I was the one who said that the Giro d’Italia doesn’t have a great field – but the fact is, ‘so what?’
It’s only stage three but already the ‘Bigs’ are at it, knocking lumps out of each other.
I was thinking of an ABC of ‘key words’ for each of today’s protagonists – for big Ryder Hesjedal it was ‘aggressive’ but maybe it should be ‘anxious?’
Whilst yesterday’s uncharacteristic Garmin failure in the TTT was, in the overall way of things, little more than a distraction, the head is as important as the legs in pro bike racing.
It looked to me like Hesjedal was reminding himself, as much as the opposition that he is one of the favourites and has the power and will to be on the podium.
Sir Brad’s words would be ‘box ticked’ – there’s no room for any of that emotion stuff at Sky, so to finish with the leaders and stay out of trouble on a stage which saw several bite the dust in the finale means that he’s another day closer to the time trial on Saturday which will be the bed rock of his Giro challenge.
Sky will be quite happy with Paolini as maglia rosa; the chances are that Katusha will defend it as long as they can – taking the pressure of Pate, Knees and Siutsou until they’re really needed.
Nibali was ‘cruising’ as is ‘The Shark of the Straights’ wont; but whilst he had a few exploratory bites, he knows that his real killing ground lies at much higher altitudes.
I’m not usually into that nickname nonsense, but don’t mind Vincenzo’s.
I was chatting to our pal Vik the other night and he reckons that Brad has a better team than Nibali – but with Valerio Agnoli, Fred Kessiakoff, Paolo Tiralongo and Alessandro Vanotti to call upon, I think the Sicilian has rock solid support.
And remember, Astana left one of the world’s fastest finishers, Andrea Guardini at home so as there are no distractions from the team’s sole objective.
Scarponi’s words of the day, ‘drama’ and ‘disappointment’ – whilst all the other favourites inhabit the top dozen on GC with deficits of 45 seconds or less on the jersey, the genial Italian is now 22nd @ 1:23 with a painful day in prospect tomorrow, when the adrenalin subsides.
And the rub is that Lampre produced a solid TTT to limit the former Giro winner from Filottrano’s losses.
If Scarponi was disappointed, then Evans surely ‘exceeded expectations’ with second on the stage.
It’s a while since ‘Cuddles’ has sparkled but there was little doubt about who the BMC rider who was ‘in the mix’ from the helicopter shots – his style on a road bike, really is dire.
But he was third in Oman and eighth in Trentino, so maybe it’s too early for Vik and I put him in the, ‘one season too many’ file.
The BMC press release had this to say:
“BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Fabio Baldato said good knowledge of the course came into play.
“We knew every corner of the final descent and spent 30 minutes studying it in the pre-race meeting, so it was perfect,” he said.
“The guys did a great job, particularly Ivan, Steve Morabito and Danilo Wyss, who had a bit of a bad day yesterday.”
Evans said he didn’t expect the time gaps that would open up on the run-in to the finish.
Only 30 riders finished within a minute of Paolini.
“I was just looking to avoid trouble like the problems Michele Scarponi had after the two Blanco riders crashed in front of him. Like everything that counts for the race, we prepare for it as best as we can.”
And perhaps we shouldn’t forget that Evans rode his first Giro more than a decade ago – so he doesn’t have much to learn.
Luca Paolini has been around a long time.
He rode for Mapei way back in 2000, winning a stage in the Tour de l’Avenir and stayed with them through 2001 and a win the GP Lugano and 2002 with victory in the Giro del Piemonte.
In 2003 he followed Patrick Lefevre to QuickStep and took the GP Beghelli as well as third spot in the Primavera.
A year later and he became one of the elite club of Northern Classic winners who hail from the south – winning the Brabantse Pijl and taking bronze in the Worlds.
In 2005 he visited the UK and took two stages in the Tour of Britain.
With Liquigas in 2006 he won the GP Citta di Camaiore, a Vuelta stage and was again third on the Via Roma in Sanremo.
In 2007 he sported a cool ‘Tony Curtis’ haircut which much impressed Vik and I when we saw him at the Three Days of De Panne: where he won a stage before making the podium in the Ronde.
He moved to Acqua e Sapone for 2008, taking out the Trofeo Laigueglia and Coppa Placci; with the Coppa Bernocchi coming for the same squadra, the following year.
In 2010, still with the Italian team there were no wins but strong finishes like fourth in Het Nieuwsblad and third in the Coppa Agostoni.
Katusha became home for 2011 with fifth in Het Nieuwsblad and third in Piemonte perhaps the best of a raft of placings.
Last year he was second in Piemonte and top 10 in the Ronde – but this year he’s back at the top of podiums.
He won a Siberian Het Nieuwsblad and then again today, with fifth in the Primavera and eighth in the E3 along the way.
I make it 15 UCi wins for Katusha, this year – and a spell in pink, to boot.
Enjoy it, Luca – and his word? Fox!
[vsw id=”UbDMk0VGbyI” source=”youtube” width=”615″ height=”380″ autoplay=”no”]
Result - Giro d’Italia 2013 – Stage 3: Sorrento - Marina di Ascea, 222km
Stage Result
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:16
3 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp
4 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
5 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
6 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha
7 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge
8 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
9 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
11 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard
12 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
13 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team
14 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
15 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team
16 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha
17 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
18 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:36
19 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:00:49
20 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:00:50
21 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
22 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
23 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
24 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling
25 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
26 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
27 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) AG2R La Mondiale
28 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
29 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
30 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
31 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
32 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida 0:01:00
33 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
34 Diego Rosa (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:37
35 Alessandro Proni (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:01:52
36 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
37 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia
38 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
39 Bruno Pires (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
40 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ
41 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
42 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
43 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
44 Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
45 Francis De Greef (Bel) Lotto Belisol
46 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ
47 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
48 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
49 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
50 Grega Bole (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
51 Danilo Hondo (Ger) RadioShack Leopard
52 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Movistar Team
53 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
54 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
55 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
56 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard
57 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha
58 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
59 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
60 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
61 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
62 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
63 Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Katusha
64 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
65 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) Colombia
66 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
67 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida
68 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
69 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
70 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:03
71 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:03:05
72 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida
73 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:03:23
74 Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia 0:03:31
75 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha 0:04:24
76 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia
77 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling 0:07:05
78 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
79 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia 0:08:27
80 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol
81 Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) Lotto Belisol
82 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
83 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
84 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida
85 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
86 Marco Canola (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
87 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
88 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
89 Ricardo Mestre (Por) Euskaltel-Euskadi
90 Dominique Rollin