COMUNICATI
STAMPA DALLA CORSA
Sastre
wins Giro Stage 16
25-May-2009:
Carlos Sastre won today's Stage 16 with a brilliant
solo attack on the last climb of the day attacking with
7 km to go and overtaking in the last 2 km Astana's Yaroslav
Popovych. He was able to finish 25 seconds ahead of
maglia rosa holder Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Danilo
Di Luca (LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini) who was one second
behind Menchov. Sastre now sits in third place in the
GC 2'19" behind Menchov.
"The
sixteenth stage of this year's Giro has been a very important
day for me and the rest of the team," Carlos
Sastre commented after his win.
"Thanks to the whole team’s hard work I was
able to secure a very nice and very important stage victory.
"I
felt protected by my team mates throughout the day, who
were close by at all times, giving me water when I needed
it. Then, in the last part of the race, Serge Pauwels
made a very important play that allowed me to see that
some riders were struggling. That made me ride on stronger
upon seeing a chance to get past the odd rider and earn
important time against riders who were ahead of me in
the general classification.
"Tomorrow
is the second rest day of this Giro, which will come in
really well for many of us. This race won't finish until
we reach Rome, there are two mountain finish stages left
and anything could happen. I came to this Giro with the
intention of really going for it and I'm here to continue
doing so."
"It
was the third day in a row that was super hard and we
knew this was the day it should happen," said
Sports Director Jean-Paul Van Poppel after the
stage, "It was the day we shouldn't talk
anymore; we should talk with the legs. And it happened!
"Like
a dream come true, the final climb shows up. Serge did
a good lead out and after that the big boys tried to attack
a few times. Carlos waited a little bit until Basso was
finished with his attack and then he goes two times in
a row, killing the other ones, getting the stage victory.
Now he is third in the GC, so nothing to complain about."
Yaroslav
Popovych: pure power, pure class
Stage
16: Pergola to Monte Petrano, 237km/147mi
By
Cathy Mehl
Team
Astana General Manager and master tactician Johan
Bruyneel had a plan today and Yaroslav Popovych was
instrumental in making it work. Early in the stage Popo
went with the move of the day, placing himself in a day-long
break, only to be heartbreakingly caught with 2km to go.
But the power and racing-savvy that Popovych displayed
throughout the stage made for nail-biting racing up to
his untimely catch so close to the uphill finish.
Since
the route was announced for the centenary Giro d’Italia,
Stage 16 has long been touted as the decisive stage in
this year’s race, and today’s action to Monte
Petrano certainly lived up to the hype. Sitting in
5th place at the beginning of the stage at 2.52 back from
leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Carlos
Sastre (Cervelo) attacked on the final climb of Monte
Petrano with 7km to go, reminiscent of his Tour
de France race-winning attack on Alpe d’Huez
last year.
No
one immediately responded and the Spaniard rode steadily
upward, picking off Popovych at 2km to go. Ivan
Basso tried to catch him but was picked off too as Menchov
and Danilo Di Luca (LPR) re-grouped to minimize
the time gains for Sastre, who moved into third
on general classification behind the LPR rider.
At the bottom of the climb Levi Leipheimer lost
contact with the Maglia Rosa and teammate Lance
Armstrong dropped back to pace him up the climb, trying
to minimize the loses on a difficult day, but he lost
two-and-a-half minutes and dropped to 6th place overall.
While there are still two climbing stages and a time trial
to go, Denis Menchov is appearing steady-as-a-rock in
the Maglia Rosa, poised to win his third Grand Tour.
It
was another very hot day for the 175 riders remaining
in the 92nd Giro d’Italia as the peloton climbed
in the high mountains on the eastern side of Italy. A
total of 20 riders went away after 20km of racing and
included Popovych, Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank),
Gabriele Bosisio (LPR), Damiano Cunego (Lampre),
and Michele Scarponi (Serramenti Diquigiovanni).
This
powerful group also included two Rabobank riders
from Menchov’s team to help ease the required
efforts to chase from the peloton. With the climbs stacked
on the back half of the stage the leaders built a large
time gap of almost seven minutes. With Popovych
at nine minutes back on GC, Menchov was forced
to keep a careful eye on the advantage gained by the breakaway.
Narrow roads, hot sunshine and plenty of excited and enthusiastic
fans greeted the riders with bottles of water to dump
on their heads on every climb, urging them forward on
a long, tough day in the saddle that last more than seven
hours.
With
60km to go Scarponi attacked, followed by Cunego,
then Popovych and Bosisio. The four quickly
dropped the remainder of the break and formed the new
lead group with a minute to the closest chasers and more
than five minutes to the Menchov group. All the
heads of state remained by the Maglia Rosa. But
Scarponi suffered greatly on the second-to-last
climb and was dropped, as was Bosisio when he overcooked
a turn and then suffered a mechanical. Popo used his mad-descending
skills to distance Cunego and by the bottom of
the final climb to Monte Petrano he held 32 seconds
to Cunego and more than two-minutes to the Maglia
Rosa group. However once Sastre started his
rapid assault on the mountain the gap was not enough and
Popo’s valiant efforts were nullified with just over
2km to go.
