2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 20

May 26, Stage 20: Caldes/Val di Sole - Passo dello Stelvio 218km

De Gendt wins Giro d'Italia penultimate stage atop the Stelvio

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-20/results)

Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) took the biggest victory of his career, winning atop the Stelvio on the queen stage of the Giro d'Italia with a superb display. Damiano Cunego of Lampre took second place and third went to Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The maglia rosa stayed with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who crossed the finish line over three minutes later, and he managed to make good the thirteen seconds he had lost to Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) the previous day.

“I did not expect that,” De Gendt, 25, said. “I attacked on the Mortirolo, because the descents is very dangerous. All the pieces came together. Carrara was was still in the lead. He helped me a lot."

“And I know the Stelvio very well. I have trained there for six years. I've climbed it 20 or 30 times. It's very nice to win on my mountain."

The five brutal climbs did their job in separating the wheat from the chaff, but there were no decisive moves by the favourites until the final climb. They stuck together virtually the whole way, with Ivan Basso (Liquigas) losing contact only in the final kilometres.

De Gendt didn't make the podium, but moved up from eighth to fourth, pushing Basso down to fifth place. Hesjedal defended his second place, and good chances of taking the overall title in Sunday's time trial. He owed much of today's accomplishments to the good work of Christian Vande Velde, who was ordered back out of the lead group and subsequently pulled Hesjedal – and the rest of the favourites – up much of Stelvio. Michele Scarponi again showed he was stronger than Basso, who fell back on the final climb.

Things got off to an early start for the race's queen stage, over five climbs. The peloton was still together as it started up the first of the day's climbs, the category 3 Passo del Tonale. It may have been only category 3 but it was still enough for tired non-climbers to start dropping off the back.

The break of the day finally got away on the climb: Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Barracuda), Roman Kreuziger (Astana), Damiano Caruso (Liquigas), Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli), Branislaw Samoilau (Movistar), Oliver Zaugg (RadioShack), Marco Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM), Mathias Frank (BMC), Matteo Bono (Lampre), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Tom Slagter (Rabobank), and Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini).

The Passo del Tonale was also the end of the race for four riders. Robert Hunter (Garmin-Barracuda), Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Dominique Rollin (FDJ-Big Mat) and Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were all disqualified by the race jury for hanging on to team cars, and removed from the race.

The gap jumped to six minutes after the second climb, but dropped to about three and half minutes as the lead group started up the Mortirolo.

The grueling grind up the Mortirolo with an average gradient of 10.4% and a maximum of 21%, took its toll, blasting apart the lead group. Oliver Zaugg (RadioShack-Nissan) and Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil) were the last men standing only 4km up the brutal climb. Behind them, the peloton also fell apart, with Lampre leading the way, perhaps in hope of helping Michele Scarponi move up in the overall standings.

Caruso moved up to the front, as Carrara weakened. Vande Velde and Serpa joined forces with Carrara on the chase. Even the climbers suffered. King of the Mountains Rabottini fell out of the lead group on the climb and was soon absorbed back in the peloton.

Vande Velde and Serpa dropped Carrara and were able to join Caruso and Zaugg in the lead up the climb. Amador was also able to move up to the leaders, making it a quintet in the lead. Zaugg took off from his companions as they neared the top. He really took off as he hit a flat-to-descending section near the top.

Even the 22% gradient near the top didn't significantly slow down Zaugg, and he made his way through the screaming throngs to the top.

Vande Velde fell back on the descent, and the favourites' group got larger again. Thomas De Gendt had jumped earlier, and more and more riders jumped to join him, with Carrara leading the way for him, Nieve Cunego and Losada.

With about 40km to go – and the Stelvio looming nearer – the favourites' group seemed to call a cease fire, slowing down for a break, as riders further behind them on GC taking their chances and jumping out. Zaugg's gap skyrocketed to nearly six minutes.

Eventually a six-man group formed to chase Zaugg, with riders from the former lead group and those who had managed to move up. All the gaps slowly came down again.

With 30.4km to go, the six caught and swallowed up Zaugg. Vande Velde had evidently been called back and was now supporting captain Hesjedal. The field, by now fairly large again, took advantage of the short flat section between the final two climbs to cut the gap.

The leading group took a four-minute gap as they started up the Stelvio. Zaugg paid for his earlier efforts and was no longer able to stay with the others.

With some 16.5km of climbing left, De Gendt jumped, followed by Nieve. Cunego struggled to remain in sight of the duo, while Amador and Kangert disappeared from view.

Vande Velde ground things away at the head of the maglia rosa group, holding the pace high enough to bring the group down to15 riders or so. Cunego clawed his way back to the two leaders, catching them with about 13km to go.

But almost immediately De Gendt attacked again, and the other two couldn't go with him. With jis jersey wide open and flapping, he seemed to have an easy time going up the climb, and in fact the gap to the maglia rosa group grew again, to over four minutes. And with every meter, he moved his way up in the rankings. In fact, he was getting dangerously close to knocking Hesjedal out of second place, and the gap was 5:05 as the favourites crossed under the 10km banner.

