11ª
tappa Giro:
Sul
Duran Ivan il terribile, spodesta dal trono del Giro il
Piccolo Principe.
Cunego
abdica a favore del menestrello Gibo Simoni. Basso nuovo
leader trova un inquilino nella suite del Giro, è
Savoldelli che vince la tappa tornando Falco in discesa
e in salita è l'unico a domare le accelerazioni
del beniamino di Byarne Riis
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Basso
e Savoldelli in azione sulla salita di Zoldo
Alto e l'arrivo con il successo ed il ritorno
trionfale sulle strade del Giro di Paolo il "Falco"
©BettiniPhoto.net
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Basso
sembra
sempre piu' gemello di
Lance Armstrong sia
come pedalata che tattica.
La scuola del Tour ha
creato un nuovo grande campione. E' presto per
Damiano,
troppo giovane, deve ancora maturare: "mi
sono liberato di un bel peso" ammetterà
il Re del Giro 2004 all'arrivo. "Troppa
pressione nei miei confronti, è la causa
della mia crisi". "Ora mi occupero' del
mio capitano che è Gilberto Simoni".
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Basso
in Maglia Rosa
Zoldo
Alto, 19.05 17:20 -
With a second place in Giro d'Italia's first real
mountain stage, Team CSC's Ivan Basso captured
the pink leader's jersey. Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery
Channel) won stage 11 ahead of Basso, and he is
now second overall.
By
constantly setting a very fast pace on the two toughest
climbs Basso managed to put a great deal of pressure
on his competitors, thereby separating the men from the
boys. Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Caffita) and Stefano Garzelli
(Liquigas) were among those, who fell victims of Bassos
speed.
Savoldelli
was dropped by Basso and Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Caffita)
on the 13 kilometer penultimate climb over Passo Duran,
but managed to catch up after an impressive descent. Towards
the finish it turned out to be Simoni, who had to let
go in those last kilometers before the finish in Zoldo
Alto.
I
felt really strong today. I wasn't giving much thought
as to who was positioned where, but just made sure to
keep as fast a pace as possible, as we hit the Passo
Duran climb. This turned out to be the right strategy,
and I could see, that not many were able to keep up with
me. I had great legs today, so I launched several attacks
in order to drop my competitors. Today I showed, that
I'm a rider capable of pulling off a serious attack under
the right circumstances, said Basso,
who with his impressive performance captures both his
own and Team CSC's first leader's jersey in one
of the Grand Tours.
It's
a dream come true for me and my team with this pink leader's
jersey, but I choose to be very humble about the situation.
There are still a lot of tough stages left, and the race
is far from over. Today many riders had an actual off-day,
but that can happen to everyone in a big stage race
including myself. Now we have achieved an important goal,
but of course I'll attack again, if I feel as strong as
I did today, said a very happy Ivan
Basso after the stage.
It
was a pleasure to watch Basso today. He did everything
right, was very strong and had the situation well under
control. There was no doubt, who was the strongest out
there today, and it's great to capture the pink jersey
in a tough mountain stage. The whole team has worked hard
focusing on this goal. Now we'll take one day at a time,
'cause we know exactly what's ahead of us, and there are
still many difficulties to overcome before reaching Milan,
said Bjarne Riis.
SAVOLDELLI
WINS FIRST MOUNTAIN STAGE AT GIRO, MOVES TO 2nd OVERALL
by
Dan Osipow
May
19, 2005 -
Putting two years worth of frustration behind him, the
Discovery Channel pro cycling team's Paolo Savoldelli
won today's 11th stage of the Tour of Italy,
taking the 150 kilometer mountain stage from Marostica
to the top of Zoldo Alto (Dolomti Stars). The victory
- Savoldelli's first with the Discovery Channel team and
his first since 2002, the year he won the Giro - moved
the Italian into second place overall, 18 seconds behind
new race leader Ivan Basso of CSC, who finished
second in today's stage.
"He's
happy, bloody happy," Discovery Channel
assistant sports manager Sean Yates said of
Savoldelli. "He's
happy because his form is finally back after two years.
He's got his morale back and today was just icing on the
cake, at least for the moment."
With
the race pointing to today as its "official"
beginning the the peloton hit the Dolomites. The overall
favorites moved to the front on the final climbs after
reeling in the Discovery Channel's Benoit Joachim,
who had taken off on a solo breakaway. Contenders such
as Savoldelli, Basso, Lampre's pair of 2004
winner Damiano Cunego and 2003 and 2001 winner
Gilberto Simoni and Liquigas' race leader Danilo
Di Luca geared up for the final two climbs - the 13
km Passo Duran and the 12 km finishing climb to
Zoldo Alto.
"We
knew Lampre would attack as they needed to take time against
Basso," Yates said. "But
on the Passo Duran, it was Basso who attacked
first. Simoni and others responded but Basso kept
on attacking and Cunego went out the back, (2000
winner Stefano) Garzelli went out the back, guys
were all over the mountain side."
The
only riders able to go with Basso were Savoldelli,
Simoni, Di Luca and Selle Italia's Jose
Rujano.
"It
was every man for himself,"
said Yates. "The
climbs here are much harder than in the Alps."
At
the top of the Passo Duran, Savoldelli was
a bit off the pace but used his superior descending skills
- those that earned him the nickname "il Falco"
(the Falcon) - to zoom past the lead group again
begin the final climb with a small lead. Eventually, the
group came together before Savoldelli and Basso
pulled away. Both finished 21 seconds in front of Simoni
and 1:04 ahead of Di Luca.
"He
was amazing today," said team sports manager
Johan Bruyneel, watching the action unfold from
his home in Spain, said of Savoldelli. "First
off, I'm happy for him after two years of a lot of problems
and injuries which made him lose his confidence. Now,
he's back on the highest level and I think he proved,
especially to himself, that he's one of the best bike
riders. That is just what he needed and I think from now
on, we will see a Savoldelli that we are used to seeing.
I can see he needed some confidence and there is only
one real way to gain that back, and that's getting results.
"He's
doing what we expected of him at this Giro and
even more than that," Bruyneel
added. "He's a strong
candidate for the podium, although we all know one bad
day is enough to lose everything. It's clear Basso
is a big favorite and Cunego lost all his options
today."
Competing
in its first Tour of Italy, Bruyneel was also pleased
to add the Giro to the list of team victories.
"The
win today is great for our team," he said.
"Once again, this shows
how this team is more than only about Lance (Armstrong).
We've shown it in the past but many people just don't
see that. For us as a team, for us as directors, its very
important."
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Lucidità
e freschezza negli sguardi di Basso e
Savoldelli, fotografati da Andrea Magnani, mentre
non altrettanto si puo' affermare per gli sguardi
di Garzelli e Cunego ©
Photo Bikenews.it
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