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He was the first Canadian to wear the Maglia Rosa, no small feat in itself, but now Victoria’s Ryder Hesjadal is the first Canadian Grand Tour winner taking the Giro d’Italia with an impressive performance in today’s timetrial. Joaquim Rodriguez, who often struggles in the time trial, gave an absolutely impressive and brave performance trying to protect the Maglia Rosa. Bravo Joaquim, Bravo!
Marco Pinotti won the technical 33km timetrial, which featured some very tight turns, 180 roundabouts and tiled sections in the finale. If the competitors were going to push, the course could have pushed back and Hesjedal knows this as much as anyone as he had his rear will slip out going through one of these technical curves. He managed to keep the bike on it’s line and the result was more of a scare than anything. De Gendt was the first of the main competitors to set scorching times through the intermediate points, but two riders behind him was Hesjedal matching the superior timetrialists times almost to the second. Joaquim Rodriguez, again was putting in a valiant effort but had lost about 2 seconds per kilometer through the first 10km and couldn’t recover.
Stage 21 Top Three
1. Marco Pinotti (BMC)_____33’06″
2. Geraint Thomas (SKY)____+38″
3. Jesse Sergent (RNT)_____+52″
Complete Stage 21 results: Gazzetta Official
Final General Classification
1. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)_____91h39’02″
2. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)__+16″
3. Thomas DeGendt (VAC)_____+1’39″
4. Michele Scarponi (LAM)___+2’05″
5. Ivan Basso (LIQ)_________+3’44″
6. Damiano Cungeo (LAM)_____+4’40″
7. Rigoberto Uran (SKY)_____+5’57″
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (COG)_6’28″
9. Serio Luis Haneo (SKY)___7’50″
10. Mikel Nieve (EUS)_______+8’08″
Complete General Classification: Gazzetta Official
Final Points Jersey Classification
1. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)_____139pts
2. Mark Cavendish (SKY)________138pts
3. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)________113pts
It’s almost difficult to put into words what happened on the Cima Coppi stage of the Giro. Where do you start? In what was one of the most dramatic days of racing, attacking, counter-attacking, undermining and heroics we’ve seen a near meltdown by the top contenders as Thomas DeGendt attacked the Stelvio and won the stage. He also quite literally nearly put himself in position to win the race.
The Mortirolo
Over the Mortirolo the race was animated by Olivier Zaugg (RNT), winner of the 2011 Giro di Lombardia, while the main favorites were playing a chess game of positioning and strategy. Garmin and Liquigas had Vandevelde and Caruso in pursuit of Zaugg a few minutes up the road, but also in position to support their leaders on the false flat to Bormio ahead of the Stelvio. As the favorites approached the summit of the Mortirolo, Thomas De Gendt attacked with a teammate and looked to take advantage of the favorites who seemed to be waiting for the final climb. Damiano Cunego and Mikel Nieve also attacked the group and eventually bridged to De Gendt to make a strong and dangerous looking groupetto consisting of De Gendt (VAC), Cunego (LAM), Nieve (EUS), Izaguirre (EUS), Amador (MOV) and Kangert (AST). The Maglia Rosa group came of the Mortirolo and onto the flat just over a minutes behind.
The False Flat
The Maglia Rosa group hit the false flat with a regroup in mind. Eat, Piss, Drink and get arranged. However, the De Gendt group wasn’t waiting around. As Zaugg was caught and the lead group gained another motivated rider Euskaltel and VacanSoleil were pushing hard very hard. Behind? Not so much. In fact, the favorites were looking at one another saying “you chase”. Then the race radios came into play. Where is Stetina? Where was Vandevelde? Basso, Rodriguez and Scarponi were forcing Hesjedal to the front and Ryder wasn’t going to shepard them to the Stelvio to be attacked. The lead swelled. De Gendt wasn’t waiting around. By the time Garming got Stetina and Vandevelde into the group and got to the base of the Stelvio De Gendt, Cunego and Nieve had over 3 minutes.
The Stelvio
With all the main GC contendors looking at Hesjedal as the favourite they were happy to sit on as Vandevelde did a crazy amount of work trying to bring back the break. However, there was no stopping De Gendt on this day. By the 10km remaining banner he had 5’09″ and was virtually in third. By 6.5km remaining he had 5’40″ and was virtually in second just a hand full of seconds behind Rodriguez. At this point, there was panic in the peloton, but as Garmin and Sky chased, everyone was on their limit, hopelessly listening to race radio declare De Gendt was riding into the Maglia Rosa. John Gadret now impatient with the pace attacked. Then attacked again as Ryder shut him down. Hesjedal, at this point, just had to ride as he turned himself inside out clawing second after second off De Gendt. Basso and Pozzovivo were the first to show weakness. Then Haneo and Uran saw the gap growing. Basso tried to respond but blew in doing so as Scarponi and Rodriguez, lead by Hesjedal powered away. De Gendt finished with Cunego just 400m behind. Nieve, who had been dropped came over third. Scarponi attacked both Hesjedal and J-Rod, as the others had done the dirty and forced Ryder to do all the work in effort to take time within the last km. Rodriguez attacked next with 1.2km remaining and passed Scarponi like he was standing still and took fourth. Scarponi and Hesjedal came in almost together. When they looked at the time they had brought De Gendt back by two minutes, enough for Rodriguez to stay in pink and Ryder to protect his position.
