Crostis climb cut out of the Giro, as Rujano gets the Grossglockner stage

'I'm the third best climber of the world'. This sentence, said by a little man from Venezuela who had been lost in the thickest haze of the cycling world for almost 5 years, at the beginning of 2010 caused many big laughs amongst sport experts, supporters (me included) and other people. But still, José Rujano has always believed in himself and in that sentence.
'You think you're stronger than Joaquim Rodriguez? Stronger than Carlos Sastre? Stronger than Igor Anton? Stronger than Frank Schleck, Ivan Basso and Danilo Di Luca? Who do you think you are?!?', many people asked José. And today, the 29 year-old (third in Giro 2005) finally showed who he think he is.

The Grossglockner (sorry, but my computer doesn't know what a 'scharfes s' is) is the highest mountain of Austria. From its top you can see very far and, perhaps, you can even see Italy. Italy with its climbs and with its cities. And I'm sure that Alberto Contador clearly saw an image of himself wearing a pink jersey in Milan right after crossing the finish-line.
The Giro had arrived on the Grossglockner already in 1971. On that day the glory went to Pierfranco Vianelli, whereas the final Maglia Rosa wearer in that Giro was the Swedish rider Gosta Petterson. That year the pink jersey celebrated its 40 birthday, this year it celebrates its 70th.
The pink jersey (whose colour derives from the colour of the paper on which the Gazzetta dello Sport has been printed every day for many decades) has always been the 'fémme fatale' of cycling. As if it was a woman, the Italians call her 'she'; As if she was a true 'fatal woman', this jersey has been desired by many men, even after that she abandoned them. She has betrayed many lovers, she has created them illusions, she has made them cried. But at the same time, she has made some of them laugh of joy, she has made them famous, she has made them rich and envied. Yesterday, she even made some men rent a private airplane in order to be able to get a short close meeting with her.

As Contador pointed out yesterday, rest is very important in this Giro. And in order not to lose useful rest time in the hotel, yesterday Scarponi, Niemiec and Marzoli rented a private jet that brought them to Spilimbergo. On the other hand, Nibali opted for a less expensive helicopter, whereas Contador didn't bother about arriving to Spilimbergo in a team car.
Today's stage was the third one of an amazing 'triplete'. Tomorrow in fact the riders will face Crostis and Zoncolan one after the other, whereas on Sunday they'll face 'the toughest stage ever' towards Gardeccia. Apropos: in two days time, be ready to spotting a half-naked supporter wearing a pair of cow horns. He's always on Passo Giau so, when you see him, don't say I hadn't advised.
Because of the demanding next stages of the Giro, many sprinters decided to abandon the Corsa Rosa this morning. More precisely, these men were Renshaw, Petacchi, Belletti, Cavendish, Hondo and Ventoso. During the stage instead there were the retires of Kohler, Modolo, Ciolek and Appollonio (who had promised he would have tried to reach Milan). Chicchi, on the other hand, remained in the race, although he admitted that he received a little help from his team car on Etna.
In spite of the hard climb waiting for them at the end of the race, many riders decided to go on a breakaway this afternoon. They were Cayetano Sarmiento (last rider to get caught on the final climb of the day) Pieter Weening (penultimate rider to get caught), Pablo Lastras (who tried breaking free from the little group of riders every time they approached a descent), Branislau Samoilau, Rafael Valls, Alberto Losada, Angel Vicioso, Craig Lewis, Lars Petter Nordhaug (he enjoys breakaways!), Andrea Noé (42 year-old, chapeau!), Johnny Hoogerland (chorus of *yays!* coming from the Dutch supporters), Rinaldo Nocentini, Kristof Vandewalle (who keeps on racing in spite of his facial injuries, chapeau also to him!), Cameron Meyer and Alessandro Spezialetti. Astana's Robert Kiserlovski (one of my favourite GC riders) remained with those guys until they reached the '40 kms to go' mark. At that point he said 'fare thee well' to his companions (apropos, what's the Croatian for 'Adieu'?) and went on a lonely escape. His attack was neutralised with about 12 kms to go.
In the meanwhile, the peloton was lead by Euskaltel guys. Contador had said he was going to create himself some friends in the peloton in order to win this Giro - and Euskaltel really seems a good friend. In fact, the Basque riders pulled almost for the whole stage, in order to help Igor Anton. Eventually, their work benefited Alberto more than everyone else.
The riders began the climb towards Grossglockner with 15 kms to go. I went to Grossglockner in 2002 and I have great memories of that place (and of that holiday in general). There in fact I saw a marmot, I walked on the glacier (it was July and I was completely shocked by that fact), I discovered how 'burnt car brakes' smell like, watched my dad paying 29 euros (29 euros!! 58 mila lire!!!) just because he wanted to drive his car up to a mountain (at the time I was 10 and I found this pretty strange) and then, in the end, I also went to the little zoo at the bottom of the climb, where I could see some wolves.
Anyway. I'm digressing. With 8 kms to go, Rujano (1.62 meters of height, 48 kgs of weight) attacked. He was followed by Scarponi and by Contador, so he was forced to attack again. Then it was Contador's time to attack. Once again, the only one who could follow the Spaniard was the short man from Venezuela, who this time even gave him some turns at the front.
In the meanwhile, the other GC riders were going up the climb with an apparently slow pace. They didn't organise a serious chase and, when Masciarelli came back on their group, Kreuziger made him pull once again. When Francesco got dropped, no one chased anymore.
With about 3 kms to go, AG2R's Dupont and Gadret both attacked, followed by Anton. In spite of this, they couldn't bridge up to the dynamic duo formed by Rujano and Contador, sorry, 'Terminador', who ended the race with 1'36" of advantage on Kreuziger, Scarponi, Menchov, Nibali, Kiryenka and Arroyo. 13th was a great Kruijswijk, whereas 17th was Sivtsov and 18th Niemiec (love that man!!).
Contador let the victory to José (thus making himself new friends inside the peloton), who couldn't believe his eyes when he won.

