COMUNICATI
STAMPA DALLA CORSA
GIRO
D'ITALIA. 15° TAPPA. BERTAGNOLLI S'IMPONE NELLA FORLI
- FAENZA
Seconda
vittoria di tappa per la Diquigiovanni – Androni
nel Giro d'Italia del Centenario.
Ad
incrementare il bottino della squadra italo-venezuelana
ci pensa l'ultimo acquisto Leonardo Bertagnolli,
unitosi al Team diretto da Savio proprio alle porte
della corsa rosa. Una lunga fuga anima la quindicesima
tappa, Forlì – Faenza di 161 km; tra i 16
fuggitivi sono attivi il colombiano Serpa ed il trentino
Bertagnolli. Al termine delle 6 cime di giornata, Leonardo
vince in solitaria sul traguardo in Piazza del Popolo.
Nota dolente di giornata il distacco di Gilberto Simoni.
Giornata no per lo scalatore trentino. Domani la Pergola
– Monte Petrano, altra tappa dal dislivello impegnativo,
proprio in casa di Michele Scarponi, l'aquila di
Filottrano.
Quindicesima
tappa Giro d'Italia: ottima prestazione per Marzano 5°
e Bruseghin 8° in generale
Si
è appena conclusa la 15° tappa del Giro
d'Italia (Forlì - Faenza di 161km).
La vittoria è andata ad un coraggioso Bertagnolli
che è giunto solitario sul traguardo di Faenza.
Ammirevole la gara dei nostri atleti, in modo particolare
quella di Marzano che ha mostrato grande carattere
nonostante la sfortuna che lo ha assalito nel finale della
tappa.
Il corridore milanese della Lampre-NGC, infatti
è riuscito a cogliere il giusto attimo ed a indovinare
la fuga di giornata, evadendo dal gruppo dopo soli 30
km.
Marco ha però nel finale dovuto fare i conti
con una caduta nella discesa del Casale e in seguito una
foratura proprio sulla cima della salita del Trebbio.
Nonostante questi inconvenienti è riuscito però
a giungere nel gruppetto alle spalle di Bertagnolli
piazzandosi al quinto posto.
Ottima
anche la prova di Bruseghin che è riuscito
a stare con il gruppo dei migliori, piazzandosi al traguardo
in 12° posizione.
Le
parole di Marzio: "oggi
è stata una tappa molto difficile e tirata, sono
riuscito a restare con il gruppo dei migliori salendo
con il mio passo senza rispondere agli attacchi portati
dagli altri corridori, dato che in finale sapevamo ci
aspettava una discesa e tratti misti dove potevamo recuperare
terreno".
Bruseghin oggi ha inoltre guadagnato un posto ai
danni di Simoni, salendo in generale 8° a 5'26".
Sottotono la prova di Cunego che ha ceduto nel
finale 1' ai migliori corridori giungendo sul traguardo
con Armstrong.
Damiano ha comunque cercato con grinta di evadere
dal gruppo nelle fasi iniziali della tappa, per provare
a sfruttare la carta della fuga da lontano in vista di
una vittoria di tappa.
temperatures
soar and the racing heats up at the giro
Stage
15: Forli to Faenza, 161km/100mi
By
Cathy Mehl
Hot,
hot, hot and we don’t just mean the weather. It certainly
was blazing hot in Italy today with temperatures hovering
near 33º/91ºF but the competition was heating
up too as the 92nd Giro d’Italia entered the final
week of racing. Racers not in the General Classification
positions they hoped for were taking last opportunities
to make up ground. A day-long break left one lone rider
out front who managed to hold his lead all the way to
the line in Faenza. Thirty-one-year -old Leonardo Bertagnolli
(Serramenti Diquigiovanni) took his first Giro stage win
with a big time gap to of 54-seconds to Serge Pauwels
(Cervelo) and Marco Pinotti (Columbia). Race leader
Denis Menchov (Rabobank) withstood a bold attack
by second-place Danilo Di Luca (LPR) and kept the
Maglia Rosa for another day. But it wasn’t the end
of the race that revealed the most—it was the form
displayed by certain riders on the final two climbs that
showed this Giro is far from over.
Many
attacks came in the early part of the stage but none were
successful until a group of 16 finally stayed away after
30km of racing. Riding with Bertagnolli were Team Astana’s
Dani Navarro, Pinotti, Pauwels, and Lars Ytting Bak of
Saxo Bank among others. The group built a strong 6.20
advantage while Rabobank kept pace in the peloton, aided
by LPR throughout the stage.