Tomorrow, is the final stage – a completely flat time trial around Milano and one which will likely see De Gendt move onto the podium. Rodriguez now has 31 seconds on Hesjedal which looks like it may not be enough, but things could get closer than imaginable as De Gendt is likely the best TT’er of them all and he’s not that far down.
Stage 20 Top Ten
1. Thomas De Gendt (VAC)______6h54’41″
2. Damiano Cunego (LAM)_______+56″
3. Mikel Nieve (EUS)__________+2’50″
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)____+3’22″
5. Michele Scarponi (LAM)_____+3’34″
6. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)_______+3’36″
7. John Gadret (ALM)__________+4’29″
8. Rigoberto Uran (SKY)_______+4’53″
9. Sergio Haneo (SKY)_________+4’55″
10. Ivan Basso (LIQ)__________+4’55″
Complete Stage 20 results: Gazzetta Official
General Classification after 20 stages
1. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)____91h04’16″
2. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)_____+31″
3. Michele Scarponi (LAM)_____+1’51″
4. Thomas De Gendt (VAC)_____+2’18″
5. Ivan Basso (LIQ)___________+3’18″
6. Damiano Cunego (LAM)______+3’43″
7. Rigoberto Uran (SKY)_______+4’52″
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (COG)___+5’47″
9. Mikel Nieve (EUS)__________+5’56″
10. John Gadret (ALM)_________+6’43″
11. Sergio Luis Haeno (SKY)____+7’20″
12. Dario Caltaldo (OPQ)_______+12’14″
Complete General Classification: Gazzetta Official
On a stage which featured 4 of the 10 hardest climbs in one stage in this year’s Giro, the action was rather subdued until the final 5km. it was then that Garmin surprisingly moved to the front to take control of the group and signal to everyone that Ryder was feeling good. Liquigas tried, in vain to take control and pace everyone of their wheel but the group had been nervous all day with their pacing.
On the penultimate climb, the Passo Lavaze, Roman Kreuziger was the first big name to be active as he was trying to make up time from his stage 17 disaster where he lost over 10 minutes. Kreuziger had two teammates up the road and then he launched Kevin Seeldreyers from the main group. After he had this support, he attacked the favorites and being over 11 minutes down and in 20th place, no one responded. Dario Caltaldo was also impatient with the Liguigas pace as he tried his luck up the road working with Kreuziger.
As the favorites closed in on Kreuziger on the final climb, Garmin and Liquigas had been battling for control and finally Ivan Basso launched a attack that seemed to be testing the legs of the others. It went nowhere and quickly Scarponi responded seeming to be working with his compatriot against the top two riders. The group reformed and Scarponi attacked again. The same. Then Scarponi attacked again and it was Basso who came detached. In a quick turn of fate, Scarponi looked to his left and found an ally in Hesjedal and the two distanced the other favorites. However, Ryder wasn’t done there. Realizing that he had a gap and seeing Scarponi on the limit, Ryder almost reluctantly, attacked again, but Scaponi held. However, into the final km’s Ryder launched another passive dig and Scarponi couldn’t hold. The favorites where strung down the climb and Hesjadal rode away from them closing on Kreuziger.
As Kreuziger struggled to muster any remaining Watts from his exhausted legs Ryder was inching toward him while inching away from the others. Kreuziger made it to the line first, followed by Ryder 19 seconds later. Rodriguez clawed back to take third and protect the pink jersey. Basso came in 6th, 36 seconds behind Ryder to seemingly put a big question on his podium likelihood.
Tomorrow, we’ve got the biggest day of the race with both the insanely steep Motirolo and the finish on the Stelvio. Everything can change tomorrow depending on who has a good day and who a bad. Time gaps could potentially be in excess of 2 or 3 minutes.
