91st Giro d'Italia - Stage 15 Interviews

"I dont know what to say. Thank you so much to Baliani, to Perez, to the whole team. Thank you for real, boys" Emanuele Sella said.

Navigare's Fortunato Baliani said that he's pleasantly surprised by Sella's accomplishments.

More from the stage winner, whose second stellar performance in a row was jeopardized by the silly behaviour of some "fans" and "supporters", that got a bit close to the rider in the last few kilometres, and might have made him fall. It's not the first time it happens in cycling, and we think it's not the last one either, unfortunately: "

Cheers from fans are a pleasant thing, and a huge morale boost. They give me more grinta. But those fans were quite dangerous". More from the guy: "I didn't think I could react like this to all my previous misfortunes. I discovered a "new Emanuele Sella". I don't think I can make the hat-trick tomorrow though, I spent a lot over the past two stages, so it wouldn't be that strange if I paid the price of such efforts in tomorrow's ITT".

In after-stage interviews Riccardo Ricco kept whining about his ITT misfortunes: "I would be wearing the Maglia today without that fall in the ITT". He can make a point, but as the same time he seems to forget that also Alberto Contador had some problems in this sense.

Alberto Contador may have moved into the overall leadership of the race today, but he wasn't too "all smiles" after the stage. The Spaniard conceded that he's not having the best stage race in his career: "I had a hard time on the Giau, but ate something and recovered. Then my rear wheel broke in the last part of the final climb. Well, after all tomorrow is another day. But I think that Riccò is a stronger rider than myself at the moment".

Contador's team manager Alain Gallopin somehow echoed Alberto's statements: "I am more confident than I was yesterday. We held on today. We went through some hard times on the Giau, but things went fine in the end. It's not going to be easy though: Simoni, Riccò, Di Luca and Menchov are all strong and dangerous challengers to Alberto".

Gilberto Simoni's after-race smile could be a sign that he was not that exhausted at the end of such a demanding stage; "but my legs are exhausted" he admitted. Adding that "I gave it everything I could today. But this is a high-level and tight race; one may try and attack, but can' make much of a gap. I saw that Contador was struggling at some point, but he recovered well later. I am 36 but I keep fighting anyway. I did last year, so why shouldn't I do it this time again? One year can't change everything".

Danilo Di Luca conceded not being as good as he was the past year, but this doesn't mean that the gutsy man from Abruzzo is giving up the battle. Quite the opposite: "My condition is basically the same as in the year 2005. And I'll keep fighting to the end. The race will be a close one until the finish at Milano".

Sella was just great today, but so was the whole CSF Group-Navigare climbing machine. One of their least-known members is Domenico Pozzovivo, whose main after-stage words were as follows: "Both Emanuele (Sella) and I are tiny climbers, but with different ambitions. He's always hungry to get into some breakaways, and my goal is to stay in the group with the best ones and enjoy its "top of the overall" atmosphere. I'll see what I can do in the ITT tomorrow, but it's not going to be easy forme: I'm not accustomed to its gradients".

Joaquím Rodríguez
The Italian Emanuele Sella reiterated the success he already had yesterday in the 91st Giro d’Italia and won stage 15, a short one with only 153 kilometers to go, but a very hard one and considered as the queen stage of this Giro. The course presented many difficulties before the finish at the top of the Passo della Marmolada, and the bad weather made things worse.

Joaquím Rodríguez, who finished the stage at rank 13, was once more one of the heroes of the stage.

“I really feel very well”, told the rider of Caisse d’Epargne after he crossed the line. “I've had very good feelings since the start of the Giro and today, in spite of the efforts I did yesterday, I had perfectly recovered, which gave me the possibility to go one more time with the winning breakaway. But like yesterday we could do absolutely nothing when Sella attacked. He is really too strong. Anyway, I am satisfied because I was able to be ahead in both the big mountain stages and we will keep on trying to win a stage. We really deserve it!"

Team CSC
Nicely Fought by Voigt and Larsson
Jens Voigt and Gustav Larsson made their mark on Sunday's 153-kilometer queen stage of Giro d'Italia. The route went from Arabba to Passo Fedaia and the rider in the Mountain Jersey, Emanuele Sella (CSF Group) made a repeat performance and took another solo victory.

The peloton had to climb five very tough mountains and the mode was aggressive from the beginning, where among others Sella and Voigt were very active in creating a break. They succeeded on the first mountain and a group of nine was formed.

The break lasted for half the stage but on the third mountain Voigt and five of the others from the group had to let go. Behind them the peloton was also separated, when about 15-20 riders left the others behind and Voigt managed to tag along with this favorite's group all the way up the fourth mountain.

