COMUNICATI
STAMPA DALLA CORSA
World
champion rounds off strong team display
Cavendish:
Finished it off in style for third win
18th
May 2012 - Mark Cavendish claimed his
third win of this year's Giro d'Italia with a dominant
triumph on stage 13.
Also see
His
Team Sky team-mates had been prominent for
much of the short 121 kilometres stage from Savona
and were on the front when it mattered coming into
the finish in Cervere.
They
took it up from Saxo Bank with 1.5km to go
on the long finishing straight, though Orica-GreenEDGE
burst to the head of affairs inside the final
400m as they looked to tee up Matthew Goss.
But
Cavendish kept his nerve superbly, first latching
onto the wheel of Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Barracuda)
and then briefly checking his sprint until the gap
came.
When
it did the response was instant as the world champion
accelerated up the inside and quickly settled it,
crossing the line more than a bike length in front
of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), with Mark
Renshaw (Rabobank) in third.
The
victory, his 10th individual stage at the Giro,
extended his lead in the points classification race.
He now has 106 points, to Goss' 75.
"I’m
really, really happy and it’s nice to finally
get another win," said 
Cavendish,
who also won stages two and five but was taken out
in a big crash when having every chance at the end
of the third stage.
Perfect
timing The
guys went out and just rode their hearts out today
and I’m so, so proud. After they did that I had
to win; I had to find some gap to get through.
"It
was just a question of waiting for that moment and
then taking my chance. It was a headwind finish which
probably played into my hands a little bit after leaving
it late."
Reflecting
on the heavy crash on the third stage just before
the race transferred from Denmark to Italy, he added:
"I’m feeling better
again every day. I came into the Giro in really good
form and ideally I’d have liked to have been
able to kind of relax through the first week but the
crash changed all that.
"It
took me a week to fully recover and get my legs back
again. The guys are really looking after me though;
they are keeping me protected throughout the stages
which is perfect and I want to go to Milan and win
the points jersey."
With
the bunch all finishing together it means the overall
standings are unchanged, Joaquim Rodríguez
(Katusha) leading the way by 17 seconds from Ryder
Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda).
Team
Sky pair Rigoberto Urán and Sergio
Henao remain 12th and 15th respectively, 1:10
and 1:27 adrift.
Sports
Director Steven de Jongh told us: "It
was a bit nervous in the car for us but Mark kept
really calm, the gap opened up he showed fantastic
acceleration.
"In
the lead-out our guys waited and waited, using Saxo
Bank really well when they moved to the front. And
then GreenEDGE came really fast but in the end Mark
took the victory and in sprinting sometimes you have
to profit from other teams."
Heading
to the hills
The
focus now switches sharply to the mountains for much
of the remainder of the race, starting with Saturday's
206km test in the Alps from Cherasco to Cervinia.
De
Jongh added: "The next
two days see a complete change, both having tough
finishes. The emphasis is now on Rigoberto
and Sergio who are are in good shape so we'll
see what happens."
Climbing
had been the order of the day early on in Friday's
route, with the first 30km almost all uphill.
Martijn
Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Francesco Failli
(Farnese Vini) broke clear of the pack inside
the first 2km and were allowed to build up a lead
of 5:36.
However
they were always kept well within range and by the
time of the intermediate sprint with 38km remaining,
which saw Cavendish pick up more points in
third, their advantage was less than a minute.
The
catch came just before the 20km to go banner as the
sprinters' teams began to mass on the front, FDJ-BigMat
having been to the fore for a long way with Team Sky,
while Garmin-Barracuda, Orica-GreenEDGE, Rabobank
and Saxo Bank also started to show their hand.
It
all set up an absorbing sprint finish, with Goss
getting first run before Cavendish asserted
himself in the final 100 metres.
FAVILLI,
CHE VOLATA!
(News
del 18/05/2012)
Il
giovane corridore di Venturina arriva 5° in uno
sprint tra titani
Vince
Cavendish, Guardini rimane chiuso: "Ma
voglio cercare di arrivare alla 18^ tappa, per far
vedere a tutti che ci sono anch'io negli sprint".
