On the way to Peonis, the race paid tribute to Ottavio Bottecchia, who was found unconscious at this place on 3rd June, 1927 and died after twelve days in the hospital of Gemona del Friuli.
START
180 riders roll out at 12:40 pm. Non starting: Cavendish, Petacchi, Renshaw, Hondo, Belletti and Ventoso. From the very beginning high pace with attacks and counter-attacks.
The field stop all escape attempts up to km 41 where 16 riders clear out: Sarmiento, Nocentini, Vicioso, Valls Ferri, Lewis, Losada, Spezialetti, Lastras, Samoilau, Kiserlovski, Noè, Vandewelle, Weening, Nordhaug, Meyer and Hoogerland. Average speed after one hour: 44.600 kph. At km 50 they have a lead of 1’46”.
Intermediate Sprint, Arta Terme (UD): Lastras first, Spezialetti second, Meyer third followed by the rest of the breakaway. The Saxo Bank – Sungard riders dictate the field’s pace and cross the IS at 3’12” back. With 100 km to go the gap of the 16-man break over the bunch is 4’45”. Average speed after two hours: 37.800 kph
King of the Mountain – 2nd category, Monte Croce Carnico Pass (UD) [m 1.360]:
Samoilau gets over the climb first, followed by Weening and the other 13 escapees. The bunch is at 5’06” behind. On the downhill Lastras speeds up but he is caught in the feed zone where the chasers, paced by the Euskaltel-Euskadi riders are gaining ground: 4’23”.
King of the Mountain – 3rd category, Gailbergsattel (AUT) [m 981]: Samoilau ahead of Kiserlovski, Spezialetti and the other escapees. The bunch come over the climb with a
delay of 4’10”. In Oberdrauburg – km 106 – the gap over the peloton is 4’05”. Average after three hours: 38.800 kph. 50 km to go: 3’15”.
In the breakaway, on the uphill towards the next KOM, Kiserlovski goes off the front.
King of the Mountain – 2nd category, Iselsbergpass (AUT) [m 1.209]: Kiserlovski, and at 45” Samoilau, Lastras and the other 13 closest chasers. The main bunch is at 3’40”.
With 30 km still to race the lone Astana rider has a 55” lead over the 15-manbreak and 3’22” over the bunch.
– 20 km: 1’10” over the immediate chasers and 2’ over the field.
Along the climb, Sarmiento, followed by Weening, catch and overtake Kiserlovski, as the field is reducing the gap and reel in all the other escapees. 2 men are leading.
Sarmiento and Weening are caught with 10 km to go. Scarponi attacks with Rujano and Anton on his wheel. Contador cuts the gap down and, with 8,5 km to go, he speeds up with Rujano on his wheel.
King of the Mountain – 1st category, Kasereck (AUT) [m 1.908]: Rujano before Contador, at 42” Scarponi, Kreuzinger, Nibali, Arroyo.
With 2 km to go a snapshot of the situation: Rujano and Contador have a 1’05” lead over Dupont and Gadret, then Kiryienka and Anton; at 1’38” a group including Nibali and Scarponi. The two leaders work together.
FINISH
Rujano takes the win of this stage ahead of Contador who strengthens his lead on the Pink Jersey who now leads race by 3’29”. John Gadret in third at 1’27” back. Then Dupont and Anton at 1’29”, Kreuziger, Scarponi, Nibali, Kiryienka, Menchov and Arroyo loose 1’36”.
Time of the winner: 4h 45’ 054”, at an average speed of 35.0467 kph.
Nibali: ""There was nothing I could do against Contador. I tried to hang on to Contador but he had an extra gear and it was impossible. We tried to do what we could but it was pointless. I think everyone saw that. I don't think there is much else to say. Scarponi tried to attack him a few times and I tried to follow him but neither worked and he just rode away from us. We've got to try and come up with something but what? I'm not giving up yet. But we can only hope he cracks but he didn't today and this turned out to be a tough stage after all the climbing, the cold and the rain."
Scarponi: "I think that today my performance was better than the Etna one. I'm a fighter so I tried to perform the stage in a battling way: the two attacks were good, even if they didn't allow me to escape. Then, I understood that it was better to pedal on a regular pace".
Top 10 GC:
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 49:40:58
2 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:09
3 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:03:16
4 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:25
5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:03:29
6 Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad 0:03:53
7 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:04:02
8 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:06
9 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:04:35
10 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:38 http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Classification leaders:
Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank Sungard) is the Maglia Rosa Estathé.
Alberto Conatdor is the Maglia Rosso Passione Gruppo Saint-Gobain.
Alberto Contador is the Maglia Verde Banca Mediolanum.
Roman Kreuziger is the Maglia Bianca Adecco.
Stage 14, Saturday, has been modified to eliminate the Monte Crostis ascent and descent. Read details here from yesterday. Nevertheless, Monte Zoncolan awaits and never disappoints.
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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, watching and touring during the Giro, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,900 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.
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