Stage 19 Top 12
1. Roman Kreuziger (AST)_______6h18’03″
2. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)________+19″
3. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)_____+32″
4. Michele Scarponi (LAM)______+35″
5. Domenico Pozzovivi (COG)____+43″
6. Ivan Basso (LIQ)____________+55″
7. Rigoberto Uran (SKY)________+57″
8. Mikel Nieve (EUS)___________+1’22″
9. Stefano Pirazzi (COG)
10. John Gadret (ALM)
11. Thomas De Gendt (VAC)______+1’34″
12. Damiano Cunego (LAM)
Complete Stage 19 results: Gazzetta Official
General Classification after 19 stages
1. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)____84h06’13″
2. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)_____+17″
3. Michele Scarponi (LAM)_____+1’39″
4. Ivan Basso (LIQ)___________+1’45″
5. Rigoberto Uran (SKY)_______+3’21″
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (COG)___+3’30″
7. John Gadret (ALM)__________+5’36″
8. Thomas De Gendt (VAC)_____+5’40″
9. Sergio Luis Haeno (SKY)____+5’47″
10. Damiano Cunego (LAM)_____+6’09″
11. Johann Tschopp (BMC)______+6’18″
12. Dario Caltaldo (OPQ)_______+6’19″
13. Mikel Nieve (EUS)__________+6’32″
14. Daniel Moreno (KAT)________+6’41″
…
17. Roman Kreuziger (AST)_____+12’53″
Complete General Classification: Gazzetta Official
Flash back to 2008. Daniele Bennati is wearing the points jersey, and would go on to win the jersey in Milan. On Stage 13, a relatively unknown 23-year-old named Mark Cavendish blasted past Bennati like a rocket in the first Grand Tour of Cav’s illustrious career. Young, fast and brash and Mark Cavendish was on the scene.
Now, back to the current reality. A 22 year old Andrea Guardini, whose 23rd birthday is in a couple of weeks, just blasted past points jersey wearing Mark Cavendish like a rocket in his first Grand Tour of his young career. We’ve been watching Guardini closely since his five stage wins at the Tour de Langkawi last year. This year, he got 6, but his very poor climbing has always made him a question mark for the Giro. Well, he just won the 18th stage and had to get over the Passo Giau to do it. And he won with ease. I think we’ll see more of this kid in the future.
Maglia Rossa – The points jersey. This second place finish for Mark Cavendish puts the win of the Maglia Rossa in even greater jeopardy. The 5 points Cav missed out on for the points jersey lead may be the difference between winning it and losing it. The current standings after this final sprint stage are as follows:
1. Mark Cavendish (Sky)_____138pts
2. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)__109pts (-29)
3. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)_____73pts (-65)
The point structure for stage finishes are: 25, 20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Intermediate Sprints are: 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Cavendish currently has a 29 point lead on J-Rod, which would have been 34 if he had won the stage as expected. Cav’s 28pts (2nd + Int.) today effectively eliminated Hesjedal from contention. It’s unlikely either Rodriguez or Cavendish will finish in the top ten in the TT and it’s unlikely that either will contend intermediate sprints. As it stands, if Rodriguez gets a 3rd and 4th place (30pts) in the final two stages or better he’ll take the Maglia Rossa. If Cav won today, J-Rod would have needed a 2nd and a 3rd (35pts), which was still very possible, but that much tougher.
Tomorrow, we have the first of the two biggest stages in the Giro. Finishing on the 8km Alpe di Pampeago after crossing 3 previous passes. Stage 19 is going to be the second to last opportunity for Scarponi and Basso to take time out of Hesjedal and Rodriguez. As well, J-Rod will be looking to make time on Ryder also, as he knows that he needs about 1 minute more to protect the Maglia Rosa in the final TT in Milano. Watch for Scarponi to try and be the biggest aggressor tomorrow if he can be, and an alignment between the two Italians against Hesjedal and Rodriguez.
Stage 18 Top Five
1. Andrea Guardini (FAR)_______3h00’52″
2. Mark Cavendish (SKY)
3. Roberto Ferrari (AND)
4. Robert Hunter (GRM)
5. Lucas Haedo (SAX)
Complete Stage 18 results: Gazzetta Official
General Classification after 18 stages
1. Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)____77h47’38″
2. Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)_____+30″
3. Ivan Basso (LIQ)___________+1’22″
4. Michele Scarponi (LAM)_____+1’36″
5. Rigoberto Uran (SKY)_______+2’56″
6. Benat Intxausti (MOV)_______+3’04″
7. Domenico Pozzovivo (COG)___+3’19″
8. Paolo Tiralongo (AST)_______+4’13″
9. Thomas De Gendt (VAC)_____+4’38″
10. Sergio Luis Haeno (SKY)____+4’42″
11. Johann Tschopp (BMC)______+4’46″
12. John Gadret (ALM)__________+4’46″
13. Daniel Moreno (KAT)________+4’55″
14. Dario Caltaldo (OPQ)_______+4’59″
15. Damiano Cunego (LAM)_____+5’07″
16. Mikel Nieve (EUS)__________+5’42″
…
20. Roman Kreuziger (AST)_____+12’53″
Complete General Classification: Gazzetta Official