Sastre
motored on to take the stage win, as behind him Basso
attacked in his own effort to gain time. Di Luca and
Menchov marked each other but stayed together with
Menchov out-sprinting Di Luca for 2nd place
to take the bonification seconds. Sastre only gained
34-seconds, but the time loses from Leipheimer and Franco
Pellizotti (Liquigas) rocketed him from 6th to 3rd
with five stages to go.
Post-race
Popovych said, “The
last 7km they told me in my radio that Sastre was coming,
really fast, chasing me. I did not want to believe it.
When he finally passed me I lost all my pedaling force.
What a day—I stayed in the breakaway for 240km. So
difficult. In the beginning of the Monte Petrano
my legs felt very tired and I knew that behind me were
the top classification riders who would attack for the
GC. The tactic was good. Johan asked me to go in the breakaway,
which I did. And now... We have nothing after such a crazy
day, so it is with this sport..." concluded
a clearly disappointed Popo.
Levi
Leipheimer
explained his situation with, "Immediately
in the beginning of the last climb I felt that my legs
did not follow any more. Fortunately Lance helped me.
I think in the beginning he didn't’t know I was dropped.
Without him I would have lost much more time--he saved
me minutes. Let's hope I can recover from this. Wednesday
there is the Blockhouse."
Johan
Bruyneel also weighed in with: “The
plan was tactically perfect but... It's logical after
such a long breakaway and after Popo’s incredible
effort in the downhill that his forces would diminish.
Of course we hoped at the bottom of the climb, but the
difference in speed was so high, that it was basically
impossible for Popo. It was a great tactical race
for the team and such a strong performance from Popovych.
I think the strongest guy won today. No doubt about that
so no regrets. On the other hand Levi did not have
the legs on the last climb. So we tried to limit the damages.
It was good to see how Lance helped Levi all the way to
the finish. It was great teamwork." A
reflective Bruyneel concluded with, "We
lost the podium today. It is not possible anymore to win
the Giro but we still give it a try to get Levi
on the podium in Rome. Maybe he just had a bad day. There
is nothing to regret. We gave everything we could."
GIRO
D'ITALIA. 16° TAPPA. PERGOLA - MONTE PETRANO.
Scarponi
si gioca il tutto per tutto nella tappa di casa: si prende
il rischio di tentare una fuga da lontano con altre 15
unità, ci emoziona, rimane in testa con Cunego,
Bosisio e Popovich, poi, stremato dalla fatica, cede
terreno e posizioni.
Una
gran prova di coraggio.
Bene
i sud americani Serpa e Rodriguez che concludono
la tappa odierna con i migliori. Le 3 salite impegnative
ed un caldo torrido inaspettato, hanno messo a dura prova
gli atleti: ne ha pagato le spese il capitano Gilberto
Simoni che ormai non pensa più alla classifica
generale ma spera in una vittoria di tappa. Dopo il giorno
di riposo, previsto per domani, si riprenderà mercoledì
con il Blockhaus.
"Gibo"
Simoni dopo l'arrivo
©
Photo Andrea Magnani
Cunego, splendida fuga nel tappone
Ci
ha provato con grinta e coraggio. Damiano Cunego
ha tentato di far sua la frazione più impegnativa
del Giro d’Italia, la 16^tappa da Pergola
a Monte Petrano, con un attacco portato da lontanissimo:
partito in avanscoperta dopo pochi chilometri in compagnia
di circa 20 corridori (poi ridottisi nel numero col passare
dei chilometri), l’atleta della Lampre-NGC ha visto
dissolversi sull’ascesa del Monte Petrano la possibilità
di vincere la corsa.
Cunego è stato abile a unirsi alla prima
fuga buona della giornata, dovendo però fare presto
i conti con un episodio sfortunato: per evitare la caduta
di Brutt, Cunego ha colpito con la coscia
sinistra il guard rail, procurandosi una contusione che
però non gli ha impedito, dopo aver ricevuto assistenza
medica, di pedalare con efficacia sull’ascesa delle
Cesane, per poi attaccare in compagnia di Popovych,
Bosisio e Scarponi sull’ascesa del
Monte Nerone e transitare in tre (Cunego, Popovych
e Bosisio) in cima al Monte Catria.
In
discesa, però, dopo che Bosisio era finito
fuori gioco per una scivolata, Cunego non è
riuscito a seguire uno spericolato Popovych, il
quale si è presentato sull’ultima salita del
Monte Petrano con una manciata di secondi su Damiano,
divario che però è cresciuto con l’avvicinarsi
del traguardo.