Further back was Chris Anker Sørensen and Gustav Larsson in a group with Andreas Klöden (Astana) and a few others. This group also counted about 15-20 and managed to maintain a lead of one and a half minute to the Voigt group.

Voigt was unable to keep up when the favorites took turns attacking, but behind him Gustav Larsson got across the last climb in good shape so he maintained his chances of moving back into the overall top-10.

Kim Andersen "Again we've gotta hand it Jens Voigt who had yet another great day. He's up there all the way till five kilometers before the end of the queen stage, which shows both great form and will power – very impressive. He's definitely a possible candidate for a stage win before this race is over. Gustav also fought well and I think he's in great shape still also."

"Unfortunately today was most likely the end for Chris Anker as far as the overall standings go. He had a really bad day and this was not the stage to do badly in. He's done his best and we couldn't ask for more. This year's edition of the Giro has been grueling and you pay the price if you have a couple of bad days," said Team CSC sports director Kim Andersen after the tough stage.

Stage 14 Comments Update

Team Lampre - Marzio Bruseghin
A good day for Marzio Bruseghin. In the 14th tough stage of Giro, Lampre's rider showed a very positive performance: he pedaled with the best riders on tough Manghen climb and then he began the last climb to Alpe di Pampeago at his own pace and in the last kilometers he overtook most of the opponents that approach the climb at full speed.

"My legs were hard because of the cold, I was not in a perfect condition - Bruseghin said - So, when the best riders began the last climb at full speed, I preferred to keep my own pace, it was the right decision".

Bruseghin moved into 3rd at the end of the stage. Other blue-fucsia cyclists: Smzyd was brilliant until 3 kms to go and he reached the arrival in 28th position at 11'40", Spilak was 68th at 23'28", Loosli was 73rd at 26'01", Baldato was 94th at 29'43", Gavazzi was 114th at 36'04" and Bossoni was 116th at 36'25", while Lorenzetto had to abandon after a fall in the first part of the stage. Before the start in Verona, Damiano Cunego met his team mates, encouraging them in view of the last week of Giro.

Team Caisse d'Epargne
The riders of the team Caisse d’Epargne, Joaquím Rodríguez and José Rujano, finished third and the fourth in Stage 14 after they were part of a breakaway which started at km 13 km. Another rider of the team Caisse d’Epargne, Fran Pérez, was the same break.

“The team Caisse d’Epargne showed one more time that it is really competitive and always present in the important stages”, commented Eusebio Unzúe after the stage. “With three riders in the break, we could hope to win the today stage. Fran Pérez did a great job so that Rodríguez and Rujano arrived in the best conditions at the foot of the Passo Manghen, but when Sella attacked they just could do nothing, just let him go. Since the beginning of the Giro, we try to go in the breakaways, but there is no way to win a stage. We already tried with Joaquím Rodríguez in the first stage, later with Fran Pérez and Pablo Lastras, and again today. I hope that our job will at least get a reward. We will try again till the end of the Italian race.”

Team CSC
Brilliant Stage 14 Win by Sella
The guy with the Mountain Jersey completely stole the scene during Giro d'Italia's first tough mountain stage. Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) crossed the finish line solo almost five minutes ahead of his closest pursuer after the 195 kilometers from Verona to Alpe Di Pampeago.

Jens Voigt was part of a break with 12 others – one of them Sella, when they reached the first of two very grueling mountains, Paso Manghen. During this particular climb Sella left the rest of the break behind.

Voigt fought hard to hang on but had to give in and on the final climb he was caught by the favorites, who had kept a low profile for a surprisingly long time considering the amount of attacks in the Giro so far.

The favorites were separated somewhat during the last two or three kilometers, but Team CSC had both Chris Anker Sørensen, Nicki Sørensen and Gustav Larsson among the last 20 riders in the favorite's group. However at the very end all three of them had to give in when Denis Menchov made a move and was the first from the group to finish.

Behind them Giovanni Visconti was fighting for the Pink Jersey but had to let go in the end and Gabriele Bosisio (Team LPR) took it instead.

D.S. Kim Anderson commented, "Jens was up front for a long time and showed great strength and generally speaking I definitely think our effort today was good. The climb towards the finish line was extremely steep and Gustav fell a bit short. There's no doubt he's better on the long less steep climbs. Chris and Nicki did well also until Menchov split the favorite's group and when the pace increased they couldn't keep up. It's been a tremendously tough race so far and it's no wonder all the riders are feeling a bit worn out now."