CERVERE
(CN)
- La 13^ tappa del Giro d'Italia è stata
condita di giallo -
fluo nei due momenti importanti di giornata; in fuga,
con Francesco Failli allo scoperto insieme
a Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM) per circa
100 km e in volata, nello sprint dominato da un inarrestabile
Mark Cavendish (Sky) che ha vinto d'autorità
su Kristoff (Katusha team) e Renshaw
(Rabobank) e dove Elia Favilli ha infilato
la sua maglia giallo - fluo, chiudendo al 5° posto
nonostante un varco mancato, altrimenti sarebbe stato
podio certo.
"Sono felice per Favilli,
si vede che ha le qualità e sa
buttarsi, mentre mi spiace per Guardini. Non
è riuscito a prendere il treno giusto e gli
è mancata la lucidità e brillantezza
necessaria. Ma Andrea qui sta crescendo, imparando
giorno dopo giorno cosa significa World Tour, e sono
sicuro che dopo questa corsa sarà molto migliorato"
- ha detto Luca Scinto ai bus dopo la corsa.
Dal
canto suo Andrea Guardini, deluso per la prestazione
di oggi ma fortificato dalla stessa, si dice pronto
a "lottare per arrivare
alla 18^ tappa, dove ci terrei a far vedere a tutti,
e ai miei colleghi, che in volata ci sono anch'io".
Una promessa a caldo che dimostra la caparbietà
del talento Veronese, ora pronto a lottare contro
le prime grandi montagne, domani.
5/18/2012
"Giro
d´Italia": Kristoff 2nd, Rodriguez keeps
the jersey
Alexander
Kristoff entered
the podium of the 13th stage of "Giro d´Italia",
from Savona to Cervere: in the last
stage dedicated to sprinters, the Norwegian National
Champion caught a good second position, right behind
the World Champion Mark Cavendish (Sky).
Mark
Renshaw (Rabobank) completed the podium. Nothing
changed in general classification: Joaquim Rodriguez
is still the leader, with 17´´ over
Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) and 26´´
over Sandy Casar (FDJ).
Rodriguez:
"Today finally it was quite a calm stage for
us: other team 
leaded
the group, we managed to reach a good position with
Alexander Kristoff. Anyways, in this kind of finishing
line, Cavendish seems undefeatable. Tomorrow
there will be the first crucial uphill: it will be
hard because everybody starts to be tired, we hadn´t
a rest day since a lot.
It
won´t be a suitable climbing for my characteristics:
I prefer shorter and steeper pendence. So we´ll
see what we can do: the main goal is to lose not a
lot, or maybe to gain as much as we can".
Kristoff:
"Finally I managed to
do a good rush, at my best. I´m happy because
it was the last stage designed for sprinters, so I
strongly wanted to do something good. I lost against
the best sprinter of the world now, I entered the
podium, so I can say I´m satisfied with my performance".
Giro
d’Italia, 13^tappa
venerdì, 18 maggio 2012
- La Savona-Cervere (121 km), 13^tappa del
Giro d’Italia, è stata un breve
antipasto per il gruppo in vista della frazione di
sabato (Cherasco-Cervinia con arrivo in salita e il
Col de Joux a 46 km dal traguardo).
A Cervere si è imposta Cavendish
in uno sprint di gruppo che non ha mutato la classifica
generale, sempre guidata da Rodriguez. Bono
28° al traguardo, Scarponi e Cunego
sempre rispettivamente 13° e 16° nella graduatoria
generale.
Queste
le impressioni di Scarponi (foto Bettini) sulla
tappa di sabato: “La
tappa di Cervinia sarà la prima di massima
difficoltà, una frazione che potrà dare
indicazioni su chi sta molto bene e chi invece rischierà
di essere già fuori dai discorsi per la maglia
rosa, qualora dovesse perdere molti secondi.
