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May 21st, 2010

Our backseat director breaks down a tumultuous first-half of the Giro d’Italia.

By Whit Yost

Little-known Aussie Richie Porte of Saxo Bank is still in pink. Photo by AFP/Getty Image.

There’s been a lot going on domestically lately: the Tour of California’s in full swing and Floyd Landis turned the cycling world upside down with his recent admissions and accusations. But hey, what about that little race over in Italy? Here’s a mid-race check in on the first grand tour of 2010: the Giro d’Italia. So far, it’s been quite a ride.

The biggest news at the 2010 Giro d’Italia was a dramatic turn of events during Wednesday’s 262-kilometer Stage 11 from Lucera to L’Aquila. While they might not want to admit it, many of the favorites for the overall title didn’t do themselves any favors on that rainy day, conceding almost 13 minutes to a large breakaway containing more than 40 riders. Having started the day several minutes behind the main contenders, Carlos Sastre and Bradley Wiggins made the most dangerous jumps up the overall rankings, re-claiming all of the time they had lost during the first 10 days of racing—and then some. Now, as the race turns its eyes toward the mountains during what will be an incredibly difficult final week, two men previously thought to have all but conceded their chances for victory appear to have been given a legitimate second chance and a little bit of a head start.

But before the drama of Stage 11, the story of the race had been the host nation’s failure to win an individual stage. In fact, the official language of this year’s Giro appears to be English as Anglo-American riders have been the ones enjoying the most stage wins and days in the maglia rosa as overall leader. Italian National champion Fillippo Pozzato did score a first stage win for the home country in stage 12.

The race began on Saturday, May 8^th with a short individual time trial in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, where Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins became the first English-speaker to take a stage win and the race’s first pink jersey. Stage two continued the trend with American Tyler Farrar taking his first win of the race and the second Grand Tour stage of his young career for Garmin-Transitions. An Australian took over the lead in the overall rankings, with BMC’s Cadel Evans pulling on the second maglia rosa of his career (a jersey he hopes to be wearing when the race finishes in Verona on May 29^th). Stage two revealed an important motif of the 2010 Giro—bad weather—as the stage took place in terrible conditions that have seemed to follow the event just about wherever it goes. Belgian Wouter Weylandt won the field sprint to take a crash-filled Stage three for Team Quick Step; Garmin’s Christian Vandevelde was forced to abandon following a broken collarbone, while Alexander Vinokourov took the maglia rosa.

After a rest day transfer to Italy, the race reconvened last Wednesday with what was hoped would be the first of several sunny days. Surprisingly, the sun seemed to shine only on Liquigas in stage four’s team time trial, as intermittent showers and lackluster performances from favored teams including Team Sky, HTC-Columbia, and Garmin-Transitions put Italian Vincenzo Nibali (a last-minute addition to his team’s roster) in the pink jersey, just ahead of his team captain and race favorite, Ivan Basso.

Quick Step found itself on top again following stage five, taking its second stage thanks to Frenchman Jerome Pineau’s win from a three-man breakaway. Ironically, the Belgian squad’s second stage win gave the team more wins in the Giro than in the cobbled classics. Australian Matthew Lloyd won Stage six, giving another victory-starved Belgian squad—Omega Pharma-Lotto—a stage win of it’s own. As the first week ended, Nibali remained in pink and the rains returned. The stage was set for a challenging weekend—one that seemed certain to ruin the GC aspirations for a handful of unlucky men.

Saturday’s Stage seven from Carrara to Montalcino was highlighted by the appearance of Tuscany’s strade bianche—the “white roads”—a series of limestone roads whose beauty is surpassed only by its difficulty. Treacherous when dry, these ancient pathways become perilous when wet; one can imagine the riders’ thoughts when they awoke Saturday to drenching rain showers. By the end of a day that resembled a cyclocross race more than a stage in a grand tour, Cadel Evans emerged victorious. Only a handful of favorites were able to stay close to Evans; Alexander Vinokourov reclaimed the pink jersey, while others faltered, losing time in large chunks. Carlos Sastre and Bradley Wiggins were two of the biggest casualties; they went to bed that night 7:06 and 8:39 behind the lead, respectively.

Sunday’s Stage eight brought the first summit finish of the 2010 Giro, as Saxo Bank’s Chris Anker Sorensen won the day that ended atop the Monte Terminillo. The majority of the race favorites stayed together, but Sastre and Wiggins lost even more time on a day that was yet again cold and rainy.

Monday’s Stage nine ended in a field sprint with HTC-Columbia taking its first win of the race thanks to yet another Australian, Matthew Goss. It was Australia’s third stage win of the race, and the fifth for an English-speaker—at least until Tyler Farrar took the field sprint to win Stage 10 in Bitonto to make it six, which set the stage for Wednesday’s drama.

By far the longest stage of the race, Wednesday was expected to see a breakaway fight it out for the glory—but not one of such magnitude. The rain had something to do with it, along with the fact that two key teams—BMC and Astana—missed the move. With no riders in the break, Evans and Vinokourov were forced to send their teams to the front of peloton in attempt limit the damage. By day’s end, Sastre and Wiggins had launched themselves back into the top-10 overall, ahead of the same men who had worked so hard to drop them over the preceding 10 days. The Russian Evgeni Petrov took the stage win as yet another Australian came to the fore. Richie Porte took over race leadership, adding a pink jersey to his already auspicious debut season.

Thursday’s Stage 12 began with several men asking themselves what had happened, wondering how such a dangerous mistake could have been made to allow Sastre—the 2008 Tour de France champion—and Wiggins—last year’s fourth-place finisher at the Tour—to recoup so much lost time.

Stay tuned as the rhe race will certainly heat up next week in the mountains.