Vande Velde finally fell back, after having done countless kilometres of lead work. Meanwhile the riders passed the first snow fields along the way. With about 5km to go, the maglia rosa group took a look around to sum up the situation. Hesjedal moved to the front of the group, looking for, but not getting, help from the others.

De Gendt was obviously suffering as he hit the 3km marker, but over five minutes behind him, the maglia rosa group wasn't doing much better. Basso dropped off, and soon only Hesjedal, Rodriguez and Scarponi were together.

The Belgian crossed the finish line after a day's ride of nearly six hours, but barely able to celebrate his win. Cunego crossed the finish line 55 seconds later, and Nivel came in for third at 2:50

Scarponi, Rodriguez and Hesjedal gave gas at the end, and were able to cut the gap to reasonable poportsion. Rodriguez came in at 3:22 and Hesjedal at 3:35.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	6:54:41
2	Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:00:56
3	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:02:50
4	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	0:03:22
5	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:03:34
6	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	0:03:36
7	John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale	0:04:29
8	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling	0:04:53
9	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling	0:04:55
10	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 16

May 22, Stage 16: Limone sul Garda - Falzes/Pfalzen 174km

Izagirre triumphs in Giro stage 16 to Falzes

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-16/results)

Jon Izagirre soloed in to the finish line of the sixteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia, bringing in the victory for Euskaltel-Euskadi. The 23-year-old Basque rider had escaped out of a 10-man breakaway group on the final climb, and finished 16 seconds ahead of Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giacattoli-Venezuela) and Stef Clement (Rabobank).

The peloton took the day off, more or less, and let the 10-man escape group carve out a nearly 13 minute gap. After a comfortable final climb, the field with the favourites ambled across the line nearly nine minutes after the rejoicing Izagirre. There were no changes in the top of the GC as Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) continues to lead the Giro d'Italia.

It was the second win of the year – and the second pro win – for the second year pro Izagirre. At the end of last month he won the time trial at the Vuelta a Asturias.

"I'm on a cloud, I'm so excited," said Izagirre. "I'm happy for the team because we are working hard in this Giro and any of the nine of us here deserved the win.

"A big win is very special. The first victory in Asturias really excited me, but winning a Giro d'Italia stage is amazing."
Another successful escape group

It took a while for the day's break to establish itself, but once again, the group came through to the end. After eighty-some kilometers, Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team), Jon Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Luca Mazzanti (Farnese Vini-Sella Italia), Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto Belisol), Nicolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), José Herrada Lopez (Movistar), Stef Clement (Rabobank), Matthias Brändle (NetApp) and Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank) finally got away and moved quickly to a big lead.

With Herrada as the top ranked rider, at more than 32 minutes down, the field was happy to let them go and give themselves a quiet day to transition back into racing before facing the upcoming brutal mountain stages.

The race had started out very fast – which is why no group could come about – but once the break went, the peloton put the brakes on. The gap grew and grew, climbing all the way up to 12 and a half minutes before slowing coming down in the final 20km.

The attacks out of the group started almost as soon as they started the final climb to the finish. A cobblestone passage near the beginning of the climb didn't bring any changes, as Herrada led the way up. Izagirre was the next to try, and then Frank. Those two built up a small lead over Herrara with another gap back to the rest with 4km to go.

Izagirre took the lead, followed by De Marchi, as Frank and Herrada chased. The Basque rider ground his way up the climb, slowly building up his lead. He continued to pull away as the course flattened out near the end, as the three chasers, later joined by Clement, played for position.

The Euskaltel-Euskadi rider rejoiced as he crossed the finish line, and 16 seconds later De Marchi and Clement came in to fill out the podium.

The rest of the field was still to come, and it was a smaller group which tackled the final climb – but one which included all the favourites. They stayed together riding comfortably up to the finish. Liquigas-Cannondale and Garmin-Barracuda were most often at the front.

But then a Colnago-CSF Inox rider shot out of the of the field with about 1200 meters to go. Stefano Pirazzi was soon joined by Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha, and Flecha zipped around him at the end to take the eleventh place, nearly nine minutes after Izagirre, with the field almost directly behind.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	4:02:00
2	Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli	0:00:16
3	Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
4	Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team	0:00:19
5	José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team	0:00:21
6	Manuele Boaro (Ita) Team Saxo Bank	0:00:37
7	Matthias Brandle (Aut) Team NetApp	0:00:43
8	Nikolas Maes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep	0:00:45
9	Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol Team
10	Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia	0:00:48

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 17

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-17/results)

In taking the stage win atop Peña Cabarga this afternoon Team Sky's Chris Froome very nearly decided the fate of this year's Vuelta a España, forcing Juan José Cobo (Geox-TMC) to defend his red jersey in a stunning battle mano-a-mano on the tough slopes of the day's final climb.

