GreenEdge and Cannondale learned again that those who live by the sword die by the sword. Having slyly left Patrick Lefevre’s men to do the lion’s share in bringing back the break of this longest day of the race, they formed their trains late in the tappa; hoping to exploit a Cavendish whose team was all used up. But they reckoned without the hunger of Cavendish, his power, commitment to his team and God-given positioning sense.
There were in excess of 300 metres to go when he went – a long, long way in sprinting circles but that famous ‘jump’ gave him too many metres to pull back.
Nizzolo can bang his bars as much as he wants, Cav is the King.
The slump against the barriers was no show boating, he’d gone way deep to win.
A big part of his success is his position, so low over that Specialized; his watts don’t match those of Greipel or giant Dukla Prague sprint flyer, Alois Kankovsky who lays down over 2,000 watts.
But Cav is so low over the bike that his aerodynamic signature is tiny compared to ‘house ends’ like Greipel and Kankovsky.
It’s looking less and less like my spy’s tip off that Cav will be moving on from QuickStep at the end of the year is correct.
QuickStep’s East European money isn’t going to let a man who can win four stages in a Grand Tour slip through it’s fingers.
And Cav has little to complain about his team in this Giro d’Italia.
But there’ll be little mention of Cav for the next week as the race heads into the Alps and Dolomites.
For the sprinters there will only be the gruppetto, pain, endless grades, no limelight or press conferences and just the thought of the Brescia finishing straight a week tomorrow to keep spirit and flesh rolling on through those ‘kilometres to go’ signs.
“Last year’s winner, 1 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Sharp), 100 Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ), 181 Bradley Wiggins (Sky Pro Cycling).”
The official race communiqué was matter of fact about the non-starters list; but it’s actually a sensational sentence – two of the race’s biggest favourites dropping out on the same day.
With Ryder it’s hard to say – maybe a virus?
But I never thought that Bradley looked comfortable throughout the entire race – and as I said yesterday, I don’t think he was prepared for how aggressive the first week of the Giro is.
In addition, his skeletal build was never going to cope well with the weather which was thrown at it.
It’s fair to say that you’d expect sunshine in the Giro – but then you should always remember those pictures of Andy Hampsten and snow drifts.
Those lines through the Briton and Canadian’s names in the Gazzetta ‘partenti’ list are good news if your name is Nibali; but not so clever if you’re called Brailsford or Vaughters.
Brailsford is better served for GC with the highly capable Uran in third spot and Sky still having some very strong boys in there to support him – Henao, Cataldo, Siutsou, Zandio are all accomplished support riders when the tarmac rises.
Garmin are nowhere on GC, Tom Danielson is 37th at 37 minutes; but in fairness to the man he did look good in the early stages and lost much of that time in shepherding a wasted Hesjedal.
A stage win for him is possible, I believe.
It’s been a great Giro so far with the last week sure to contain more surprises and drama as the race today (Saturday) heads into the Alps – Climate Change permitting.
It could be a calm stage if the GC guys declare a truce and let a break go – or it could be brutal.
My guess is the former.
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Result - Giro d’Italia 2013 – Stage 13: Busseto – Cherasco 254km
Stage Result
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack Leopard
3 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano
4 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
5 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
6 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
7 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
8 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida
9 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
10 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
11 Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Sharp
12 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
13 Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
14 Marco Canola (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
15 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol
16 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp
17 Grega Bole (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
18 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ
19 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
20 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha
21 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
22 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha
23 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
24 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia
25 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
26 Diego Rosa (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
27 Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling
28 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
29 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Belisol
30 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
31 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling
32 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
33 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Ag2R La Mondiale
34 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
35 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) Colombia
36 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
37 Francis De Greef (Bel) Lotto Belisol
38 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol
39 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
40 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
41 Ben Gastauer (Lux) Ag2R La Mondiale
42 Nelson Filipe Santos Simoes Oliveira (Por) RadioShack Leopard
43 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha
44 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
45 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
46 Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
47 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
48 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
49 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
50 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
51 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
52 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team
53 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
54 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
55 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard
56 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
57 Alessandro Proni (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
58 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
59 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard
60 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
61 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
62 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida
63 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling
64 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
65 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
66 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha
67 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ
68 Hayden Roulston (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
69 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Movistar Team
70 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
71 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Katusha
72 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
73 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano
74 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
75 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
76 Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
77 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-Merida
78 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Sky Procycling
79 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
80 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
81 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
82 José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team
83 Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Katusha
84 Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol
85 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia
86 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge
87 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
88 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:20
89 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge
90 Danny Pate (USA) Sky Procycling 0:00:22
91 Stef Clement (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:00:24
92 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
93 Bruno Pires (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
94 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida
95 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia
96 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
97 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
98 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team
99 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:27
100 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:31
101 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:38
102 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
103 Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano 0:00:38
104 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha 0:00:43
105 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:53
106 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:01:58
107 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:02:02
108 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol 0:02:58
109 Danilo Hondo (Ger) RadioShack Leopard
110 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
111 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
112 Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
113 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:03:02
114 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:31
115 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida
116 Robert Vrecer (Slo) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:47
117 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team 0:04:13
118 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
119 Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) Lotto Belisol
120 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:05:22
121 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:06:29
122 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:09:17
123 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp
124 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
125 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
126 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
127 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) RadioShack Leopard 0:09:58
128 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:09:59
129 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:12:37
130 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Sharp 0:16:32
131 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team