At
40km to go on the Cat. 3 Monte Casale climb, Ivan
Basso (Liquigas) worked off the efforts of his
team and attacked, making his first decisive move in his
comeback Giro. Initially Menchov and Di Luca
responded. Then Basso went again, this time with
Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) quick to follow
and no one else! The duo rode at a fast pace, hoping to
catch the remains of the original break and stay away
from the Maglia Rosa group. Gain time they did, while
the Menchov group struggled to find their legs to chase.
Riding with Menchov were all the top contenders: Levi
Leipheimer, Lance Armstrong, Yaroslav Popovych,
Danilo Di Luca, Carlos Sastre (Cervelo)
and all the heads of state. Once Basso hit the final climb
of Monte Trebbio, he and Garzelli were still
minutes behind the leaders, which had now split completely
apart, leaving Bertagnolli and Pauwels the last two riding
in the front before the latter sat up, perhaps on orders
from the team car to wait for Sastre.
With
full concentration on what Basso was up to and how much
time he was gaining from his 6th place position on GC,
Di Luca stopped hanging his head in pretend-exhaustion
and attacked the Maglia Rosa. With Di Luca only 34 seconds
behind Menchov, the Russian rider was forced to respond,
and managed to catch his wheel with Sastre and Franco
Pellizotti (Liquigas) also able to get on terms
with Di Luca. Leipheimer missed the group initially but
Navarro dropped back to help and on the descent they all
came back together with Basso’s group still out front
but by only 20 seconds. By now Basso and Garzelli had
picked up two riders from the original break but their
gap stayed at near 20 seconds and soon enough they sat
up to wait for the others and the favorites were once
again together with the Maglia Rosa. Lance and Popo were
one minute behind Levi's group with Damiano Cunego
(Lampre) in tow.
Behind
Bertagnolli a full chase was in process, lead by
Pinotti and Pauwels, but there would be no catching Bertagnolli
today. It was a fine win for the Italian rider in his
second Grand Tour stage win after a previous victory in
the Vuelta.
After
the stage Navarro explained his role in today’s action
with, “The plan today was for me or Andrey (Zeits)
to go in a breakaway. The breakaway went further than
we thought. Honestly when Bertagnolli attacked, he was
too fast for me and the others. And then I preferred to
stay in the group with Levi so I could help him until
the end.” Dani continued: “It
was incredibly hot and I did a lot of effort today. I
hope to recuperate tonight and be ready for tomorrow since
tomorrow is such a key stage of the Giro.”
Sports Director Alain Gallopin added,
“The course was very hard but we never thought that
we would have such a fight. The attack of Liquigas was
well calculated. They had good knowledge of the course.
We were ready to react but we stayed neutral.” Regarding
how Lance Armstrong felt on the stage Gallopin said, “I
think it was a good day for Lance. We saw that he suffered
at the end, but he was present the whole day, especially
when the race heated up. Tactically we decided to have
someone in the front. The situation showed it was a good
option. I think we did a good job because when you look
at what we have tomorrow it was perfect that we could
economize our forces today.”
Everything
about Monday’s stage 16 is big. The mileage is 237km,
the climbs are huge and the final uphill climb to Monte
Petrano may decide who wins or loses the centenary edition
of this year’s Giro d’Italia. Gallopin says,
“In my eyes tomorrow will be
the most difficult stage of the Giro because of the elevation
and the various tactics we will see. We will be ready.
The only thing that worries me is that today Di Luca showed
that he is very strong. We also saw that Menchov found
some allies so we have to be attentive.”
Levi added, “(The race)
Already exploded and tomorrow is the hard day!” Oh
yes, we love the hard days!
Concurrenten zetten Menchov in
de luwteDenis Menchov geeft geen krimp bij aanvallen van
Basso en Di Luca
In
de vijftiende etappe van de Giro kreeg klassementsleider
Denis Menchov de eerste serieuze aanval op de roze trui
te verwerken. Ivan Basso en Stefano Garzelli
namen tot bijna anderhalve minuut voorsprong, maar de Russische
kopman van de Raboploeg bleef rustig en had in Danilo
Di Luca, Carlos Sastre en Levi Leipheimer
voldoende bondgenoten om de schade te herstellen. Leonardo
Bertagnolli won als laatste overlever van een kopgroep van
veertien de etappe.
Het
was wel onverwacht spannend. Lange tijd leek het erop,
dat de Raboploeg in de achtervolging op de veertien vluchters
alles goed onder controle had. Menchov was goed omringd.
Ondanks het toch niet bepaald gemakkelijke profiel van
de rit had hij aan de voet van de voorlaatste beklimming
nog altijd zijn zeven resterende ploegmaats bij zich.
De helpers kregen het echter zwaar toen de ploeg van Ivan
Basso het commando overname en het tempo stevig opvoerde.
