THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Parra doubles, Basso crumbles and Savoldelli leads
The mighty 2758m Passo dello Stelvio in Sunday’s three-climb 14th epic stage lived up to its billing and took its toll on the160 ragged riders remaining in the 88th Giro d’Italia.
The monstrous climb eliminated Paolo Savoldelli’s most dangerous rival – Team CSC’s Ivan Basso -- but the Discovery Channel falcon quickly found himself having to fend off new ones.
Savoldelli kept his hold on the maglia rosa in the grueling 210km march across the Dolomites, but the margin was trimmed to less than a half-minute after the ever-resilient Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) followed an electrifying attack by the stubborn Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) near the top of the day’s last of three rated climbs.
“I did not react to Simoni's attack because I suffered cramp in the final kilometers of the final climb,” said Savoldelli, racing again in top form after enduring two injury-plagued seasons. “It's probably due to the fact that I have not ridden in such a hard stage for two or three years.”
After the dust settled, Savoldelli finished 10th, 3:42 down on stage-winner Ivan Parra (Colombia-Selle Italia), who scored his second consecutive win, and lost 28 seconds to rivals Di Luca and Simoni. He was back on the podium getting kisses from the pretty girls, but Di Luca moved into second at 25 seconds back with Simoni third at 1:48.
With three spectacular stages waiting in the Italian Alps starting Thursday, this Giro is far from over. Wait, haven’t we heard that before?
A tale of two races
The day’s protagonist was the towering Stelvio, the highest road in Italy and a climb so menacing it hasn’t been featured in the Giro since 1994. With 48 hairpins and 25km of climbing, the setting couldn’t be more dramatic for the showdown in the snow-covered Dolomites in northern Italy.
The colossal Stelvio split Sunday’s stage into two races; one for the day’s spoils and another for the fight for the overall title.
Colombia-Selle Italia’s Parra slipped away with a nine-man attack on the day’s first climb. The breakaway held the maglia rosa group at bay until Parra, the younger brother of Colombian cycling legend Fabio Parra, shot away midway up the day’s final climb. From there, it was all downhill to sunny Livigno and another impressive victory.
“I didn't expect to do the double,” Parra said who won after a 170km breakaway. "After my victory at Ortisei (Saturday), I hardly slept. I was excited, very emotional. It's incredible to win two stages.”
Behind him, meanwhile, the fight for the maglia rosa was on a slow boil in the lead group, some three minutes in arrears and taking a deliberate, almost excruciating pace up the Stelvio in a cautious face-off among the favorites.
First to blow was Basso, who succumbed to a bad stomach, ceding more than 48 minutes on the day after he was unable to recover from his problems.
The spectacular road slowly wound a noose around the peloton, pushing up to the snowy summit at 2758 meters with an average grade of 7 percent.
Savoldelli was soon left without Discovery Channel teammates (or water bottles), but the Stelvio was so long and so hard, none of the favorites dared to attack over the Cima Coppi, marking the Giro’s highest point.
Lampre-Caffita did its part, sending Patxi Vila on the front to set the pace up the Stelvio’s intimidating switchbacks.
Once safely over the Stelvio, defending champion Damiano Cunego – who had been away earlier in the day’s breakaway – returned to gregario duty and took hard pulls on the charge up the Cat. 1 Passo del Foscagno.
The work softened up the bunch and Simoni shot away about 2km shy of the summit, quickly gapping Savoldelli. But the ever-impressive Di Luca dug deep and caught Simoni and the enterprising Juan Garate (Saunier Duval) at the summit, leaving Savoldelli 22 seconds in arrears heading into an 8km drop to Livigno.
“I really tried hard to drink and eat properly during the stage. Simoni is very strong, we know that,” said Savoldelli, a Giro winner in 2002. “The surprise package has come from Di Luca and I did not think he would be racing at this level. He has shown that he is a champion.”
The Falcon is one of the best descenders in the game, but he couldn’t make up the time on Simoni, Di Luca and Garate as they hammered toward the line. Savoldelli wasn’t getting much help in his chase group while all three had something to gain.