C’è la possibilità che qualcuno
provi ad attaccare già sul Col de Joux,
per poi magari guadagnare ulteriore margine qualora
la discesa dovesse essere bagnata dalla pioggia. Mi
vengono in mente corridori come Pozzovivo e
Rujano come quelli che cercheranno di smuovere
la situazione. Assieme ai tecnici della squadra e
a Cunego valuteremo come muoverci, per provare
a sfruttare al meglio il nostro potenziale”.
Giro
d'Italia Stage 13: Evolution of a Sprint Train
19
May 12 -
Sports Director Matt White had toyed with the
idea of having Matt Goss sit out the sprint
on the shortest road stage of the Giro d’Italia.
Ultimately, he decided the opportunity to fine-tune
the sprint train one last time could not be missed.
Orica-GreenEDGE massed to ahead of the stage
finish in Cervere. Goss finished off their work with
a sixth place finish.
“We
knew Gossy wasn’t 100%, but we decided we wanted
one more sprint practice,” said White.
“The boys did a very
good leadout. Their timing was perfect. You could
see in the sprint that Goss wasn’t his normal
self, but it wasn’t about the result today. It
was about the process, and I’m very happy with
the progress the guys have made since we started to
work on the train.”
The
short blast began with an 11 kilometer uphill start.
Over the climb, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM)
and Francesco Falli (Farnese Vini) escaped
from the bunch. The duo gained a maximum advantage
of 5:27, 38 kilometers into the 121 kilometer stage.
Sky
Procycling set the tempo, easily keeping the break
in check, as Astana, Lampre-ISD and Liquigas-Canandole
stayed toward the front to keep their leaders out
of trouble. As the gap crept down on the long, flat
roads, White sent Christian Meier to the front to
contribute to the chase. The field caught the break
just outside of the final 20 kilometers.
“We
had Christian handle the break, and we left
the other guys to do work before the climb ahead of
the finish,” explained
White. “We
had six riders on the front with 20 kilometers left
to race.”
In
the closing kilometers, Orica-GreenEDGE jostled
for position alongside Rabobank, Saxo Bank and Sky
Procycling, with Orica-GreenEDGE in clear control
at the two kilometer mark. Daryl Impey pulled off
just past the flamme rouge and left Brett Lancaster
to drive Goss towards the line.
“The
transformation this train has made from Brett
and Gossy working together in Turkey to the
inclusion of Daryl today is incredible,”
said White. “The evolution
of the train gives us confidence as we look forward
to bigger things.”
Mark
Cavendish (Sky Procycling) ultimately took the
stage win, his third in this year’s edition of
the race. The top-ten overall was left untouched with
Joaquim Rodriquez (Katusha) in pink with one
week left to race.
Asked
what he tells his riders on the eve of a weekend spent
in the high mountains, White laughed.
“I
tell them to pray,” he joked. “We’ll
take a trip down to church this evening.”
“The
next couple of days are all about survival,”
he continued, more seriously. “These
big mountain stages are not for our riders –
especially after the work the team has been doing.”
Orica-GreenEDGE
will start the weekend two riders down as Goss
and Lancaster pull out of the Giro ahead of
stage 14.
“We
achieved a big goal winning a stage with Matt,”
said White. “It’s
obvious after his crash that he’s not at his
best. The next part of the Giro is not the most optimal
place for him to recuperate and start aiming for his
goals in the second part of the season, so we have
taken the decision to end his Giro here. In fact,
the original plan was to have him exit after this
first part of the race.”
“As
for Brett, he was brought into the race on quite short
notice,” White continued.
“He did great in both the
prologue and the sprint train. He will also take a
rest now ahead of his next goals. This leaves us with
a really good perspective for the rest of the team.
We have a group of riders who can go into breaks and
look to get another stage win for us. So, we go from
being a team that looks to keep things together for
the sprint to a team that can have an aggressive approach
to the remaining stages.”
The
sprinters had it their way in stage 13 of the Giro
d'Italia. World Champion Mark Cavendish
confidently won his third sprint victory in Cervere,
ahead of Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha)
and the Australian Mark Renshaw (Rabobank).
