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Petacchi wins stage and jersey as Cav gets gapped by a crash.
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There’s never a dull moment at the Giro d’Italia.
Just when it seemed like things were bordering on routine, all hell broke loose and the final 50km of the 198km march from Grado to Valdobbiadene turned into a crash derby.
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) was the primary victim, crashing out with a broken rib with about 50km to go before another spill with about 12km to go completely blocked the entire breadth of the road just as the peloton ramped up for the sprint.
2009 Giro d'Italia
- Stage 3: Grado to Valdobbiadene
- 198km (123 miles)
- Stage winner: Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) in 4:45:27
- Stage winner's average speed: 25.8 mph (41.6 kph)
- GC leader: Petacchi
- Points jersey: Petacchi
- Climber's jersey: Mauro Facci (Quick Step)
- Team GC leader: Columbia-Highroad
- Most aggressive for the day: Petacchi
- Best young rider: Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream)
- Previous stage winners/GC leaders
- Stage 1: Team Columbia-Highroad/Mark Cavendish
- Stage 2: Petacchi/Cavendish
- Up next: Stage 4
- Tuesday's stage 4, a 165km leg from Padua to San Martinio di Castrozza, has a flat start and a summit finish, a rarity only four days into a grand tour. The climb could be a shock to some and could even deliver an early setback to at least a couple of top GC contenders.
Overnight leader Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) was held up in the tangle of bikes and Lycra, and there was no charity in a front group of riders that included all the major GC favorites (minus Rabobank’s Denis Menchov) and the hungry LPR team.
Alessandro Petacchi made it two in a row and snatched away the maglia rosa from a dejected Cavendish, who pulled within 15 seconds of the group before sitting up to cede the jersey.
“This is my seventh day in the pink jersey, so I am satisfied to have it again,” said Petacchi, who wore it for six days in 2003. “I didn’t know anything about Cavendish being caught up in the crash. It was very confusing. I thought he had been dropped. I was OK on the rising finish like today, but let’s not exaggerate. I will not keep the jersey tomorrow.”
Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) helped ease the pain of Vande Velde’s unfortunate departure by sprinting to second. The Giro rookie slotted into second overall at eight seconds behind Petacchi and earned a trip to the podium for the best young rider’s jersey.
Farrar’s sprint was all the more impressive because he broke his derailleur in the pileup with 12km to go and rode all the way to the final unable to change gears.
Just another wild ride in the Giro d’Italia.
Crash derby KO’s VdV and derails Cav'
The third stage began with an early breakaway of five riders, who peeled away just 5km into the stage that rolled across the flats along the Adriatic coast. In the move were: Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua e Sapone), Yuriy Krivstov (Ag2r), Mauro Facci (Quick Step), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) and Bjorn Schroder (Milram).
Halfway through the race, the gap opened to six minutes but the pack, led by Columbia-Highroad and LPR, kept the group within striking distance.
The breakaway was on its last gasp when Vande Velde went down in the middle of the pack, putting an unfortunate early demise to his Giro hopes.
The breakaway was swallowed up on the day’s King of the Mountains climb at the Cat. 3 Combai climb and the main pack roared onto a 19.8km finishing circuit in the hills around Valdobbiadene.
Small roads and a nervous peloton added up to disaster. Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and David Malacarne (Quick Step) sprang away with 12km to go, causing a ripple through the bunch.
Another dozen gave chase, including Levi Leipheimer (Astana), when a crash occurred as the peloton squeezed together under the 10km-to-go banner draped across the road.
Some suggested it was a Barloworld rider who caused the crash, but whoever was the culprit, the pack was cut in two and the road was completely blocked from one side to the other as riders struggled to remount their bikes and give chase.
Caught up in the chaos was Cavendish, who missed a group that included Petacchi and most of the GC favorites, including Lance Armstrong (Astana), Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) and the big-name Italians.
With the stage on the line and attackers off the front, there was no way the peloton was going to wait for the maglia rosa.
“You cannot expect the peloton to sit up and wait 10 kilometers from the finish line,” said Columbia sport director Allan Peiper. “It wasn’t clear what was happening. There were attacks off the front. No one’s going to wait in that situation.”
Columbia had Michael Rogers, Thomas Lovkvist and Kanstantin Sivtsov in the front group, but didn’t send a man back to help Cavendish. Edvald Boasson Hagen did a great job pulling Cavendish, bringing him with 15 seconds of the front group before the race leader waved him off with 3km to go.
“This is what makes this sport so incredibly exciting,” said Columbia manager Bob Stapleton. “It’s too bad for Mark to lose the jersey like this, but we weren’t going to carry it all the way to Rome. It’s hardly over for us. We come every day to race and this opens up the race for some of our other guys.”
Armstrong ‘chill’ as GC battle looms
The 93rd Giro turns into the first climbing stages of this year’s edition with summit finishes Tuesday and Wednesday in the Dolomites.
Tuesday’s 162km fourth stage from Padova to San Martino di Castrozza will see the GC contenders moving to the fore.
Wednesday’s 125km fifth stage from Castrozza to Alpe di Suisi features a summit finish much steeper and harder, sure to produce the first major cracks in the fight for the maglia rosa.
“We will see what happens these next two days. We will be attentive and be with the front, but we are not in a hurry to do too much because the Giro is just beginning,” said Ivan Basso (Liquigas), 24th overall at 1:11 back. “Wednesday’s stage is much harder. I am anxious to see how the legs react. If we can make some damage, we will.”
Most riders expect Tuesday’s rising finish at San Martino di Castrozza to produce a relatively large group, perhaps up to 20 to 30 riders. If that scenario plays out, Danilo Di Luca (LPR) — sixth overall at 40 seconds back — is poised to win the stage out of a reduced group sprint and claim the maglia rosa.
Columbia’s Rogers — third at 18 seconds back — is also well-positioned to make a run at the pink jersey.
All eyes will be on Lance Armstrong, who will tackle major mountain climbs for the first time since his comeback began with the Tour Down Under.
Armstrong finished safely in the lead group Monday and sits fifth overall at 31 seconds back. It could be Armstrong’s best chance to snag the pink jersey if he can finish with the leaders in a group.
“It will be a big test for a lot of people to test their climbing legs. We'll try to stay in front,” Armstrong told reporters after Monday’s stage. “I think the day after is steeper and shorter, so the speeds will get very high. Frankly and honestly, I don't have a lot of pressure for tomorrow. If it was like all the Julys ... I would be a little nervous, but I'm pretty relaxed. I know that I'm working my way back and nobody expects me to ride away tomorrow or the next day. I can go into it pretty chill.”
Astana will be working to keep Leipheimer (eighth at 44 seconds back) with any attacks. Armstrong said he expects to be able to stay with the leaders if the group is relatively big, but admitted he might not have the legs to follow attacks by the top five climbers.
Just like they say, there’s never a dull day at the Giro d’Italia.
