2011 Giro d’Italia, stage 13 results
By VeloNews.com
Published May 20th 2011 12:44 PM UTC
Stage 13: Spilimbergo – Grossglockner
1. José Rujano Guillen (VEN), Androni Giocattoli, in 4:45:54
2. Alberto Contador Velasco (ESP), SaxoBank-Sungard, at 0
3. John Gadret (FRA), Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1:27
4. Hubert Dupont (FRA), Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1:29
5. Igor Anton Hernandez (ESP), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:29
10. Denis Menchov (RUS), Geox-TMC, at 1:36
30. Stefano Garzelli (ITA), Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo, at 3:49
49. Carlos Sastre Candil (ESP), Geox-TMC, at 7:26
74. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR), Team RadioShack, at 13:48
81. David Millar (GBR), Garmin-Cervelo, at 14:21
176. Frantisek Rabon (CZE), HTC-Highroad, at 23:54
DNF – Davide Appollonio (ITA), Team Sky
DNS – Alessandro Petacchi (ITA), Lampre-ISD
DNf – Martin Kohler (SUI), BMC Racing Team
DNS – Mark Cavendish (GBR), HTC-Highroad
DNS – Danilo Hondo (GER), Lampre-ISD
DNF – Sacha Modolo (ITA), Colnago-CSF
DNS – Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (ESP), Movistar
DNS – Manuel Belletti (ITA), Colnago-CSF
DNF – Gerald Ciolek (GER), Quick Step
DNs – Mark Renshaw (AUS), HTC-Highroad
General Classification
1. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain), SaxoBank-Sungard , 49:40:58
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Liquigas-Doimo, at 3:09
3. Michele Scarponi (Italy), Lampre-ISD, at 3:16
4. David Arroyo Duran (Spain), Movistar, at 3:25
5. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic), Astana, at 3:29
11. Denis Menchov (Russia), Geox-TMC, at 5:06
19. Stefano Garzelli (Italy), Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo, at 6:40
28. Carlos Sastre Candil (Spain), Geox-TMC, at 12:48
86. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine), Team RadioShack, at 1:00:30
106. David Millar (Great Britain), Garmin-Cervelo, at 1:16:10
154. Robert Hunter (South Africa), Team RadioShack, at 1:46:37
176. Matthew Wilson (Australia), Garmin-Cervelo, at 2:16:03
José Rujano wins Grossglockner stage as Alberto Contador extends his lead
By VeloNews.com
Published May 20th 2011 11:37 AM UTC — Updated May 20th 2011 12:50 PM UTC
José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli) won the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia Friday, finishing just ahead of overall race leader Alberto Contador atop a tough, rain-soaked climb to the finish on Austria’s highest mountain, the Grossglockner.
Jose' Rujano gets the win, Contador gets the time.
The 167-kilometer ride from Spilimbergo, Italy, the first of a series of brutal mountain stages that will most certainly decide the final standings of this Giro, gave Contador the opportunity to extend his already comfortable 59-second lead on GC by another two minutes.
Into the clouds
The two climbing specialists moved out of an elite cadre of GC contenders with 10km remaining on the long 20km climb to the top of a cloud shrouded Grossglockner, following a series of attacks triggered by the catch of the final survivors of a 16-man break that marked much of the day’s action.
Rujano, who started the day well out of contention for the overall title (26th at 6:05), struggled to maintain pace on some sections of the climb, but the Venezuelan obviously posed little threat to Contador’s lead and the two settled in to put distance on their pursuers. Contador did not contest the sprint to the line as Rujano repeatedly cast glances over his shoulder to confirm that was, indeed, going to win the stage.
The two finished 1:37 ahead of Ag2r’s John Gadret and Contador now enjoys a lead of 3:09 over Liquigas’ Vincenzo Nibali in the overall standings.
16 on the run
After what many said was the final opportunity for sprinters to shine on Thursday, the expected exodus of top sprint talent saw six riders take a pass on starting Friday’s entry into the Dolomites. Double stage winner Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) joined his leadout man Mark Renshaw, Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre), Danilo Hondo (Lampre), Manuel Belletti (Colnago) and Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) in skipping the start in Spilimbergo. Indeed, the six left the Giro on Thursday in advance of the longest non-rest-day transfer of the three week grand tour.
The remaining 180 riders set off under sunny skies and the usual early attacks were absent as riders worked the kinks out of their legs in anticipation of a day that included major hurdles along the way, including the Passo di Monte Croce Carnico, at 79.6km, which climbed for 10.4km at 4.9 percent; the Iselsbergpass, at 127.5km, averaging 6.5 percent for 8.5km and the final 20km climb to the finish.
It wasn’t until the road turned upward that the day’s break began to take shape at the 50km mark. When the break did form, however, it was substantial. Included in the 16-man break were Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Branislau Samoilau (Movistar), Pieter Weening (Rabobank), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua & Sapone), Rafael Valls (Geox-TMC), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Angel Vicioso (Androni Giocattoli), Craig Lewis (HTC-Highroad), Lars Petter (Sky), Andrea Noe (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r La Mondiale), Kristof Vandewalle (Quick Step), Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervélo), and Alessandro Spezialetti (Lampre-ISD).