Kim
Andersen: "There's
not much to say about today. It was a short stage,
with an expected sprint finish. We kept Fränk
safe and told Giacomo that he go for the sprint."
The
break of the day had only two riders in it: Martijn
Keizer (Vacensoleil) and Franceso Failli
(Farnese Vini). Andersen:
"They went clear almost from the gun and didn't
find much resistance. I think the peloton is starting
to get tired. It's been a while since the rest day
after stage 3."
The
two leaders had established a gap of five-and-a-half
minutes with 40km covered, with Team Sky and
FDJ controlling in the peloton. They were caught with
24 kilometers to go.
Giacomo
Nizzolo was RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK's top finisher,
in 17th place.
Andersen:
"You can really feel
how the peloton has the two mountain stages of the
weekend in mind. Tomorrow is hard, but there’s
a long flat part before the climbing starts, so that's
ok, but sunday is even harder. It starts off with
a hard climb, so I think some riders are getting scared."
Giro
d'Italia, Stage 13: Entering
The Final Week
18.05.2012, Cervere, Italy
Danilo
Wyss finished 14th for the BMC Racing Team in
Friday's sprint finish at the Giro d'Italia
as attention now turns to more decisive stages in
the race's final week.
Phinney
Improving
World
road champion Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling)
won his third
stage while the overall standings remained unchanged
with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha Team) still
leading.
BMC
Racing Team's Taylor Phinney, who wore the
pink jersey of leader for the race's first three days,
finished with the peloton. "He's
feeling good and coming around," BMC
Racing Team Assistant Director Max Sciandri
said. "Obviously he's
had three crashes and struggled a bit, but he's getting
better on a daily basis. We still have our sights
set on getting him through the final week and to the
last time trial in Milano."
As
the race begins a difficult final week with a mountain-top
finish Saturday, the BMC Racing Team has three
riders within 2:10 of the lead: Ivan Santaromita
(fifth overall), Johann Tschopp (20th) and
Marco Pinotti (24th). "We
have a big mountain stage tomorrow and there may be
some bad weather moving in, too,"
Sciandri said. "All
of our top guys have to anticipate moves. They're
not among the big favorites so you could see them
get away like Ivan did on Thursday."
Reto
Hollenstein has to give up the Giro after crash
GIRO | 18.05.2012
Team
NetApp was hit by the misfortune of crashes in
the 13th stage of 
the
Giro. Reto Hollenstein was brought to the hospital
with a broken collarbone and had to give up the race.
In the mass sprint in Cervere, Mark Cavendish (Sky)
picked up his third stage victory, relegating Alexander
Kristoff (Katusha) and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank)
to second and third place.
Daniel
Schorn ended the race in 22nd place. Joaquin
Rodriguez Oliver (Katusha) will continue to wear
the overall leader's maglia rosa; Bartosz Huzarski
is defending the 17th position in the general classification.
"Everything
simply went wrong today. Reto crashed on the
descent at kilometer 23, meaning that tomorrow we
will be one man down. We still don't know what led
to the crash. Of course we had hoped to bring all
riders all the way to Milan, but these kinds of things
do happen in racing. What's important now is for Reto
to get healthy again as quickly as possible,"
Sport Director Jens Heppner commented.
After
the crash Team NetApp no longer managed to
find its true rhythm. "Sometimes
it's the stages that are supposed to be easier where
such accidents happen. Cesare Benedetti also
crashed a couple of kilometers before the finish.
After that, preparing the sprint for Daniel Schorn
just didn't work out very well. Now we have to
pull ourselves together and head to the starting line
tomorrow with renewed energy," Heppnersaid
after the race.
Tomorrow
the first of the five high mountain stages awaits
the riders. The course from Cherasco to Cervinia
covers 206 kilometers. The first 140 kilometers are
still relatively flat, but then comes the first mountain
classification (cat. 1) with the Col de Joux,
before ending the race with a summit finish in Cervinia.
The final ascent is 27 kilometers long and has an
incline of up to 12%.
