressed head to toe in pink (did Astana really not expect Contador to be in pink this weekend?), Contador looked more comfortable on the climbs following some difficult moments in Saturday’s and Sunday’s summit finishes.
“This course was something for a real climber like me. After my performance of yesterday, I was more confident before the start of the race than I had been at the start of Sunday's stage,” Contador said. “Plus today I didn’t have any technical problem like I did yesterday when I had to do the Marmolada climb with a defective wheel.”
At least Contador wasn’t riding the Plan de Corones “blind.” Because he was only given a week’s notice before the Giro started, he never had the chance to preview of the decisive climbs that’s the fashion among the top grand tour contenders these days.
The Fedaia, Pampeago and Giau were all ridden as if by brail for Contador, but at least had time to preview the Corones course early before Monday’s start. He drove the first 7.6km in car and then rode final gravel section on his bike. That proved decisive as he decided change from a 34x28 to 34x30.
After three hard days in the Dolomites, he’s not sure if he’ll win the Giro, but he does realize that the climbs here are harder than anything he’s seen in France.
“From what I’ve seen so far, I can say that the climbs here are much harder than at the Tour,” Contador said. “I have to say at the Tour de France, the flat stages are much more stressful, with the speeds and the nerves, they are almost like mountain stages because of the high tension in the stages.”
Tuesday’s rest day will give everyone a chance to plot their strategy going into the final six stages into Milan. While everyone agrees the race might not be decided until Milan’s final 28.5km time trial, what’s sure now is that Contador is in the driver’s seat.
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