CROSTIS UPDATE (added after reading the latest news regarding Crostis):
After the stage, Nibali sounded really depressed. 'Contador is stronger than us, we can't do nothing about it'. Also the journalists said that: 'the Giro is over because Contador is way too strong'. On the other hand, Scarponi admitted 'having tried everything I could'. Talking about Michele, I think he's paying the fact that he was in a super form already in March (just think about his amazing Sanremo!).
Actually, until a few moments ago I thought that Contador still could be defeated in this Giro. Experts in fact said that Nibali could have gained about 2' advantage on tomorrow's descent of Crostis, whereas Contador really feared that downhill road. Unfortunately, right now I've discovered that the riders won't face the Crostis tomorrow. Apparently, the main problem is that the team cars wouldn't have been able to follow the riders down that descent. Some ds were against this fact, whereas almost all the ds whose riders are racing against Contador (Savio, Damiani, Amadio) were in favour of it. Unfortunately for them (and for the supporters who are already in the Crostis area, perhaps without Internet connection), the UCI has decided to cancel the downhill. My 50 cent about this decision? Well, it's very simple: the riders, UCI and the ds knew about the Crostis descent since November. Why do the UCI commisaries decide to take it away from the Giro just now, less than 15 hours before the beginning of tomorrow's stage? I agree with the decision itself, but the way it has been taken really freaks me out.
Just think about the supporters who are already on the Crostis with their campers/roulottes. They'll wake up tomorrow morning at 9 am to find out that the race won't ride in front of them. How nice! And think also about those who have already gone to bed and will wake up tomorrow at 5 to get on Crostis before the police closes the roads for the cars. Are UCI guys going to tell these people directly about their decisions? Or will the supporters find out about it tomorrow morning, when it will already be too late to go up Zoncolan?
Moreover, I understand that safety is a priority for cyclists and I do believe that Zomegnan dared a bit too much with this this year parcours (I said that already a long time ago). However, I think it's interesting to notice that the UCI commissaries decided to cut Crostis from the parcours not because of safety reasons, but because the team cars couldn't have directed the riders properly during the descent and on the climb. Now, aren't the UCI guys the same people who want to ban radios?!? Shouldn't they pay more attention to leaked suspicious list and to the support of the credibility of cycling rather than doing these last minute things?
Really, in this moment I'm very upset and I really do understand the anger of the Giro organisers. Mauro Vegni in fact said: "The route of tomorrow's stage was discussed and okayed by the riders in Catania before the transfer on Sunday (...). We didn't hear any objections from the riders or teams today but we understand that they complained to the UCI judges". Wonderful behaviour, congratulations guys! Now, are those ds/riders going to take their own responsibility for this thing or will their names remain unknown forever and ever?
I didn't like the Crostis descent, but the way they cut it out of the Giro is ridiculous. Whereas I agree with the decision itself, I really do believe it could have been taken in another, better way.
And then, think about the morale of a guy like Nibali: he was sure he would have been able to attack on Crostis descent, now he's found out he won't even face it. Shocking!!!
Really, now it looks like the furunculus on Contador's gluteus is the only thing in which his adversaries must trust in order to defeat him in this Giro (ok, I'm exaggerating; but still, these last minute decisions really do freak me out).

Luckily, the Giro is still long and Contador is human. Have a good night and let's get ready for the Zoncolan tomorrow!

TOC (SHORT AND IMPARTIAL) UPDATE:
1. Figbash points out the crash that Denifl had the other day (or night?): http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/gallery/casey-b-gibson-photos-from-stage-5-of-the-2011-amgen-tour-of-california_174618/attachment/amgen-tour-of-california-stage-5-15 . Ouch!!
2. Another bad news for Leopard Trek: Jens Voigt broke his scaphoid bone and will have to undergo an operation. I wish him a fast recovery!!

(Pic by Bettini: Rujano couldn't believe he was actually winning the stage, he kept on looking at what Contador was doing behind him!!!)