Tinkoff Credit Systems
Vasil Kiryenka's Stellar Performance Atop Alpe di Pampeago
Stage 14 of the 91st edition of the Giro d'Italia marked the beginning of the mountains for the peloton, the stage took shape a mere 10km into the stage with a large breakaway of thirteen riders which included Tinkoff's Vasil Kiryenka. The Belarussian would cross the finish line in second place 4'38" behind Emanuele Sella (Csf-Navigare).

Sports Director Orlando Maini said of the stage, " the team unbelievably thrilled at the outstanding performance today of Kiryenka. The stage was extremely difficult and very important for the general classification, and from the very outset of the Giro, we stressed to our riders to be attentive at opportunities to escape, even if the distance was a sizeable one from the finish. Kiryenka rode beautifully and cleverly to finish second."

www.dailypeloton.com / www.marca.com

91st Giro d'Italia - Stage 14 Live

Stage 14 Verona - Alpe de Pampeago/Val di Fiemme 195 km
1553 CEST - Emmanuele Sella's gap on the bunch is down to 5.50 Will Sella's move bear fruit? The Manghen summits is still over 14 kilometres away. One more "The Salbaneo" showed that he just can't wait. Perhaps the other fugitives, who quickly lost a minute to the peloton, were going too slow for him.
He is riding a great rhythm though. The pack was beginning to gain time, so if he wants the mountain points, this was the time to go.Danilo Di Luca is losing some teammates on the Manghen slopes. The Astanas are having less problems than the LPR guys in following the tempo set by Gibo's royal lieutenants.Bertolini doing an impressive job in the pack today.

Overall leader Giovanni Visconti is not having a hard time either. Paolo Bettini is not around to help him today, but another classy riders such as Juanma "the Iron Man from Irun" is. Vincenzo Nibali follow the wheels of Liquigas' co-leader Franco Pellizotti. Sella has created a solid gap on the rest of the breakaway. Sella has 12 seconds on Golcer and 30 seconds on the others of the former break The pack is still about 60 riders strong so the pace isn't that high

45 km to go - The Gruppeto is beginning to form, as Bennatti falls of, and fights back on. 13 degrees celsius (54 F) and 83% humidity on today's stage. Sella has 35 seconds on Golcer and Rodriguez, 50 seconds on the others, more than 1.00 on the World Champion Bettini and the bunch at more than 6.00

Alessandro Bertolini, stage winner a few days ago, Gabriele Missaglia and Venezuela's Juan Carlos Ochoa, all three guys working for Gibo, set the pace back in the peloton.Astana lost just one man so far on the Manghen: Vladimir Gusev. Just look at how the peloton is stretched out. Good job from Bertolini, who seems to have been at the front forever now, and having said that, now Bertolini finally drops off the front.

Riders are beginning to struggle now as the pressure finally starts to show. Maxim Iglinskiy was dropped by the "Rujano group". The Kazakh apparently sat down and kept waiting for the peloton with Contador, Kloeden and Leipheimer. He might well be of help to his three team leaders. Zabel and Bennatti dropped.

The peloton's gap to Sella stays around 07'20". The maglia rosa is currently third wheel in the bunch. Sella has now 7.23 on the bunch. But the Diquigiovanni tempo machine are steadily lifting the pace. Strong riding from Sella; he'll definitely pick up the points for the jersey today.

Andreas Kloeden looks in good shape as he keeps sitting in fourth wheel. Riccardo Riccò is some 20 places behind. The bunch is really getting thinner, the Maglia Rosa off the back, Giovanni Visconti struggles to stay with them. In the bunch it's Possoni who attacks!

1610 CEST - Sella getting a lot of bottles from the team car. Seems unlikely he has drunk the last one, so perhaps he is getting worn out. Possoni, the young climbing prospect from Bergamo (and from the High Road team) was picked by many pundits as one of the most likely surprises of this year's Giro; and he's starting to show off in his favourite kind of battlefield.

Sella went under the 40k to go banner. The top of the climb is just half a dozen kilometres away. Ochoa the last of Simoni's helpers comes to the front. Who will be the first to open up the fireworks? Visconti has three helpers with him, as he tries to limit today's gap. It will be an extremely tough day. Visconti has Tonti, Garate and Seeldrayers accompanying him.

1615 CEST - The current GC leader is putting in a good defense of the Maglia Rosa. He has lost just half a minute to the 36-strong group with all main overall contenders. And the aformentioned domestiques are helping him make up for such deficit. Serpa has a mechanical. The Colombian, one of Gibo's strongest lieutenants, punctured.

1617 CEST - Sella has 8'15" to the favorites now; he looks like a good candidate for the win today; without accidents he should do it. It's incredible how invisible Simoni has managed to be so far in this race; even today when his team has been laying all the pressure. One is not surprised that the other riders are worrying about Simoni.