“I was on the wheel of Savoldelli when Simoni accelerated. As he had been in good form during the stage, I was surprised that he did not react,” said Di Luca, who led the way with fifth at 3:15 back. “I decided to go because I was still in good condition.”
Just like Savoldelli, few expected Di Luca to be sparring for the maglia rosa at this stage of the Giro. But with the early departure of Stefano Garzelli and the struggles of co-captain Dario Cioni, Di Luca is getting the full support of his team.
With the chances of pre-race favorites Basso and Cunego all but shot, Di Luca now believes his are improving by the day.
“I surprised myself and now I just want to see where things take me,” said Di Luca. “I think the race will be decided on the penultimate stage.”
Garate moved into fourth while Rujano, who came through third, moved into fifth.
The end of Basso
Basso started the 88th Giro intent on nothing short of overall victory. Third in last year’s Tour de France, the emboldened 27-year-old decided to take on the Giro as part of his natural progression that many say one day will include a maillot jaune.
Things looked promising following Basso’s impressive time-trial performance behind CSC teammate and winner David Zabriskie in the first week and then again Thursday up Zoldo Alto to grab the maglia rosa.
But the 27-year-old was bitten by a stomach bug Saturday in Giro’s longest stage and forfeited more than a minute and the maglia rosa to Savoldelli. That setback now looks trivial compared to the devastating losses Basso suffered up the Stelvio.
Just as soon as the main bunch hit the first approaches, a shattered Basso was already off the back. Too proud to quit, Basso gritted his teeth as he struggled up the grinding Stelvio. Surrounded by Zabriskie, Andrea Peron and other CSC teammates, Basso topped the Stelvio at 18:35 back. By the end of the day, an exasperated Basso crossed the line 88th, 42:15 behind Parra.
Other big names buckled under the Stelvio, including Michele Scarponi (Liberty Seguros), a young Italian rider making his third Giro start with ambitions for the top five, who finished 65th at 26 minutes back.
The 2002 Vuelta a España champion Aitor Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the top name among seven riders not finishing, leaving 160 riders in the Giro with a week to go.
Parra all the way
With the Stelvio looming like a bad dream, several riders wanted to get a head start on the suffering.
Joaquin Rodriguez (Saunier Duval) and Wladimir Belli (Domina Vacanze) shot off on the day’s first KOM points at the Cat. 1 Fassineto at 38km. Seven others catapulted out to make the day’s major selection.
Others bridging out included: Parra and Colombia-Selle Italia teammates Raffaele Illiano and KOM leader Jose Rujano; Daniel Atienza (Cofidis); defending champion Cunego (Lampre-Caffita); Sven Montgomery (Gerolsteiner); and Unai Osa (Illes Balears), third overall in 2001.
The break never managed to open up much time and had just 45 seconds on the main bunch at the base of the Stelvio. The 25km ascent with its 48 hairpins gave them plenty of room to try their luck. The long climb left just Atienza, Osa, Rujano and Parra working together. With the maglia rosa group carefully measuring its efforts, the foursome quickly made up some ground.
Rujano and Parra worked well together setting the pace, widening their gap over themaglia rosa group to more than three minutes over the Stelvio, with Rujano taking the points (and the 2,200-euro prize) to bolster his lead in the KOM competition.
Panaria’s Emmanuele Sella made a huge effort to bridge out to the leading foursome, but with 25km to go, Parra made a big shove and quickly dropped his fatigued fellow escapees.
Rujano later marked the wheel of Tadej Valjavec (Phonak), who also bridged out from the maglia rosa group, as the Slovenian came through second.
An emotional Parra came roaring into Livigno with plenty of time to fix his jersey, kiss his wedding ring and hold up two fingers – that’s “dos” in Spanish.
Coming up Monday is the 207km 15th stage from Livigno to Lissone. While it features the 2315m Forcola di Livigno in the opening 50km, it’s almost downhill all the way to Lissone ahead of Tuesday’s final rest day.
After two weeks of racing, the Giro peloton deserves a chance to catch its breath going into the week’s finale.
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