Een voor een vielen ze weg. Alleen Menchov en Ten Dam
bleven over.
plaatste vervolgens een paar aanvallen. "Eenmaal
reageerde Denis en eenmaal Di Luca. Bij de derde demarrage
bleven ze beiden zitten. Denis kon wel, maar je hoeft
toch niet voortdurend te blijven reageren op iemand die
drie minuten achter staat? Bovendien was het nog ver."
Ploegleider Erik Breukink raakte niet
van de kook in zijn volwagen. "Ik heb nooit het gevoel
gehad dat het link zou worden. Ook niet toen Danilo Di
Luca aanviel of toen Laurens lek reed. Dat was wel
een jammerlijk moment, want een mannetje bij je kopman
is toch wel een stuk prettiger."
Voldoende
mankracht
Menchov en Breukink kregen gelijk. Er was
nog voldoende mankracht over achter Basso en Garzelli
om de twee aanvallers tot de orde te roepen. Menchov had
even steun van Laurens ten Dam, tot die met een lekke
band terug Basso moest. Maar ook Carlos Sastre,
Danilo di Luca en Levi Leipheimer staken een helpende
hand toe. De rozetruidrager kon weer in de luwte blijven.
"Het mooie is, dat Denis bij alle schermutselingen
van de afgelopen twee dagen geen nodeloze energie heeft
verspild. Voorlopig verloopt de Giro voor ons volgens
het boekje", lachte Breukink.
Of
dat maandag nog zo is, moeten we afwachten, vindt ook
de Rabo-ploegleider. "Ik
denk dat de etappe van maandag tot de belangrijkste rit
van deze Giro kan uitgroeien. In de finale gaat het alleen
maar omhoog en omlaag en de aankomst is op een serieuze
en zware col. Denis is goed, maar de concurrentie is dat
ook. Ze zijn heel erg aan elkaar gewaagd. Di Luca toont
dagelijks aan, dat er nog geen sleet op zit. Sastre wordt
zelfs beter. Leipheimer op het punt van breken? Dat geloof
ik niet. Dat is een taaie. Hij gaat er dan wel af, maar
komt altijd weer terug. We zijn nog niet van hem af."
24-May-2009: A
disappointing day for all in the Giro.
The
15th stage of the Giro started well for the Cervélo
TestTeam. "The mandate
was clear," said Sports Director Jean-Paul
van Poppel. "Make the race hard, go in the breakaways
and get somebody in the break who could help Carlos at
the end. Same strategy as yesterday. Today the boys did
well again, we had Serge in the breakaway 16 km from the
start and he did a marvellous job, ending up with Bertagnolli
at the top of the last climb.
At
that time, Basso had escaped and Carlos asked Serge to
wait. Of course this is something that happens hundreds
of times a year in cycling, nothing special. In fact,
a little earlier Basso had his teammate Stangelj drop
back from Serge’s breakaway to help him. Maybe Serge
didn't understand, but we let him know a couple of times
that he really had to wait. Unfortunately Serge didn’t
stop at the top of the last climb, as he was told. If
he had done that, he would have rejoined the Sastre group
while it was still 40 seconds behind Basso and it would
have made perfect sense. Now what happened was that Sastre's
group gets closer to Basso's group even without the help
of Serge.
Instead
he slowed down at the bottom of the hill, and by that
time it wasn’t necessary anymore as the Basso group
had been caught already, so it looked silly. Of course,
looking back it’s easy to say that if Serge doesn’t
get called back he may win the stage, and he certainly
looked to have the strength to do that, but at the time
the call was made Carlos really thought he needed the
help. At the time Serge actually slowed down, the situation
had already changed and it was no longer necessary. A
tough pill to swallow for the team, especially Serge,
but his time will come.
“I
was so torn”, explains Serge Pauwels. “I
know that my job is to help Carlos, that’s what I
signed up for when I started this Giro. So I know that
I should drop back to help him immediately when he asks,
that’s part of the game. But it was so difficult,
because I could see that I had a chance to win this stage,
and that would have been so amazing. By delaying the moment
where I waited, we look pretty stupid. Lesson learned.”
“It was bad timing for us,”
reports Jean-Paul van Poppel. “It’s
not easy for a small team like ours to try and put a rider
on the final podium in the Giro. Sacrifices have to be
made to make that happen, but everybody agreed that was
our goal at the start. Of course it is easy to say that
Serge deserves the chance to go for the victory, but it
is also fair to say that over the past 10 years, Carlos
has earned the right to have the team support him when
he feels he needs it.
Today,
a sacrifice was made that in retrospect wasn’t needed.
The whole team would have loved to see Serge win a stage,
and if the final information about the Sastre group catching
Basso had reached the front team car a few seconds
earlier, it might all have ended differently. But that
shows the highs and lows of the sport, yesterday we get
a brilliant victory by Simon Gerrans, today we’re
the losers of the day.”