The Brit won the day and undoubtedly the hearts of many fans with his stunning attack within the final two kilometres but the Spaniard held onto his overall advantage, narrowly finishing second to Froome on the stage, with Rabobank rider Bauke Mollema taking third, 21 seconds behind the duo. Daniel Martin finished fourth, three seconds behind Mollema.

While only 565m in altitude, the finishing climb of stage 17 provided a launch pad for plenty of attacks and some intriguing racing, as man after man tried his luck with forays off the front of the peloton, only to be dragged back. Froome bided his time and kicked hard when it mattered, turning himself inside out in the final 1,500 metres to take the spoils.

Despite not snatching the jersey off Cobo's shoulders, the Kenyan-born rider was pleased with his efforts. "That was indescribable," said Froome after the finish. "It was one of the hardest days on the bicycle of my life."

"It was the last mountain top finish and both Bradley and myself came into the stage trying to do as much as we could. But as you could see, Cobo was so strong and he holds the jersey by 13 seconds."

While Wiggins went into the Vuelta as Team Sky's leader, Froome's finishing move was an obvious sign that he's currently the stronger of the squad's two men who sit high on general classification and he explained the rationale of team leadership after the stage: "Some days Bradley is stronger [than me] and other days I'm stronger; the team has been fantastic – it's been a real team effort.

"The worst is now over – we still have to go out and make the most of it but the hardest is over," he added.

Sting in the tail

The Vuelta's 17th stage didn't appear too complicated or difficult on paper but at 211km and with climbing most of the day, it would prove to be taxing for most, even those who finished the day high on the standings.

Consequently, the peloton kept matters in check for over half of the parcours, despite an aggressive start to proceedings. A 20-man group containing the likes of Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Oliver Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Guillaume Bonnaford (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Evgeni Petrov (Astana) and Johannes Frohlinger (Skil-Shimano) got away with 116km raced.

With 80km until the finish, the group had 2:50, which was cut to 1:17 at the summit of the day's first climb, the third category Portillo de Bustos, where Christophe Le Mevel picked up the intermediate points.

On the slopes of the day's second climb, the Portillo de Lunada, Kaisen tried his luck with an attack but was reeled in by his breakaway companions with 57km remaining in the stage. Five kilometres later that leading group was caught by Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing) and king of the mountains David Moncoutié (Cofidis) to form a potent combination at the head of the race.

While the leaders played around with mountains points, the peloton was getting stuck into the task of making progress ahead of the day's finishing climb. At the base of the descent the break's number was up, the cue for Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) and Pablo Lastras (Movistar) to counter-attack, albeit in a short-lived endeavour.

Let the attacks begin!

Despite some one-off attacks it wasn't until five kilometres remaining that the quality moves started in earnest as stage nine winner Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervélo) jumped clear, followed by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and Bruseghin in pursuit.

Four kilometres from home, Martin had eight seconds over Bruseghin but that would only last for another 600 metres, as the Italian caught his Irish rival and pushed the pace even higher. With three clicks until the finish they were joined in their advance and held 14 seconds over the peloton, with Sorensen somewhere in the middle.

Unwavering in his pursuit of the leading duo, Sorensen caught Martin and Bruseghin just as Omega Pharma-Lotto's Jurgen Van Den Broeck launched the attack he'd been threatening to unleash for some time. The Belgian pinned his ears back and within 500 metres had caught and passed the front three, his sights set on the finish.

The final 1.5km averaged 13 percent and boasted a maximum gradient of 19 percent and it hurt Van Den Broeck – he was caught ahead of the flamme rouge, with Nieve keeping pace ahead of Cobo, Wiggins and Froome.

Undeterred, he attacked again, putting Wiggins in difficulty while Froome went with the Belgian's move and impressively countered in an attempt to take the overall lead; belting out the final metres of the stage, his face wracked in agony, Team Sky's second in charge signaled his status as the squad's main man during the final week of racing.

He carried on his run to the line as attention turned to Cobo, whose red jersey was at stake. He was briefly distanced and looked to be losing time to Froome, but he defended valiantly to battle back to the Sky rider's wheel and very nearly took the stage win. Froome dug deep and dove into the last corner to take the stage with Cobo only just falling short. Both riders were completely spent and sitting on the ground in agony after the finish.

Behind the exhausted duo at the front, Bruseghin, Igor Anton and his Euskaltel-Euskadi teammate Mikel Nieve, Van Den Broeck and Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC) rolled in over the next 30 seconds. Wiggins would finish 39 seconds behind but remains in third overall and now looks destined to take his first Grand Tour podium, although it could have been so much more.

1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:52:38
2	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:01
3	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:21
4	Daniel Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Cervelo	0:00:24
5	Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:00:27
6	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
7	Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Movistar Team	0:00:29
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:00:31
9	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC
10	Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team	0:00:35

GC Overall

1	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	69:31:41
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:13
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:01:41
4	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:02:05
5	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC	0:03:48
6	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:04:13
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:04:31
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:04:45
9	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:05:20
10	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:05:33