The first chasers on Sella are 2.00 down, meanwhile, Sella is 3 km from the KOM. Unlike Gibo, Emanuele Sella is being anything but invisible today: "Il Salbaneo", away over the last 140 kilometres, extended his advantage over the "main peloton" to over eight minutes. The pace has really dropped off in the front group. Dropped off being an understatement, of course; only about thirty riders left.

The "Visconti Group" trails them by just 50 seconds. The group with all best ones is 08'10" behind Sella. Visconti is doing well; if he doesn't crash and burn on the final mountain, he will defend the jersey for yet another day. Pfannberger looks as if he is toast, and drops off the favorite group.

1625 CEST - Gap update: Sella leads his closest chasers by 02'06". The group with all top GC men stays 08'40" behind at the latest check. And the Gruppo Maglia Rosa is a further 40" back. The Maglia Rosa is 9.40 down on Sella. 1.00 behind the gruppo with favorites

35 km to go - 1 km to the top of the Passo Manghen. Dog on the road in front of Sella. Some spectators are just idiots. The group is no more as stretched as it used to be a few minutes ago. A clear sign of their lower speed. Another sign is the new gap update: 09'30". Sella is on top of the Manghen and takes more points for the KOM jersey. He is also on his way to make his day more sunnier with a stage win.

1632 CEST - The question then, is how much of himself did he leave on the slopes of Manghen. If the big riders start moving on the final mountain, he could have trouble. We expected more race action or are they saving energy for tomorrows queens stage and the ITT to the Plan de Corones.

Sella is doing some epic riding, isn't he? It's not over until it's over, we know, but his chances to make it to the finish are growing exponentially. Surely, Simoni must move today, given how hard his team is working. Visconti is doing fine too. He lost just a further 15 seconds to the Contador/Simoni/Ricco group over the past few miles, taking his deficit up to only 01'05".

Steve Chainel won the 4th stage in the Circuit de Lorraine. Jonathan Hivert of Credit Agricole remains in the lead. Stay tuned on Daily peloton for a round-up of that race this weekend.

Kiryienka and Rodriguez are the nearest chasers on Sella at 2.40. Nasty, narrow descent today. So thankful that there is no rain today. Di Luca is really watching the Astana duo Kloden and the Accountant.

1647 CEST - José Rujano came in fourth at 03'00", over the summit, with Jure Golcer in fifth place 03'40" behind the solo leader. Ochoa has fallen off, and Vandenbroeck is now leading the "peloton". Vandenbroeck has had a great Giro thus far. The same Golcer fell in the first part of the descent, apparently with no serious consequences thankfully.

Less than 30K for Sella. Over 35k for the "Gruppo". It wasn't Jason McCartney but Slipstream's Jonathan Patrick Mc Carty who abandoned earlier in the stage. Savoldelli is preparing himself for the descent and has put on his vest. Will El Falco strike on the dangerous descent? The group of favorites is led by a horned streaker with only his underwear on as he jogs ahead of the riders and the snow covered slopes.

It's an advantage for Visconti that the favorites didn't attack on the Manghen; the bunch is on top of the climb at about 11.00 down on Sella. Definitely. Visconti is on another good day, it looks like. The gruppo Visconti is on top at 12.45 from Sella. That's about 1.45 behind the Ricco/Di Luca/Simoni/Contador group. Sella's lead ballooned in an impressive way.Barring a catastrophe, Emanuele Sella is going to win today...

1647 CEST - 20 km to go, Sella has 10 minutes on the favorites and 2'30" on the chasers; it's difficult to see how such an experienced rider could mess this one up. In 12 km Sella starts the final climb up to Alpe di Pampeago. Sella's gap on Kiryienka and Rodriguez is down to 1.55. Two LPR riders in front... looks like Bosisio in first place.

In Olympia Tour the penultimate stage was won by Lars Boom. He also extends his lead in the GC. Tomorrow the queens stage through the hills here in the netherlands.

15 km to go - Sella is still riding hard in the front. Impressive. 2'32" between Contador and the pink jersey. Visconti will need to battle for his jersey if he is to keep it. Bosisio is also in with a good chance. The rest of the break that was with Sella are about 2 minutes back from Sella.

www.dailypeloton.com

91st Giro d'Italia - Stage 12 Live

91st Giro d'Italia - Stage 12 Live Coverage Part 2
30 km to go, Dionisio Galparsoro is about to be caught after 145 kilometers on the escape... now the sprinters teams come to the front for their assault on the Carpi finish line.

