If you haven't seen today's stage,I resume it to you in just one adjective: CRAZY!!!!As you may know, the stage ended in L'Aquila,where an earthquake killed 300 people last April. The stage was very hilly and yesterday Vinokourov compared it to a little Liége and said that he would have attacked.Therefore,every other Gc rider was awaiting for a move from the Kazakhistani during today's stage.But unfortunately for them,they were so focused on Vino that they let 56 (56!) riders escape the peloton and get to the finish-line with a 12 minutes advantage.Oops...
The creation of the breakaway,as always,wasn't a quiet moment.At first some riders escaped,then some other ones joined them,then other ones as well...And eventually there they were,56 Giro riders at the front.And no one between the GC riders moved a finger to avoid that dangerous breakaway.
Amadio,Liquigas ds,said he didn't order his men to pull because he didn't think it was fair."There are other teams who want to win this Giro,they must pull as well!",he said.
Astana never pulled,probably because Vino wasn't feeling well even this morning.In fact in the last part of the stage (the weather was freezing also today here in Italy) he often had a very suffering expression on his face.At a certain point,he was even shivering from the cold,and Savoldelli said that perhaps he could have come down with temperature just like his teammate Gasparotto (who got retired this morning).Temperature or not,Astana didn't pull at all.
BMC probably wanted to pull,but Evans' helpers aren't actually that strong.Acqua&Sapone ds said that he was the only one to order his men to pull and complained about the lack of information during the race."The jury told us the gap between our group and the breakaway after they had gained more than eight minutes on us!".Jury,temperature,unfairness or whatever else, the fact is that the breakaway went away and in it there were dangerous guys like Sastre,Porte,Wiggins,Arroyo and Tondo.SB was also represented by Didier and by an amazing Chris Anker Sorensen.
As mentioned,soon the breakaway had a 8 minutes advantage on the GC riders.On the last climb the gap was up to 13 minutes and in the GC group all the helpers had disappeared.So big guys like Basso,Nibali,Vino,Evans,Scarponi,Cunego and Garzelli had to spend their own energies to reduce the damages and they eventually lost 12 minutes from the breakaway riders.
The winner of the stage was a very happy Evgeny Petrov (his last success dated back to 2002).After the finish-line he dedicated his victory to his wife and screamed her something in Russian.As obvious,I didn't understand a word.Second was a disappointed (he comes from Abruzzo) Cataldo,third was Sastre. Little thing to notice about the winner: he rode to the finish-line with a t-shirt.No 'mantellina',no gloves,no scarves for Evgeny: just a t-shirt.After all,he comes from Siberia.
Richie Porte arrived 13th,more than 12 minutes before Vino and the other guys.Therefore,the young Tasmanian now has the Pink Jersey and has almost 2 minutes of advantage on Arroyo and Kiserlovski.
Imo,what happened this afternoon was ridicolous.In fact I think that you simply can't let 56 (56,not 3) riders get away from the peloton on a hilly stage and hope you'll get them all back before the finish.But,apparently,some people in the peloton had a different opinion this afternoon...Well,it doesn't matter.
Anyway,the Giro now is even more open than before.Porte has the pink jersey and behind him there are tough climbers like Tondo,Sastre and Arroyo,who I don't think will lose more than 13 minutes from guys like Vino or Basso in the hard mountain stages.Didier is 9th,while Vinokourov is 12th,with a 9 minutes delay.Porte also has the white jersey and his team has been the best one so far.
Some riders today even crossed the finish-line 45 minutes after the winner.Luckily for them,the time limit rule wasn't applied and so they'll be able to start tomorrow's stage. Apropos,tomorrow's stage will end up in Recanati and is supposed to be a calm (and hopefully sunny) one.Considering where the stage is ending,I suggest you getting ready to hear someone reading a Leopardi's poetry tomorrow afternoon as the peloton arrives in the city near 'l'ermo colle'.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/porte-in-pink-midway-through-giro :interview with Richie.
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry370870.html : yes,Chris updated his blog and talked about his amazing win once again.As well as that,he says how it's like to get confused for Nicki very very often and he also tells a funny anedocte about Bobby Julich.Here it is.
We Italians often cheer on riders by screaming "Dài,dài",which is pronounced as the English 'Die'. Now,back in his first Giro Julich heard many people yelling at him: "Dài,dài!",and he spent a whole climb wondering himself why Italian people hated him so much and trying to answer them in a proper way (said proper way,obviously,was 'F*** you').Just then Bobby found out that 'dài',actually means "Allez",and not 'die'.Well,better late than never!!
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