Giro d’Italia almost over

With just one big test left, Saturday’s incredible mountain stage, the Giro victory is all but in the pocket of Discovery Channel’s Paolo Savoldelli. With a 2:09 advantage over 2nd place climbing superstar Gilberto Simoni, Paolo has the luxury of watching Gilberto for the inevitable attack and try to limit his losses to the 2 minute mark. Simoni has in his corner several factors. 1. Defending champion and teammate, Damiano Cunego, who is not in the running after a bad day in the mountains cost him 6 minutes resulting in working tirelessly for his team leader, Simoni. 2. The stage to Sestiere is a brutal climb with major sections on gravel. Advantage goes to the climbers. 3. Discovery Channel has no climbers to help Paolo.

These three items all favor the attacking climber, Simoni and if used correctly and soon after Paolo is isolated, the cagey Italian Lampre rider will be snugly fitting into his 3rd Pink Jersey (Maglia Rosa). But Paolo has shown the ability to fight and not panic and limit his losses in the high mountains. Paolo also put time into Simoni on the first two mountain stages. My prediction: Paolo loses another 25 seconds to Simoni and keeps the jersey for the overall win. But, this is why they race the race…to prove me wrong.

Racing update

I'm not racing the Giro, but I am doing cat 3 races now. I did my first cat 3 criterium last week (May 15th) in Rancho Cordova, CA. I was quite nervous on the start line as I had not done a cat 3 race in over 10 years and only been doing cat 5 races the last year and a half. What I did have on my side was years of experience in pro races and the knowledge of how to stay involved in the thick of the race. After the first few laps I knew I wouldn't be having any trouble finishing the race with the group, but now I wanted to win.

I worked hard trying to get in a break or start a break. But the racing was very negative and after 30 minutes of trying to get away I realized this thing was coming down to a field sprint.

Unfortunately, I had no teammates to help and fought to get to the front for the sprint. I finished a disappointing 20th place. That wasn't too bad for the first Cat 3 race in a long time but not what I wanted. I thought I had finished 25th and my dad thought I finished 11th. I guess it was right in the middle.

Giro Stage 11

With the first mountain top finish in the 88th Giro d’Italia came the big shake up we’ve been waiting for with Basso, Savoldelli, Simoni and Di Luca all stepping up indicating they are in for the overall win while Cunego lost a whopping 6:02. Paolo Savoldelli (DSC) edged the stage win from Ivan Basso (CSC) while Gilberto Simoni finished just 0.21 behind and Danilo di Luca at 1:01 after Paolo’s spint victory.

Ivan is the overall leader by 0.18 over Paolo and showed today he is probably the overwhelming favorite. Of course this next week is drenched with mountain-top finishes and to lose 2-3 minutes on a single day is not out of the question. However, Ivan showed in the Tour (3rd overall) last year that he is more than capable of staying with the climbers for a 3 week grand tour. The real revelation today was the ride of Paolo and the disturbing demise of defending champion Cunego.

Tomorrow shouldn’t be as devastating with the big climb at the start of the day, followed by about 150km of downhill racing.

Stage 11 - May 19: Marostica - Zoldo Alto, 150 km

Results
1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team 4.13.43 (35.472 km/h)
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC
3 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 0.21
4 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 1.01
5 Daniel Atienza Urendez (Spa) Cofidis-Le Credit Par Telephone 1.50
6 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 2.03
7 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Credit Agricole
8 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze
9 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Wurth Team 2.17
10 Jose' Rujano Guillen (Ven) Selle Italia-Colombia 2.19

General classification after stage 11
1 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 49.05.20
2 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team 0.18
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 1.04
4 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 2.27
5 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze 3.45
6 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4.34
7 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Wurth Team 4.48
8 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 5.25
9 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 5.58
10 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6.10
11 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears 6.24
12 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 6.48
13 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col) Davitamon-Lotto 6.57
14 Daniel Atienza Urendez (Spa) Cofidis-Le Credit Par Telephone 7.08
15 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Credit Agricole 7.16
16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 7.20
17 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 7.40

Giro update

The first week of the Giro was very exciting. Paolo Bettini was in the middle of the action taking a stage win, the leader’s jersey, and also Australian sprinter Baden Cooke into the barriers. For the last move, Bettini was relegated to the back of the pack and Cooke was left wondering what might have been. Saturday saw the first TT and the opportunity for the potential winners to make their move. American Dave Zabriskie - Team CSC and a Utah native won the TT by just 17 seconds over teammate Ivan Basso. Dave was far down the overall classification and so Danilo Di Luca kept the Maglia Rosa, for now.

Today the Giro heads into the high mountains and the real fighting will start. Paolo Salvadelli of Discovery Channel lost his teammate Tom Danielson from an inflamed knee. Paolo will need to utilize the inevitable fighting from Simoni, Cunego and Basso and just play off of their attacks.

General classification after stage 10

1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 44.51.40
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 0.09
3 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team 0.35
4 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 1.15
5 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 1.27
6 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 1.35
7 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1.38
8 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze 1.39
9 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.10
10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 2.11

Giro d' Italia

The 88th edition of the Giro d' Italia (Tour of Italy) is set to start on Saturday, May 7, in Reggio Calabria. The 2nd most prestigious grand tour (only behind the Tour de France) has a little more "prestige" this year as all 20 ProTour teams have committed to participating. Normally a team like Discovery Channel (formerly USPS) would not partake in the Giro, but with the advent of the new ProTour, they are sending a competitive squad.

Last years surprise winner, 23yr old Damiano Cunego, and two-time winner and teammate Gilberto Simoni are the odds on favorite for the win this year. Ivan Basso has decided to take on the Giro and the Tour this year after his very impressive 3rd at last years Tour de France. It appears that all three mentioned here will be doing the Giro/Tour double and therefore I don't know how committed they are to putting the hammer down in Italy this month. But behind the obvious favorites are several former winners, proven tour riders and a few up and comers that are solely focused on a Giro win. I see the following with chances to win or be top 10:

Damiano Cunego (Ita) - Lampre - Caffita
Gilberto Simoni (Ita) - Lampre - Caffita
Ivan Basso (Ita) - Team CSC
Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) - Discovery Channel
Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) - Domina Vacanze
Stefano Garzelli (Ita) - Liquigas - Bianchi
Tom Danielson (USA) - Discovery Channel