Stage 12 Forlì - Carpi 172 km
1646 CEST - Gap update: Dionisio Galparsoro's advantage was down to some 100 seconds with some 30k remaining. He has been away for 145 kilometres, but still has legs good enough to keep riding at 41 kph. Too bad that the bunch is flying at about 48 kph!! "

1652 CEST - The gap hovers around the minute as Galparsoro winds through the streets of downtown Modena. It seems the rain can't be stopped now. The peloton came into town too. They are currently tackling a cobbled section. Tonti, Visconti, Bettini and other Quick Step guys are on the front.

1659 CEST - 20 km to go, Good news on the weather side of the matter: things are taking a turn for the better: it stopped raining as the Giro got out of Modena. And it isn't raining over the line either. The finish is technical and features everyone's favorite...cobbles!! Dionisio hasn't given up the fight yet with his gap falling to 40 seconds and back up to a minute as the peloton strings out toying with the optimistic rider in orange.

Bad news on the breakaway side of the matter: Galparsoro had his lead further reduced to 45 seconds with about 18 km remaining. The peloton will be happy to close the gap in the final 10 km. The roads look dry as we head to the finish and the riders have discarded their rain gear.

A few minutes ago High Road's (as in Mark Cavendish's) DS Valerio Piva talked of today's finish: "Bennati definitely proved that he's the best sprinter around now; but today's finish is more appropriate for those with some good knowledge of track cycling too, like Cavendish and McEwen".

1707 CEST - OOPPSSS, here comes the pile-up of the day!! Some riders, near the front of the field, fell. Amongst them Lampre's Lorenzetto and CSF's recent stage winner Matteo Priamo. Nibali from Liquigas was caught up in the carnage; but the white jersey wearer got back in the saddle. yes.. It looks like Mirko Lorenzetto took the biggest hit.. he is still on the blacktop, now he is up trying to ride.

Showing some fair-play the peloton slowed the pace down. Lorenzetto soldiering on looks to be in agony however. Erik Zabel apparently was among those involved too. But, unlike his Italian teammate, "Ete" did not suffer any serious consequences. Mickael Buffaz and Tony Martin also fell, but were back on the bike soon. Lorenzetto is currently riding too.

Erik Zabel lost some time to the peloton, but no Milram riders stopped to wait for him! Apparently Liquigas' Charly Wegelius also fell too. The Brit is trying to make his way back into the field, and so are many others. AT LAST! Marco Velo finally slowed down and waited for Zabel. The Italian is now pacing the German.

1714 CEST - Barloworld are moving up.. perhaps it is time for the former Italian Champion, Enrico Gaparotto to give the sprint a go today. The one who "benefited" the most from such misfortunes was obviously Galparosoro, still away as the bunch goes through Soliera town, about 8k from the finish.

1715 CEST - 7.5 km to go, More teammates helping Zabel now. Ete hasn't made contact with the "gruppo" yet. He will, sooner or later, but might well pay for such effort in the sprint.

1718 CEST - 6 km to go. The peloton is now being driven by the High Road guys. And High Road's High Pace is making things harder for poor Zabel.

3.5K to go. Ete finally managed to get to the back of the field. But it will take more efforts for him to make it to the FRONT. Which is what he has to do! Cavendish is neatly tucked in the High Road train.

1721 CEST - 3 km to go. The race time has been neutralized. And escapee Dionisio Galparsoro finally caught.

1.7k to go. They are flying! Zabel is nowhere near the front of the strung-out field. But Bennati, Bettini, McEwen are there!

1723 CEST - ULTIMO CHILOMETRO: 1 km to go. Wiggins is pacing Cavendish. Bennati hasn't got any teammates around.

Cavendish left in the wind too soon. Ongarato attacks! 400m to go... Here comes Robbie. And Bennati follows ... here's the sprint... Cavendish is there too! Its a two-man things: Bennati vs. Cavendish! WHAT A FINISH: DAMN CLOSE!

Sure it was either Daniele Bennati or Mark Cavendish. The Italian sprinter is uncertain about his victory too "I don't know. I can't tell"

1726 CEST - here come the news: the winner is .... DANIELE BENNATI!

DANIEEEEEELEEE BENNNAAAAATTTIIIIIII Wins!!!

The Photo finish spoke in favour of the Italian, that notched up his third victory. Cavendish 2nd, McEwen 3rd. Koldo Fernandez in 4th. Paolo Bettini snatched 5th and Germany's Robert Forster was 6th. Daniele Bennati managed to hold off the oncoming Brit by a just couple centimetres or so so.

Benna had the early lead with Cavendish coming on the outside in a burst of speed catching Bennati at the finish line as both threw their bikes at the line. Amazing that Bennati held him off as Cav flew by with a much higher speed over the line.

