‘Tutti per Vincenzo’ said the Gazzetta, on Sunday. ‘All for Vincenzo’ – but that little blighter from Madrid put paid to that.
We got the benefit from the mad breenge after Saturday’s stage – the Messina start was just five minutes from the hotel and it gave us time to have a wee skek at the porto, before the start.
The city has been flattened a couple of times, the presence of Etna just up the road means that this a highly unstable part of the earth’s surface – but most recently it was man, not nature who did the damage; the city was flattened by Allied bombing during World War Two.
It’s a bit shabby – as most ferry ports are but the cathedral and adjacent astrological clock tower are spectacular.
The suburbs are grey and dusty as are the coastal villages for kilometre after kilometre; but just where the percorso turned inland the villages were tidier and more affluent.
Etna dominates all – it’s a ‘massif’ rather a single cone, with ridges and several active craters.
There are several ‘mini cones,’ which dot the main slopes – some of which are still active.
It’s an other worldly place – and it’s hard to take in just how much lava has been pumped out.
The race took in the volcano from two directions, climbing to a saddle on the mountain’s flank then dropping back to the sea before the final ascent to the holiday village at the top.
It’s not the steepest of climbs but it’s tough and doesn’t ease off until the very top.
I was a little disappointed by the turn out – I’d had visions of tens of thousands of Sicilians up there to welcome Vincenzo, the prodigal son.
It wasn’t quite like that and we got barrier space on the finish line without any drama.
Contador sent out a message; ‘don’t waste your time trying to win, just sort out between yourselves who’ll be second and third, boys.’
Scarponi looked very disappointed after the stage – he’s ‘bigged up’ as a favourite but has no Grand Tour GC pedigree behind him.
And for Menchov, it’s over.
I was disappointed in Nibali, I’d expected more, but maybe he’s smarter than I give him credit for – keeping the pressure off himself on the stage where they were all watching him.
The Gazzetta isn’t impressed with him – 5.5/10 whilst Contador gets 9, Kreuziger 7, Scarponi 5 and Menchov 4.
After yesterday’s rest day – it wasn’t much of a rest for the staff, they had to drive from Sicily to well up the Adriatic coast – it’s a sprinters’ stage, today.
But it’s a dragging finish – it could suit Ventoso again.
And on the subject of sprinters, Graeme Brown and Robbie McEwen are out – they came in 59 minutes down on Etna; Cav was the last rider to make the cut at 26:35.
And now it’s time to go home; there’s no more Gazzetta, ace coffee and sunshine for Ed.
See you at the Scottish road race champs on Sunday?
Ciao, grazie.
Giro d’Italia Etna – Result
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 4:54:09
2 José Rujano Guillen (Ven) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:03
3 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 0:00:50
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana
6 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Movistar Team
7 Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad
8 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:59
9 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
10 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Team Garmin-Cervelo
12 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
13 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team
14 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
15 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
16 Jesús Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:01:13
17 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Pro Team Astana 0:01:22
18 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:01:30
19 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – ISD 0:01:45
20 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:02:09
21 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Pro Team Astana
22 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:02:16
23 Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC
24 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Pro Team Astana
25 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team 0:02:21
26 JoaquÃm RodrÃguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
27 Johann Tschopp (Swi) BMC Racing Team
28 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
29 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
30 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Geox-TMC
31 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli 0:02:35
32 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Sky Procycling 0:02:41
33 Francis De Greef (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:02:47
34 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha Team 0:04:25
35 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox
36 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:04:34
37 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team RadioShack 0:04:47
38 Marco Pinotti (Ita) HTC-Highroad
39 Tiago Machado (Por) Team RadioShack
40 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
41 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:05:10
42 Filippo Savini (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox 0:05:24
43 Sergio Pardilla Belllón (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:03
44 Massimo Codol (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 0:06:08
45 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:06:35
46 Mauricio Ardila Cano (Col) Geox-TMC
47 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
48 Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) Acqua & Sapone
49 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Acqua & Sapone
50 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
51 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre – ISD
52 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:16
53 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
54 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox 0:09:26
55 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:47
56 Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team
57 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Saxo Bank Sungard
58 David Blanco Rodriguez (Spa) Geox-TMC 0:11:06
59 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) Movistar Team
60 Juan Horrach Rippoll (Spa) Katusha Team 0:11:10
61 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Katusha Team
62 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
63 Michael Barry (Can) Sky Procycling 0:11:52
64 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Sky Procycling
65 Morris Possoni (Ita) Sky Procycling
66 Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard
67 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
68 Carlos José Ochoa (Ven) Androni Giocattoli 0:12:53
69 Bjorn Selander (USA) Team RadioShack 0:14:59
70 Marcel Wyss (Swi) Geox-TMC
71 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Sky Procycling
72 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:16:07
73 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
74 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:16:22
75 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:16:27
76 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
77 Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
78 Gert Dockx (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
79 Laurent Didier (Lux) Saxo Bank Sungard
80 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha Team
81 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox
82 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervelo
83 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:17:05
84 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Team RadioShack 0:17:07
85 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
86 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:18:34
87 Kjell Carlström (Fin) Sky Procycling 0:23:46
88 Carlos Oyarzun (Chi) Movistar Team
89 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
90 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
91 Javier Francisco Aramendia Lorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
92 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Pro Team Astana
93 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
94 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
95 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana
96 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) HTC-Highroad
97 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Katusha Team
98 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
99 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Movistar Team
100 Yuriy Krivtsov (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
101 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Lampre – ISD
102 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Pro Team Astana
103 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
104 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
105 Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre – ISD
106 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
107 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli
108 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox
109 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
110 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Sky Procycling
111 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
112 Simon Zahner (Swi) BMC Racing Team
113 Carlos Alberto Betancourt Gomez (Col) Acqua & Sapone
114 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad
115 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
116 Fabio Taborre (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
117 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Katusha Team
118 Andrea Noe (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli
119 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Geox-TMC
120 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
121 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
122 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team
123 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
124 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo
125 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Geox-TMC
126 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervelo
127 Craig Lewis (USA) HTC-Highroad
128 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Pro Team Astana
129 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Geox-TMC
130 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
131 Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
132 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Quickstep Cycling Team
133 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) Team Garmin-Cervelo
134 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli
135 Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Pro Team Astana
136 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team 0:23:59
137 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:24:31
138 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli 0:24:44
139 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:24:46
140 Robert Hunter (RSA) Team RadioShack
141 Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard
142 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Saxo Bank Sungard
143 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
144 Elia Favilli (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli
145 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
146 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
147 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Team RadioShack
148 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
149 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Team RadioShack
150 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Movistar Team
151 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
152 Federico Canuti (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox
153 Francesco Reda (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team
154 Daniel Sesma (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
155 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
156 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team
157 Pierre Cazaux (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi
158 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
159 Addy Engels (Ned) Quickstep Cycling Team
160 Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
161 Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Farnese Vini