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