After finish interviews:

Daniele Bennati: "I've finished Vueltas and Tours already, so I want to make it to Milano this time. I know that tomorrow's stage and the one into Locarno will provide me with some more chances to win, and there's the Varese stage too; with fewer riders in the teams during the last week it's gonna be difficult for us to keep the race under control (and chase down breakaways), but I'll give it a go also in the Varese stage ...".

Giovanni Visconti: "With the Euskaltel guy on a solo breakaway basically all day long, today was a quiet day. Late in the stage we (as in "Quickstep") moved to the front and kept riding tempo; our goal was to avoid potential risks, wet roads are always dangerous, you know. I fell yesterday, but the pain was not that annoying at the end of the stage today, still, I know for sure that it will be hurting again tomorrow. But what matters to me now is that I still have the jersey ".

Andreas Kloden talked again of his (in)famous interview to the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. The interview that got CSF-Navigare's boss Bruno Reverberi so upset, as the German reportedly accused "Priamo's team" (aka CSF-Navigare) of having poorer and less serious anti-doping policies than his own team Astana, CSC, High Road and Slipstream. Today Kloeden said that he was misunderstood, perhaps because the true meaning of his words got lost in translation. Commenting, that all he wanted was that all teams would undergo as many tests as Astana, Slipstream, High Road and Team CSC are currently doing (he added that he has done 24 tests so far this year, but this is no problem to him). AND said that he didn't name any names at all in the (in)famous interview.

Claudio Gregori, the Gazzetta dello Sport journalist that interviewed Kloeden, was at the Italian TV after-race talk show, and confirmed that Kloeden DID name names. But not with the intention to be offensive to anyone: the Astana rider was just expressing the hope that all those teams he NAMED might undergo the same amount of tests as Astana, High Road etc, etc.. Well, that was Gregori's version of Kloden's words at least.

Tomorrow's stage 13 travels 177 kilometers from Modena to Cittadella and surprisingly flatter than today's stage and another day for the sprinters to test Daniele Bennati's legs and determination. And perhaps try to keep the ciclamino wearing rider from adding another stage victory to his collection. So pick your favorite and cheer him on.

Thanks for joining us for today's live coverage. Join us tomorrow for Stage 13 for the sprinters duel... assuming some fast legs can make an opportunity to "cheat" the sprinters with a break away and beat them to Citadella first.

www.dailypeloton.com

Urbino crowns Bruseghin

Bruseghin wins the tenth stage, a 39 km time trial, 8 seconds ahead of the Spaniard Alberto Contador. The Italian from the Quick Step team holds on to the leading position in the general classification.

Marzio Bruseghin has won the tenth stage of the Giro d’Italia, a 39.4 kilometre individual time trial from Pesaro to Urbino, in which the cyclists were forced to race in the rain in some parts. The Italian from Lampre-Fondital, 33 years old, finished with a time of 56:41, and an average speed of 41.705 km/h. Second, 8 seconds behind Bruseghin, was the winner of the Tour de France 2007, the Spaniard Alberto Contador (Astana). Third, 20 seconds behind, was today’s favourite to win, the German Andreas Kloden (Astana). Fourth was Marco Pinotti (High Road), the speciality Italian champion: he finished 36 seconds behind Bruseghin.
THE OTHER STARS – Fifth place for Paolo Savoldelli (LPR), 44 seconds behind. On the final slope, the ”Falcon” had a technical problem (his chain was caught in the pedal) and had to change bikes, losing some time. Menchov finished 6th, 46 seconds behind, but 8 seconds ahead of Nibali, who, in any case, made a good effort, better than his team-mate Pellizotti. Gilberto Simoni had an excellent time trial: a time of 57:43, just 1 second worse than the American Leipheimer. Danilo Di Luca’s performance was disappointing: a time of 58:52, 2:03 behind Contador and 7 seconds worse than Riccardo Riccò, who lost at least 15-20 seconds due to a fall 18 km from the start.
THE NEW CLASSIFICATION – Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) held on to the pink jersey, gaining significantly on the German Russ (Gerolsteiner), who this morning was 34 seconds behind Visconti, and riding, on the whole, an excellent race. The Sicilian stopped the clock at 57:46, the 12th overall time. The new classification is as follows: Visconti has 3:31 on Russ, 5:50 on Bosisio, 6:59 on Contador, and 7:52 on Bruseghin. Kloden is sixth at 7:54, Nibali seventh at 8:04, Savoldelli eighth at 8:09. Riccò is ninth at 8:32, and Di Luca tenth at 8:33
MOVING AHEAD – Wednesday, the Giro continues with the 11th stage: Urbania-Cesena, 199 kilometres over the Apennines, practically without any flatland. There are three King of the Mountain stages: San Marino, Monte Carpegna (category one) and Sorrisoli, which is 25 kilometres from the finish line.


www.gazzetta.it

Big Bennati

Daniele Bennati has won the esprint the ninth stage of the Draft d'Italia, of Civitavecchia to San Vincenzo, 218 km. The toscano of the Liquigas, 27 years, has done the bis after Milazzo's victory burning Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), which was mending. In the podium also there were Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) and the German Erik Zabel (Milram). Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) preserves the maillot rose and in the general classification there have no been variations of relief.