While none of the escapees posed much of a threat to Contador’s lead – with Lastras the best ranked on GC at 6:58 out of first – there were others in the peloton not willing to let the break get too much time on the field. Chief among those, was the Euskaltel-Euskadi team of Igor Anton, who may have been in the hunt for a stage win, rather than having a realistic goal of challenging Contador. Whatever the motivation, chase duties fell not to Contador’s Saxo Bank squad, but to the orange-clad Euskaltels, who never let the break get beyond 4:45 ahead.
By the time the break reached the slopes of the Iselsbergpass, the gap was again trimmed to 3:15. Astana’s Kiserlovski went on the attack and left the lead group, building a minute’s advantage over his former companions at the summit of the Austrian climb.
But the peloton continued to nip away at the break’s advantage and that of the lone escapee and when the Astana man hit the base of the day’s final climb, he held only a 40-second lead on the other men in the break and a 2:20 advantage over the peloton.
Remarkably, it was still Euskaltel at the front as the task of reeling in escapees began over the opening 10km of the climb. Kiserlovski was soon pulled back by Sarmiento and Weening, the Rabobank rider who briefly held the maglia rosa earlier in the Giro. The peloton, meanwhile, continued to pull back the remnants of the break and then finally reeled in the two leaders with about 10k to go.
Adding to the advantage
Contador and Rujano put time on the chase group with apparent ease.
As Weening and Sarmiento conceded to the inevitable, Rujano went on the attack and was quickly joined by Anton and then Lampre’s Michele Scarponi. Contador did not immediately respond, letting some of the chase work fall to Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Astana’s Roman Kreuziger. And chase they did, with Contador shadowing their moves.
When the three leaders were pulled back, it was time for Contador to launch his own attack, one that could only be followed by the little Venezuelan, Rujano. Over the ensuing kilometers the two extended their lead, leaving a group of riders once considered to be strong candidates to win the Giro, fighting for third place on the day … and perhaps a step on the podium in Milan, a week from Sunday.
The odds are good, however, that the top step will be occupied by a rider who has won the last five grand tours he’s entered.
Contador confirms his dominance on the Grossglockner
ByAndrew Hood
Published May 20th 2011 3:24 PM UTC — Updated May 20th 2011 6:34 PM UTC
HEILIGENBLUT, Austria (VN) – With the Giro d’Italia heading into a tough run in the mountains, Eddy Merckx observed that the only hope the GC rivals had to knock Alberto Contador off-balance was to attack from afar and try something truly daring.
No one dared.
Instead, it was Contador who delivered another long-distance attack against his rivals in Friday’s grueling Grossglockner climb.
With 10km to go, José Rujano hitched a ride and won the stage after helping to pace Contador, but it was the Spanish climber who instead took the wind out of the sails of his GC rivals. After surging into the pink jersey five days ago on Mount Etna, Contador once again looked untouchable. He followed a surge from Rujano and sensed he was opening up a gap, so Contador kept right on going.
“I didn’t want another opportunity pass by. When I saw the others staying behind, I knew I had to keep going,†said Contador, who now widened his grip on the pink jersey to 3:09 to Vincenzo Nibali. “It was not an easy stage for anyone. We were all suffering. I was glad to have Rujano there, so we agreed to work together and he would get the stage win.â€
Contador’s agile riding spelled doom for two riders who were hanging close. Kanstantsin Sitvsov (HTC-Highroad) sunk from second to sixth, now 3:53 back, while Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo) slipped from fourth to 16th at 5:29 back.
As expected, Nibali and Michele Scarponi (Lampre), now third at 3:16 back, are shaping up to be Contador’s most dangerous rivals. Contador has a much bigger lead and can use a close fight for the podium to his advantage. There’s only two minutes dividing second-place Nibali from 12th place Vasili Kiryienka (Movistar), so riders will be riding to defend their own GC interests rather than risking all in trying to attack a dominant Contador.
“What a masterpiece. We were in control throughout the whole stage and according to the original plan, Alberto only had to keep up with his opponents. But as they showed weaknesses, I asked him to launch two attacks without going too deep and in the second punch, only Rujano was able to compete and we’re very content with that,†said Saxo Bank boss Bjarne Riis. “The lead to Nibali is increased significantly and we got more from the stage than we had expected beforehand. That doesn’t mean that the race is won. There are several high mountain stages to come and we all know how you can lose minutes on a bad day in the mountains, so we need to stay focused on the job.â€
Contador, too, cautioned about counting his eggs before they’re hatched.
“Nothing is finished in this Giro. Tomorrow is another hard stage. You could have a bad day and lose 15 minutes easily,†Contador said. “I’ve felt good over the past few days. I had some doubts about attacking today, but I am glad because now I have a bigger lead.â€
Having missed their chance on Grossglockner, Contador’s GC rivals will have to try something before it’s too late. Saturday’s epic stage up Zoncolan presents an ideal testing ground. If Contador shows signs of weakness, Nibali and Scarponi must attack. Otherwise, Contador can mark the wheels and then make his own attacks late in the stage.
What would Merckx suggest now on how to crack Contador?
