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Race leader Danilo Di Luca stomps, wins the Giro's 'Queen Stage' with a solo attack.
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Race leader Danilo Di Luca put a rose-colored stamp of authority on the 2009 Giro d’Italia on Tuesday, winning the race’s longest stage in a late solo attack that left the other GC favorites choking on his fumes as they ceded critical seconds on the general classification.
Di Luca tightened his grip on the maglia rosa heading into Thursday's critical long individual time trial, expanding his lead to 1:20 to second-place Denis Menchov (Rabobank) on a day that saw quite a bit of reshuffling in the overall standings.
“Today was like Liège-Bastogne-Liège,” said Di Luca, a winner for the second time in 10 stages (and a L-B-L winner in 2007). “It was perfect for my characteristics. I attacked on the downhill. Winning alone is the best possible way to win a stage.”
2009 Giro d'Italia
- Stage 10: Cuneo to Pinerolo
- 262km (163 miles)
- Stage winner: Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes)
- Stage winner's average speed:40.2 kph (25.0 mph)
- GC leader: Di Luca
- Points jersey: Di Luca
- Climber's jersey: Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone)
- Team GC leader: Astana
- Most aggressive for the day: Garzelli
- Best young rider: Thomas Lovkvist (Columbia-Highroad)
- Previous stage winners/GC leaders:
- Stage 1: Team Columbia-Highroad/Cavendish
- Stage 2: Petacchi/Cavendish
- Stage 3: Petacchi/Petacchi
- Stage 4: Di Luca/Lovkvist
- Stage 5: Menchov/Di Luca
- Stage 6: Scarponi/Di Luca
- Stage 7: Boasson Hagen/Di Luca
- Stage 8: Sivtsov/Di Luca
- Stage 9: Cavendish/Di Luca
- Up next: Stage 11
- Wednesday's stage from Turin to Arenzano is 214km (133 miles) will be a day for the stage-win opportunists ahead of Thursday's critical — and brutal — individual time trial. Stage 11 is relatively flat, topping out on the Passo del Turchino about 20km from the finish.
Longest stage
Stage 10 was a 262km slog over three categorized climbs. Most of the favorites stayed bunched together throughout the first 245k of the stage, even crossing the difficult Sestriere climb en masse, minus only the sprinters and a handful of breakaway riders off the front. Americans Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong were safely in the maglia rosa group.
Up front, 2000 Giro champ Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) had taken off before the first major climb, the 1432m Moncenisio, and built up a lead of more than 6:30 as he thrilled Italian fans as he appeared headed for a sixth career Giro stage win.
However, ISD's Giovanni Visconti and Andriy Grivko had launched a long bridging effort and caught Garzelli with about 20km to go on the stage. Garzelli, happy to have some company after a long day in the saddle, worked with the pair for a few k's, before attacking and dropping Grivko.
“I thought I might have a chance to win when I topped Sestriere with six minutes,” said Garzelli, who collected enough mountain points to take the green jersey. “I lost too much time on the descent, then the hard effort cost me late in the stage. Still, I gave it a good shot and I will try again.”
Meanwhile, the main peloton had come alive, led by Basso's green gas team.
The bunch closed to within a minute of Garzelli at the base of the last major climb. Liquigas' Franco Pellizotti then sprung out of the pack and quickly bridged up to Visconti and Garzelli, as the peloton shredded into several small groups.
Di Luca previewed the final descent twice on Monday’s rest day and used his knowledge to attack several times, and led a select group past Pellizotti on the descent. With the race leader were Cervelo's Carlos Sastre, Caisse d'Epargne's David Arroyo and Rabobank's Denis Menchov.
Leipheimer disconnects on descent
A few seconds back, Leipheimer worked a small group with Soler and Basso, while Armstrong — riding well up Sestriere where he won a critical mountain stage in the 1999 Tour — was another few seconds back. He later regrouped with Leipheimer, crossing the line 13th at 29 seconds back.
Di Luca dumped the others on a small climb 3km from the finish, and sped away on the narrow descent to the finish, crossing with a 10-second gap over Pellizotti, Menchov, Sastre and Arroyo.
Menchov is now in second on the GC, at 1:20, with Michael Rogers — who’s been in third place since stage 2 — remaining third, now at 1:33 back.
Basso and Columbia's Rogers crossed the line with Leipheimer and Armstrong at 29 seconds.
"Di Luca showed he deserves the pink jersey — impressive ride," Armstrong said in a Twitter post just after the finish.
Leipheimer — a big favorite for Thursday's time trial — sits fourth at 1:40.
Lovkvist, Cunego falter
Basso, not known for his descending prowess, said the team was working for Pellizotti.
“It was a good stage for us. Pellizotti was our chance today, but Di Luca is the strongest at the moment,” said Basso, seventh at 2:03 back. “If it keeps like this, it will be difficult to get the pink jersey. There are still the time trial and some other climbing stages to come. I am confident for the coming days.”
GC hopefuls Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Thomas Lovkvist suffered the biggest blows. Cunego finished 1:34 down and Lovkvist was 1:39 down, toppling out of second place on the GC to eighth. Lovkvist does still lead the young rider's competition.
“The stage was long and a little bit too fast for me,” Lovkvist said. “I didn’t feel great. I hope tomorrow will be a sprint and we can recover a little bit before the time trial, then we’ll see.”
It was another blow for Cunego, who won’t be racing the Tour de France this year and bet the first half of his season on the Giro.
“I couldn’t stay with Basso at the bottom of the last climb. The legs just couldn’t respond,” Cunego said. “I am disappointed with myself and for my team. I am at the limit of my possibilities. Patience.”
Di Luca rising
Di Luca has been able to use time bonuses to his advantage and build himself a significant cushion ahead of Thursday’s decisive time trial along Cinque Terre.
Di Luca has earned a minute’s worth of time bonuses, winning two 20-second bonuses with stage victories Tuesday and in stage 4. He sprinted to a 12-second second-place bonus in stage 5 and earned eight seconds in stage 8.
The 2007 champ wasn’t highly rated before the start of the Giro, but he’s getting stronger by the day.
Even the great Eddy Merckx is becoming a believer. The five-time Giro winner, speaking on Italian TV after the stage, said Di Luca cannot be overlooked despite a tough time trial course and more difficult mountain stages still on tap.
“Di Luca could win the Giro if he defends the maglia rosa in the Cinque Terre time trial,” Merckx said. “My favorite still is Leipheimer. He has a strong team, we saw Armstrong coming better today and he has experience. Also watch out for Menchov, who is also very good. I don’t think anything will be decided until the final time trial.”
Wednesday’s stage:
The 92nd Giro d’Italia continues with the 214km 11th stage from Torino to Arenzano. The mostly flat crosses the Po Valley and only features one rated climb at the Cat. 3 Passo del Turchino, used during the Milan-San Remo each spring. After a long descent to the Mediterranean Coast, it’s straight ahead to a mostly flat run to the line. The sprint teams might want to keep a lid on breakaway attempts to set up their sprinters.