THE CHRONICLE - Of Civitavecchia 181 went out. Krivtsov's immediate leak, Buffaz reaches it and the two puts in agreement for the elopement. The average is kept on the 38 per hour while the squad(gang) leaves them to do: in Castiglione della Pescaia's zone, after 130 km of career, the delay is of more 8 '. To them less(fewer) 30 Filippo Savini's fall (Csf), which ended in a pit: the corridor tries to continue, but it(he) is bound to rise to the ambulance. To them fewer 15 It(He,She) Seals, that it(he,she) had attacked in the last one espirnt of San Carlo with Bettini and surprisingly with Ricc ò (getting up almost immediately), it(he,she) goes away with the attackers and it(he,she) tries against foot, without achieving it. But the squad(gang) closes and the fraction is directed towards the foreseen epilogue to the esprint.

Translator : http://traductor.ya.com/translator.asp / Photo: http://www.gazzetta.it

Giro d'Italia - Stage 7 Interviews Roundup

Below are comments from some of the main characters in Friday's Giro d'Italia hilly stage.

First of all, Gabriele Bosisio, today's surprise stage winner. The young gun from the outskirts of Milan - but resident of a small town near Como in the north of Lombardy - dismissed rumours (if there was any) that he may have upset Di Luca by going for some personal glory instead of helping il capitano: "According to our stage plans I should make it into the breakaway of the day and that is what I did. In case Di Luca was going to attack in the last climb, I would have stopped and waited for him, but as Danilo was too distant (from the front group) we decided that I could try and win the stage. I won, and Danilo had a good result anyway, for he dropped some of his rivals. It couldn't have been any better".

The other side of today's stage was Emanuele Sella, literally in despair after the victory hopes he harboured throughout the day evaporated because he had a flat at the wrong time, only seven kilometres from the finish. He just couldn't hide his disappointment - to say the least - in front of the Italian TV cameras, and when he stopped repeating "nothing goes right, nothing goes right" he explained that "I have never been able to win again at the Giro since my first time back in 2004, I even thought I was never going to win again, but today it was looking like I could make it at last. After staying clear for 180 kilometres I was beginning to hope for victory, I knew that my legs were good, and I was confident that I could be a match to Bosisio. Instead, the unexpected happened". The green jersey he held on to, even taking his advantage up to impressive heights, meant a very small amount of solace, as it was overwhelmed by frustration, but nevertheless he promised that he'll do everything he can to maintain the KOM leadership until the Milan podium; and once his understandable disappointment abated, Sella and Bosisio even traded compliments: "I know him, I know how strong he is, and I know that he's definitely going to have other chances in this race", the stage winner said of his colleague. "He (Bosisio) got a well-deserved stage victory today" was Sella's response.

Team LPR's Danilo Di Luca failed to deliver in front of his home tifosi, but wasn't sounding too embittered after the stage: "Piepoli and Riccò are very strong. Regardless of what someone was saying, Contador is not here on holiday, but I didn't understand his tactics. He never helped us, perhaps because he was waiting for Kloeden, or maybe he was just a little exhausted, I don't know. I attacked 2.5 kilometres from the top of the (penultimate) hill and closed down on Piepoli, who forced the pace again, bringing also Riccò and Alberto with him. It was too late for me to win the stage, but we had "Boss" (Bosisio) in front ... and he really was the boss today; plus some of my rivals got dropped and lost important seconds, so I'm just happy with the way things were".

The solid performance by Alberto Contador, as well as the Spaniard's attitude, had some impact on the Saunier Duval duo Piepoli-Riccò, or at least that's what one may gather from their after stage comments. Leonardo Piepoli joked about it "I know him, and I have never believed that he came to the Giro just to train. I think he will be a protagonist in this race. If being on holiday by the sea before a Grand Tour makes one so strong, I think I'll go on holiday myself right before the Vuelta ...". The Flying Trullo added - about today's stage - that "we planned to give it a try, and we did. We couldn't open much of a gap, but managed to take a few precious seconds out of some dangerous rivals. Hope this will prove useful GC-wise".

