Cuneo, 12 May: Celebrations in Italy tonight as the 33 km team trial was won by Liquigas-Doimo in 0:36:37, and now THREE Italian's lead the GC. The leader's pink jersey has changed for the 4th time in as many stages and will now be worn by Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo). His teammates, Ivan Basso and Valerio Agnoli, are 2nd and 3rd on GC.
"It's still difficult to think I'm in the pink jersey. The director sportif Zanatta kept shouting via radio that we were going to get it. They often say things like that to motivate us. But this time it was true", said Nibali. "It's great for a rider, there is nothing better than the pink jersey. I never thought I would be able to wear it but now that I have it I will try to keep it as long as possible. Strategies? Ivan is the captain, it is an advantage on my side. If anything, the problems are of others."
Finishing 2nd and 3rd for the day were SKY (-0:00:13) and Team HTC-Columbia (-0:00:21).
In the team time trial each team started five minutes apart with a full complement of riders. In a perfect TTT, a team will finish together, all riders being equally strong, but this never happens, as riders will tire and drop out along the way. A team's finish time is taken when the 5th rider crosses the line. Since Nibali had the best time on GC of the Liquigas team before the start of the stage he was catapulted into first when the team won the TTT.
Vinokourov and his team had a bad day as he lost his fifth man with one km to go and had to wait for him losing precious seconds. Vinokourov was pounding his fist in the air and turning around urging his 5th rider, Gorazd Stangelj, on.
Top ten on GC after stage 4:
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 10:44:00
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:13
3 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:20
4 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:26
5 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia
6 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:00:33
7 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:39
8 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:45
9 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions
10 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana 0:00:59
Stage 4 results and times:
1 Liquigas - Doimo 0:36:37
2 Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:13
3 Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:21
4 Team Katusha 0:00:27
5 Astana 0:00:38
6 Cervelo TestTeam
7 Omega Pharma - Lotto 0:00:46
8 Garmin - Transitions 0:00:49
9 Team Saxo Bank 0:00:50
10 Team Milram 0:00:57
11 Rabobank 0:01:04
12 BMC Racing Team 0:01:21
13 Lampre - Farnese Vini 0:01:43
14 Footon - Servetto 0:02:03
15 Colnago - CSF Inox 0:02:08
16 Quick Step 0:02:15
17 Bbox Bouygues Telecom 0:02:19
18 Caisse d'Epargne 0:02:21
19 Androni Giocattoli - Diquigiovanni 0:02:24
20 Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne 0:02:29
21 Acqua & Sapone d'Angelo 0:02:39
22 AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:50
Photos: SKY got caught in the worst of the day's rain showers; team Liquigas under threatening skies, Vino urging Stangelj on; Nibali celebrates
Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,300 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog and there is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment