THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Veterans' Day at Giro
In a Giro d’Italia that’s being hyped as a showdown between the young guns, a pair of grizzled veterans stole the spotlight in Tuesday’s grueling 250km climbing stage sun-baked mountains above Genova.
Leonardo Piepoli and Andrea Noè, two unsung workhorses in an age of millionaire GC captains, clawed their way to the podium at the end of an explosive battle that saw the end of Marco Pinotti’s pink jersey run.
Piepoli, 35, held off a late charge by Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) on the steep 8.8km climb up the Santuario Nosta Signora della Guardia to claim his third career Giro stage victory.
“Okay, today’s it’s the old guys winning the stage and taking the jersey, but don’t tell me the young guys aren’t good. Look at the class of ’81 – Cunego, Pozzato – you can find 10 champions. And this young guy Schleck today,” said Piepoli, who won two Giro stages last year. “There are a few of us old guys who are still there. That means that I’ve been racing against very good ones my whole career.”
Noè, the oldest rider in the Giro at 38 and reputed as one of the grumpiest men in the peloton, inherited the maglia rosa from Pinotti after finishing 10th at 52 seconds back.
“I have been doing this job for 15 years now and many things have changed. The young guys aren’t like us anymore,” Noè said. “I don’t recognize the young riders anymore. I have to look at their jerseys or their helmets to see who they are.”
The Liquigas veteran started the day second at 28 seconds behind Pinotti, but now holds a 1:08 lead to another cagey warrior, Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre).
“I could only hang on because I had some stomach problems and I was lucky to get the jersey,” Noè said. “I wasn’t looking for the jersey, but my teammates wanted me to get it. They were actually happier than me.”
George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) drove the day’s five-man breakaway to show off the U.S. national jersey in another all-day escape for the second time in four days.
The Hincapie group gained five minutes over the Cat. 2 Passo del Biscia at 143km, but the main bunch didn’t want to give too much rope to the group with the dangerous presence of Hincapie, Ivan Parra (Cofidis) and Mauricio Ardila (Rabobank).
“We wanted to keep the breakaway close. A lot of people didn’t see it on TV, but we had Gasparotto and Vinotti on the front of the chase group all day,” said Liquigas rider Charlie Wegelius. “Then we drove it hard up the bottom part of the climb. We wanted Di Luca to win the stage, but it’s a real pleasure to see Noè in the pink jersey after the career he’s had.”
Up the Signora della Guardia
The Hincapie group hit the base of the 8.8km climb nursing about a one-minute lead. That wasn’t going to be enough on the narrow climb that averaged eight percent with a very steep final section of about 400 meters at upwards of 19 percent.
Parra, the pint-sized Colombian who won two Giro stages in 2005, went on a solo flyer to leave Hincapie chasing in his wake on the bottom section with ramps as steep as 10 percent.
The main bunch quickly fractured under pressure from Liquigas, with Wegelius and then Alessandro Spezialetti taking brutal turns. Quickly out the back was Pinotti, who saw his 28-second grip on the maglia rosa come under threat.
Hincapie tried in vain to reel in Parra when Di Luca bolted out of the main bunch with about 6.5km to go and quickly bridged up to Parra. Hincapie would hang on to finish 52nd at 8:08 back.
It looked like Di Luca had the win in his legs when Lampre forced the chase to check the aggression with about 5km to go. Just as Di Luca was caught, Piepoli counter-attacked to quickly open a decisive gap.
“I attacked when Simoni told me to attack,” said Piepoli. “I’ve always ridden for the big riders in the GC, like Zülle or Mancebo, so I was always at the disposition to these captains. Here at Saunier Duval, we have Simoni, but the team gives me the freedom to attack. It’s good for the team and it’s good for me.”
The lead group was down to a baker’s dozen when the precocious Andy Schleck (CSC) sprang out to put Piepoli under pressure. Fourth at Montevergine last week, the 21-year-old grand tour rookie dropped everyone before drawing the attention of Di Luca, who made a second dig to drop Simoni and Co.
Di Luca rolled through second at 18 seconds to move into eighth at 2:58 back, but it was the impressive Schleck in third at 27 seconds back who had tongues wagging.
“Andy is strong like his brother and you can see he will be a big champion,” said Di Luca, who inherited the best climber’s jersey. “With one kilometer to go, I could see that I wasn’t going to win the stage. Today the most important thing was to take some time on the others.”
Schleck was all smiles after donning the best young rider’s jersey and moved up to 12th at 4:03 back. The younger brother of Frank Schleck, Andy said his goal is to defend the white jersey and try to win a stage.
“We had no radio contact so I did it on my own. I said this morning to my sport director that if I am in the lead group on the final climb I will try something, so I kept my word,” said Schleck, who later told Italian TV the 19 percent grades of the final 400 meters was too hard for him. “My Giro started today, now we’ll take it day by day and see how it goes.”
Team CSC’s Dave Zabriskie suffered on the steep roads to finish 61st at 8:28 back.
Taking stock
In Peipoli’s wake, the overall favorites were scrambling up the steep finale. Some collapsed after crossing the line and others needed to be pushed up the steep road to the podium ceremony.
Two-time champion Simoni and apprentice Riccard Riccò finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at 32 and 41 seconds back. Simoni moved into 18th and Riccò in 16th.