Comments from Riccardo Riccó were less funny, but more harsh on Contador: "Things didn't go as we hoped for, but we can be satisfied, also because now we know the Giro's hierarchy better. We know that Contador, who has been telling us all the time that he wasn't in good shape, has been telling us lies all the time. He must have been on holiday by the sea, yes ... by the Madrid sea, preparing for this race. Someone really on holiday until ten days from the start cannot go so fast like he did today. I'm sorry that he didn't cooperate with us. At some point Piepoli and I got upset at him, because we wanted him to help, but he was unmoved, and refused. We didn't appreciate that. Well, besides that there was a nice duel between me and Di Luca. This stage bolstered my confidence however, also because unlike other riders I can rely on a team mate like Piepoli, that proved decisive also today. To have him on my side in the next mountain stages will be crucial".

And what did Señor Contador say in his defence? "I almost reached my limits today. Riccó, Di Luca and Piepoli were going very fast, but the truth is that I didn't think I could reach such level". In his defence, we might also add that, with hierarchy inside Astana arguably not established yet, a more cooperative attitude towards two GC rivals of the TdF winner himself, but also of teammates and fellow overall contenders Kloeden and Leipheimer, could have been potentially self-damaging.

Giovanni Visconti maintained the jersey despite the tricky uphill finish. He must say a big "thank you" to out-of-ordinary domestique Paolo Bettini for that. It doesn't happen every day to have a two-time World Champion riding hard to pace you back into the field, and the young gun from Palermo sounded well aware of that: "Well, it's not the first time that he helps me. People may think that a World Champion would never do that, but Paolo is a true gentleman and he helped me, just like the whole team did. That was impressive. So in the end I could close the gap (when I get dropped) and even put some time into the second-placed rider overall. I hope this may prove to be an important thing".

www.dailypeloton.com

52nd Vuelta a Asturias - Stage 2B

Samuel Sánchez of Euskaltel-Euskadi won the 17-kilometre ITT from Nueva town to Llanes Sunday afternoon. The Spaniard covered the route in a winning time of 19 minutes 51 seconds, averaging close to 52 kph. Andrei Kunitski (Blr - Acqua & Sapone-Caffé Mokambo) took the runner-up spot at 07" and was the only rider capable to ride faster than Sánchez in the last portion of the parcours. Worthy of mention was also the solid performance of Cristopher Froome, fifth place getter against the clock.

But the "battle for yellow" had Angel Vicioso as winner this time: the LA Aluminios-MSS rider took fourth in the stage, losing just 25" to the first place finisher, but notably gaining 35 seconds on Stefano Garzelli, who at his turn dropped to spot number four on GC. Such that all podium places currently belong to members of the same Portugual-based squad: Vicioso leads his teammate Xavier Tondo by 28" with Tino Zaballa in third at 33" - and Garzelli as "best of the rest" a further two seconds down.

The race resumes Monday with the third and easiest - on paper at least - stage, from Llanes to Avilés over 168 kilometres, with the Robellada, coming after 33 kilometres, as the only categorised climb of the day.

www.dailypeloton.com / www.marca.com

Cavendish Wins Prologue in Romandie

British High Road fast man, Mark Cavendish, soared to a convincing victory in the opening prologue of the Tour of Romandie on Tuesday evening. The Manxman tore round the 1.9 kilometre prologue in Geneva, Switzerland to take his fourth road win of the season ahead of Italian Daniele Bennati and Swiss rider Michael Albasini. High Road team-mate Bradley Wiggins placed fifth.

"It was the perfect distance for me, if it had been longer it would have been more Bradley's type of time trial." Cavendish, who averaged a jawdropping 56.425kmh for the prologue, said afterwards.

"I went all out from the start, when it's that short there wasn?t much point in doing anything else, with it being hardly two kilometers it's just like a sprint. I was just hoping I could maintain that speed all the way through right to the end. The wind was very strong on the return part. Like a wall! That meant the last 500 metres were really tough though, I had gone in so deep that I thought I might crash. I'm very pleased with this result. I know I've got good form and it's a good sign for the races I've got coming up like the Tour of Italy."

"We didn't bother using references to other riders times during the prologue because it was such a short distance. It was just a question of going as fast as possible and seeing what happened." added directeur sportif Tristan Hoffman. "The course was perfect for Mark - urban, flat, and not too technical, just a few minor corners so he could use all his power. The weather was ideal for the top guys as well - warm and dry."

Although most of his professional wins have come in sprints, Cavendish's Swiss victory is not the first in a time trial prologue - last year he won the opening race against the clock in the Tour of Britain.

www.britishcycling.org.uk