Da
dietro, intanto, nel gruppo della maglia rosa è
scoppiata la bagarre, con Sastre all’attacco
seguito direttamente da Basso, Menchov e
Di Luca, mentre Bruseghin ha dovuto salutare
la compagnia e tenere un’andatura regolare: prima
Cunego, poi Popovych sono stati superati
dagli uomini di classifica, con Sastre primo sulla
linea d’arrivo. Bruseghin ha tagliato il traguardo
in 21^ posizione a 3’54” dal vincitore, mentre
uno stremato Cunego ha ottenuto il 23° posto a 5’01”.
In
classifica generale, Menchov ha conservato la maglia rosa;
Bruseghin ha perso 3 posizioni e ora è 11°
a 11’06”, mentre Cunego occupa la 16^
posizione a 14’29”.
Dopo aver ripreso fiato all’arrivo, Cunego
ha così commentato la sua lunga giornata: “Siamo
partiti subito all’attacco, con tanta voglia di centrare
un bel risultato. E’ stata dura, sia per il percorso
molto impegnativo che per il caldo, ma davanti siamo andati
forte e in cima al Monte Nerone siamo rimasti in
pochi. All’imbocco del Catria ho provato ad
attaccare perché ho visto gli altri fuggitivi molto
stanchi, ma ho poi dovuto cedere il passo a Popovych
in discesa: l’ucraino ha preso rischi incredibili
nel tratto sterrato di discesa e ha guadagnato un piccolo
margine che ho tentato di colmare senza però riuscirci.
Sull’ultima salita ho accusato la fatica e non ho
potuto più fare nulla”.
Lucida
l’analisi di Bruseghin sulla sua prestazione:
“Sono arrivato ai piedi
dell’ultima salita già a tutta e non mi è
stato possibile né seguire gli attacchi dei migliori,
né recuperare con un paso regolare”.
QUICK
STEP CYCLING TEAM
KEVIN
SEELDRAEYERS IN MAGLIA BIANCA
25
maggio 2009 - Oggi, lunedì 25 maggio, nella
16a tappa del Giro d?Italia Pergola-Monte Petrano di
237 km Kevin Seeldraeyers, 22 anni, ha conquistato
la maglia bianca che contraddistingue il primato nella
speciale classifica riservata ai giovani.
Il
giovane corridore belga del Team QUICK STEP, che
nella stagione 2009 ha già indossato la maglia
bianca sulle strade della Paris-Nice, si conferma
così tra i giovani scalatori più promettenti
a livello internazionale.
"Oggi
-spiega Seeldraeyers - tutta
la squadra ha cercato di correre in mio appoggio. Ieri
avevamo notato che in salita lo svedese Lövkvist
era in difficoltà, ma dovevamo fare molta attenzione
anche a Masciarelli. Nella tappa di oggi ho cercato di
restare con i migliori fino a quando ho potuto e nel finale
ho cercato di mantenere un discreto margine di vantaggio
sui miei diretti avversari nella classifica della maglia
bianca. Questo per me è un risultato molto importante
- continua il belga - considerata
l?alta qualità degli atleti in gara".
CADUTA
PER DAVIDE MALACARNE
Brutta
caduta per Davide Malacarne che nella discesa dal
Monte delle Cesane è scivolato a terra riportando
una profonda ferita all'altezza della coscia destra battendo
violente anche la schiena. Il giovane corridore del Team
QUICK STEP, che ha comunque portato a termine la tappa
odierna, domani potrà beneficiare del giorno di
riposo per recuperare e sottoporsi ad eventuali accertamenti.
Laurens:
´Zelfs Armstrong betoonde zijn respect´Laurens
ten Dam ziet het respect voor de Rabojongens groeien.
De rit van maandag maakt veel los.
25/05/09
-
Een
mooie klassering voor Laurens ten Dam (op de foto met
Lance Armstrong in zijn wiel) zit er deze Giro
niet meer in, maar daar ligt hij niet wakker van. De roze
trui komt steeds vaster in handen van de ploeg. Een topsucces
gloort aan de horizon. Nu kan hij al genieten van het
respect, dat zijn ploeg krijgt in het peloton. Dat wordt
iedere dag meer, met maandag als toppunt. "Ik
merkte het al tijdens de rit en op weg naar de top van
de slotklim. Alle renners die ik tegenkwam hadden het
er over. Eerder zelfs Lance Armstrong. Dat was een geweldige
ervaring."
Ooit
als ploeg zo dominant gereden in een etappe op dit niveau?
"Nee, absoluut niet. Het
was onvoorstelbaar zwaar, maar ik heb toch iedere kilometer
genoten. Het was een fantastische dag van de ploeg. De
voldoening is super. Bij iedereen. Je had ze onze teambus
in moeten zien komen. Ook de jongens uit de laatste 'bus'.
