I didn’t get much opportunity to see stage 15, it was a long day for VeloVeritas – Alford and back, and then all the editing and formatting that it takes to put a piece together. But it was another tough day in a tough Giro – albeit the ‘Bigs’ declared a cease-fire. You’ll hear no complaints about that from Giovanni Visconti, Movistar’s former three time Italian champion who grabbed the Spanish team’s second win of the race in fine style.
The 30 year-old from Torino saw his stage win as a ‘rebirth’ after what he viewed as a bad year in 2012.
Albeit he won the Klasika Primavera and Circuito de Getxo and had a list of strong top ten rides in Italian semi-classics.
But he’s a winner, with five, six and four wins respectively in the three previous years.
However, there was of course the link with the Good Doctor Ferrari to mess with his state of mind.
Visconti’s career path is unusual he came up through De Nardi, Domina Vacanze then Milram and QuickStep for whom he won the likes of the Coppa Sabatini and GP Fourmies.
But for season 2009 he went back to Division Two to be with mentor Luca Scinto at the big ex-Mapei man’s ISD squad.
He stayed with Scinto through 2010 and 2011 picking up the Italian Elite Championship both years.
But for 2012 he moved to Movistar for bigger bucks – and some say to be away from Scinto’s somewhat overpowering personality.
Dave and I met a happy Scinto as a spectator at the Giro one year; he chatted away fine with us.
A year later he was a grumpy DS and it seems he can no longer speak English . . .
Dave and I are down at Prestwick as I write this, we fly to Bergamo tonight to cover the last six stages – today is the rest day which has given me a chance to catch up with what the British media have to say about the race.
David Walsh is embedded with Sky for the Sunday Times and was there when the doctor decided that Wiggins had to quit.
There are some interesting stats in the piece – in the time trial where Sky’s captain succumbed to Alex Dowsett, Wiggins rode the last 15 kilometres at an average of 477 watts – and that was with 50 minutes of effort in his legs.
But numbers are one thing…
Meanwhile, over at the Guardian William Fotheringham reckons that Nibali has it won – and I must admit that it’s hard to see past him.
The race is entering that phase where management has to make the decision; “be content with our podium place – or risk everything?”
And the way Vincenzo is riding it’d be a big risk to try and break him.
He has the legs, the grinta and in letting Santambrogio take Saturday’s stage he showed he has political sense, too.
He may not be spectacular but he’s solid, professional and coming in to his prime as a rider.
In today’s Guardian Fotheringham argues that Italy needs another hero to replace Pantani.
But in this post-EPO era I think we have accept that whilst the Classics can be fire crackers, by the end of a Grand Tour everyone is wasted and there’s little room for heroics.
And despite a tight schedule, we grabbed a Gazzetta – stage 12 and Cav’s 100th win.
The paper is full of stats – one panel charts Bradley’s unhappy Giro history:
- 2003: missed the time cut on Stage 18.
- 2005: 123rd.
- 2007: 134th.
- 2009: 70th.
- 2010: 40th – but he did win the Stage One time trial.
The Gazzetta doesn’t seem awfully keen on old Brad – but they adore Cav, his 100th win gets great coverage – a full two page interview.
He says his Worlds win with his golden team is the pearl of his career and that his toughest adversary was Petacchi. And there’s an interesting comparison on other top sprinters and how many wins they’d had at Cav’s age:
- Boonen: 83
- Cipollini: 69
- McEwen: 38
- Petacchi: 15
- Zabel: 75
We’re boarding! Queue to join another queue time!
A domani!
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Result - Giro d'Italia 2013 - Stage 15: Cesana Torinese - Col du Galibier 149km
Stage Result
2 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:42
3 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
4 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
5 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia 0:00:47
6 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:54
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
9 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
10 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
11 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard
12 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:58
13 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
14 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:01:00
15 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha
16 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:06
17 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:01:09
18 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) Colombia 0:01:24
19 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
20 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:27
21 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
22 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:01:39
23 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
24 Diego Rosa (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:49
25 Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
26 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:01:52
27 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia 0:01:55
28 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:02
29 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:02:04
30 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ 0:02:12
31 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
32 Stef Clement (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
33 José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:27
34 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:02:34
35 Francis De Greef (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:02:47
36 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:58
37 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:03:05
38 Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling 0:03:23
39 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
40 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida 0:03:26
41 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
42 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:03:41
43 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
44 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge 0:03:55
45 Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano 0:04:33
46 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:04:59
47 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:05:13
48 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Movistar Team 0:05:28
49 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:06:32
50 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:07:07
51 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
52 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli 0:07:09
53 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Argos-Shimano 0:09:53
54 George Bennett (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
55 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
56 Alessandro Proni (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
57 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
58 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard
59 Bruno Pires (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
60 Ben Gastauer (Lux) Ag2R La Mondiale
61 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha
62 Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
63 Stefano Locatelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:09:59
64 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia 0:10:02
65 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:10:53
66 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Sky Procycling 0:11:02
67 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling
68 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ 0:11:55
69 Brian Bulgac (Ned) Lotto Belisol 0:13:16
70 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol
71 Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:13:37
72 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Cannondale Pro Cycling
73 Ricardo Mestre (Por) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:14:04
74 Nelson Filipe Santos Simoes Oliveira (Por) RadioShack Leopard 0:14:36
75 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:16:08
76 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
77 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
78 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
79 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
80 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
81 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
82 Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Katusha
83 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
84 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
85 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
86 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:16:30
87 Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Col) Colombia 0:20:23
88 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge 0:20:26
89 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling
90 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-Merida
91 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol
92 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida
93 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
94 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Belisol
95 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol
96 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
97 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
98 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano
99 Robert Vrecer (Slo) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:21:15
100 Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:22:17
101 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:22:38
102 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:23:46
103 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Colombia 0:25:07
104 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia
105 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) RadioShack Leopard 0:27:54
106 Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Sharp
107 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Sharp
108 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
109 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
110 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team
111 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
112 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
113 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
114