A satisfied Mauro Gianetti was pleased by the performance of his Saunier Duval troops.
“It was a great day for the entire team. Simoni demonstrated that he’s on form and Riccò was showed his valor. Don’t overlook (Iban) Mayo, who was with the select group until the final meters and revealed he will be in great condition in the final week of the Giro,” Gianetti said. “It was a day for the veterans. They have the experience. They have the maturity. You could see how Leonardo measured his efforts and saved just a little to assure the victory.”
The other big names came trailing in as the final steep section caused time splits: Paolo Savoldelli sixth at 41 seconds back; Damiano Cunego seventh at 41; Yaroslav Popovych ninth at 52 seconds. Chechu Rubiera (Discovery Channel) came through 24th at 3:06 back.
“Now we can see that Popo is riding well and we will work for him,” Rubiera said. “My legs didn’t feel great at the bottom of the climb. It was very hot today and fast from the gun.”
Schleck said that he could see Cunego suffering to maintain the leg speed on the steep climb. Others said Simoni looked rock solid. Without a doubt, the rider flying right now is Di Luca.
He’s best-positioned among the top favorites behind a group of riders still hanging at the top of the GC who gained nearly four minutes in Saturday’s breakaway. “You will see the pink jersey working for Danilo in Thursday’s stage,” said Noè, looking past Wednesday’s flat stage to Thursday’s climbing stage into France. “We want to win the race with Di Luca and we also want to the team classification.”
Hincapie on the march
The mood was festive in Camaiore for the start of the 250km 10th stage, the halfway point of the 90th Giro and the end for an increasing number of riders.
T-Mobile lost Greg Henderson at about 100km into the stage, leaving overnight leader Pinotti with just four teammates going into the decisive summit finish up the steep Nostra Signora climb.
Other riders taking an early exit were J.J. Haedo (CSC), who notched two top 10 finishes in his grand tour debut, but the hills of Italy proved too much. Others such as Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Fabian Cancellara (CSC) and Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) were likely to bail following Wednesday’s mostly flat stage.
Hincapie snuck into the day’s main breakaway. Joining him were Hubert Dupont (Ag2r), Alberto Losada (Caisse d’Epargne), Ivan Parra (Cofidis), Mauricio Ardila (Rabobank) and Fortunato Baliani (Panaria).
The break took flight and held about five minutes over the Cat. 2 Passo de Biscia (16.3km at 3.3 percent) at 143km.
Liquigas pinned Gasparotto and Vinotti at the front to help T-Mobile keep the differences to a manageable limit. By the time the Hincapie group rolled down to the Italian Riviera, the gap shrank to under four minutes and dwindled to less than two minutes when they rolled onto the outskirts of Genova with 30km to go.
Hincapie flatted on the Cat. 3 climb at Campi (4.3km at 8 percent) and lost contact as Parra, Losada and Baliani pushed on alone. Baliani led the way over the Cat. 3 summit with Hincapie clawing his way back into the fourth position at 1:10 ahead of the main bunch.
The Hincapie quartet surged to the base of the final climb with about one minute gap on the main bunch. From there it was all uphill.
The road ahead - The 90th Giro d’Italia on Wednesday with the 198-kilometer 11th stage from Serravalle Scrivia to Pinerolo. There are three unrated climbs in the opening half but it’s a mostly flat run into the finish, a sure shot for the fast-twitch sprinters, many of whom will be catching flights home from nearby Torino.
Peloton - The Giro is down to 172 riders. Not starting were Alberto Ongarato (Milram); not finishing were: Yohann Gene and Arnaud Labbe (both Bouygues Telecom), JJ Haedo, (CSC), José Rojas and Alexei Markov (Caisse d’Epargne), Paride Grillo (Panaria) and Sergio Ghisalberti (Milram)
Jury decisionsFabian Cancellara (CSC), 50 Swiss franc fine, 10 second and 5 point penalty for taking a pull with the bidon.Jurgen Van Goolen (Discovery Channel), 100 CHF for two illegal pulls.Kolde Fernandes (Euskaltel), 150 CHF, for three illegal pulls.Sport directors at CSC and Euskaltel fined 200CHF for irregular feeds.Sport director at Lampre sanctioned for not respecting instruction from commissaries.Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval) fined 100 CHF for not signing in.Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner) fined 50 CHF for “comportement incorrect.”
Results - Stage 10
1. Leonardo Piepoli (I), Saunier Duval, 6:19:07 (39.407kph)
2. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas, 0:18
3. Andy Schleck (Lux), CSC, 0:27
4. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, 0:32
5. Riccardo Ricco' (I), Saunier Duval, 0:41
6. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Astana, 0:41
7. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 0:43
8. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, 0:45
9. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel, 0:52
10. Andrea Noe' (I), Liquigas, 0:52
Overall
1. Andrea Noe' (I), Liquigas, 46:06:09
2. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Lampre, 1:08
3. David Arroyo Duran (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, 1:15
4. Vila Errandonea Francisco J. (Sp), Lampre, 1:38
5. Evgeni Petrov (Rus), Tinkoff Credit Systems, 1:48
6. Emanuele Sella (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 2:04
7. Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz), Astana, 2:06
8. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas, 2:58
9. Marco Pinotti (I), T-Mobile, 3:11
10. José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Sp), Discovery Channel, 3:22
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