Respect, diep respect. Ik denk dat Bram de Groot,
Jos van Emden en Tom Stamsnijder nooit hadden
durven denken dat ze in een bergetappe als vandaag zo'n
rol zouden kunnen spelen. En daar bleef het niet bij.
We hebben allemaal met hart en ziel gereden en tot de
laatste snik, maar het resultaat is er dan ook naar."
Hoe
werd er onderweg door de andere ploegen op jullie rijden
gereageerd?
"Het lag er dik op, dat
ze nog meer respect voor ons hebben gekregen. We hebben
vandaag met de ploeg iets afgedwongen wat kostbaar is.
Heel veel respect en bewondering in het peloton. Een voorbeeldje:
In de etappe over Sestrières vertelde ik Lance
Armstrong dat hij mij pijn had gedaan toen hij een hele
klim op kop reed. Komt Armstrong vandaag ineens naast
me rijden om te vertellen, dat wij hem dit keer heel veel
pijn hadden gedaan. Zelfs hij betoonde zijn respect."
Denk
je dat dat gewonnen respect nog een rol kan spelen de
komende dagen?
"Misschien wel. Vandaag
hielp het in elk geval wel. Ik weet wel zeker dat de andere
favorieten niet wisten wat ze zagen met al die Rabo's
vooraan. En dat bijna de hele etappe. Ons tempo was ook
strak. Te strak voor velen om aan te gaan vallen. Op de
slotbeklimming heb ik het laten lopen, want mijn werk
zat er op, maar alle renners die ik onderweg tegenkwam,
begonnen er over. De verbazing, maar vooral de bewondering
is groot."
De
mythe dat je met een leiderstrui in een grote ronde in
de ploeg een stapje meer kunt zetten, is dus geen mythe?
"Nee, want we merken het
nu zelf. Iedereen krijgt meer zelfvertrouwen en dan rijd
je toch gemakkelijker. Met de borst vooruit was het vandaag
en woensdag nog meer natuurlijk. De moraal is geweldig.
We voelen onze benen natuurlijk wel na al dat klimwerk
van vandaag. We hebben zeveneenhalf tot acht uur op de
fiets gezeten. En we hebben ons allemaal voor meer dan
honderd procent gegeven. Maar de stemming is goed."
Hoe
gaat het nu verder denk je?
"Ik begin bijna te geloven
dat Sastre de gevaarlijkste klant gaat worden. En we moeten
nog het meeste oppassen in de ritjes waarin je het niet
verwacht. De etappe naar de Blockhaus is een lastige,
maar volgens mij zit er meer venijn in de rit van de volgende
dag. Dan moeten we uit het vertrek meteen tegen een col
op. Daar zou een vroege ontsnapping met de verkeerde mannen
wel eens gevaarlijk kunnen zijn. Dat terrein is meteen
vanaf de start lastig te controleren. Maar het vertrouwen
is er zeker.
COLUMBIA-HIGHROAD’S
MARTIN AIMS FOR STRONG RIDE IN HOME RACE
San
Luis Obispo, CA – May 26, 2009 -
Back after a three-week break, Columbia-Highroad’s
Tony Martin is aiming for a top performance
in the Bayern Rundfahrt in Germany, which starts
on Wednesday. The leading German stage race, Bayern runs
from May 27th to May 31st, with a very hilly stage on
Thursday and a 26-kilometre time trial on Saturday as
the two main challenges.
“It’s
my first ever Bayern Rundfahrt and after a long break
like the one I’ve had you never know exactly how
you’ll go when you get back into racing. But on paper
it could suit me,” Martin says.
“Hopefully I can get through
the hilly stage without losing too much time. The main
climb looks like it’s not too tough, we gain about
600 metres in altitude each time we go over it. Then assuming
that stage goes well, I’ll go all out in the time
trial. The time trial is my kind of distance, and I’ve
been told that it’s not too technical, with just
a couple of short climbs, so that will be good for me
and [World time trial champion and Columbia-Highroad
teammate] Bert Grabsch. We’ll go and check it out
in the morning before the stage starts.”
Martin says he’s very motivated to ride on
home soil, adding, “That
also means I’m under a little bit more pressure.
This is Germany’s biggest stage race. But my break
went well. I had a week doing almost no riding, and since
then I’ve been building up steadily, including a
lot of work on the time trial bike. Bayern is the first
phase of my racing for the summer, and although I really
want to be hitting top form by the Tour of Switzerland,
it’ll be a very important indication of how well
I’m going right now.”
Columbia-Highroad
for the Bayern Rundfahrt: Marcus Burghardt
(Ger); Bert Grabsch (Ger), Andrei Greipel
(Ger); George Hincapie (USA); Tony Martin
(Ger); Maxime Monfort (Bel); Marcel Sieberg
(Ger).
