The favorites are all on the road and only the clock will tell how much
the general classification will shaken by the end of the day.
Continued
from Stage 20 Part 1 Live.
And the Falcon is about to cross the line ... Only a few hundred metres to
go for him ... Here comes Paolo Savoldelli
and ... TAKES THE LEAD! 52'20"
HE JUST DEMOLISHED OPPOSITION! Il Falco averged over 49 kph on wet roads, and
beat Zabriskie by 38 seconds. Laszlo Bodrogi was kicked down to third.
"I think I've gone fast, I hope it stays the best time until the end, for
this victory would be good for my Giro. Time gaps do not matter, I just want
my time to be the best one!" Il Falco commented straight after the stage end.
Stefano Garzelli to the line, with a poor time: 57'26"; it's the 48th time
thus far. Mazzoleni gained 01'01" over Simoni in the first half of the stage.
And Cunego took 42" out of the Saunier Duval climber in the same part of the
stage.
Watch out Gibo: your eighth time on the podium is REALLY in danger!
he will not gain that 8th podium spot, think he will finish as 5th Andy
Schleck rides on the way to the halfway point check. Schleck's time at km. 30:
27'02" He is six seconds down on Damiano Cunego too
Petrov doing poorly
today: 01'30" down on Savoldelli at the km. 30 check. For lots of riders the
rain is a spoilsport. OK everyone has the same conditions but lots of them
don't pull for 100% due to the weather. That's why we saw the poor time of
Pinotti. Parra and Piepoli cross the line at the same time, But NOT with the
same time of course.
EDDY MAZZOLENI BETTER THAN ZABRISKIE by 7 seconds at
the km. 30 check. He's twenty seconds down on Paolo Savoldelli only. Bruseghin
comes to the line and breaks his right handlebar, but finished as 4th
The battle over third place seems to bet between Cunego and Mazzoleni now.
Schleck gained 14 seconds on DI Luca between the first and second time
checks, and it means it's the Luxemburgian leading the Italian by 07" now. But
this isn't much of a problem for the Maglia Rosa wearer, smartly handling his
energies.
Damiano Cunego at the km. 30 check: 38'35". He is 48 seconds down on
Mazzoleni! 54'22" for Pellizoti at the finish: that's the seventh best
time thus far. Straight behind Ignatiev's.
1716 CEST It looks like Eddy Mazzoleni has got he best chances to
climb the Milan podium now. The Astana rider is flying, while Gibo is not
flying at all, and Damiano Cunego is not flying enough.
Simoni will come next at the km. 30 check. Mazzoleni is about to enter
Verona town. Simoni is 1.26 slower than Mazzoleni he lost his podium by 10 sec
now, with 12k to go. And we think his time losses are just going to get bigger
in the last portion of the stage.
David Arroyo to the finish: 56 minutes an something for him. The Spaniard
might lose his eighth place overall to Pellizotti. and to Bruseghin as well.
Schleck: 38'01" at km. 30. it's the fifth best time there. Simoni kept a
20-second lead overall on Cunego at the last check.
Petrov comes in at
54'31" - 02'11" behind The Falcon.
15k to go for Di Luca as the weather gets slightly better.
Cunego needs to give it everything in the last few kileomtres to hold on to
his 4th place. Mazzoleni passes Ricco, so Ricco lost already 3 minutes on the
Bergamasco . Mazzoleni caught Riccó. At the 3rd time check, Schleck is 20 sec
faster than Di Luca 38'21" vs. 38'41" So now ... Di Luca has "only" a
two-minute margin on the CSC rider on GC.
Last few turns for
Eddy Mazzoleni. Here he comes ... 800m to
go. The last sprint for him, and for Riccó too. His time at the the finish is
the second best one: 52'56" and is 36 sec
slower than Il Falco; thats, 36 seconds down on Savoldelli. But two seconds
ahead of Zabriskie. But notably, his performance against the clock is more
than likely to put him onto the final podium.
1727 CEST
Cunego is getting closer to the finishing line. Di Luca and Schleck
are a few kilometres away instead. Last kilometre for Damiano. His time
is worse than Mazzoleni by over a minute with 200m to go! And by 01'41" at the
finish line: 54'37". Tenth time
1731 CEST - Breaking News: the sun over
Verona came back from a two-day vacation. Just in time to welcome Danilo Di
Luca into town. His first ever Giro d'Italia victory (as a pro) is just few
miles away. Even though Schleck is having a very solid ride against the clock.
Gibo Simoni to the line, he doesn't make the top 10 in the stage. His time is
... 55 minutes 03 seconds. He might have
saved his fourth place overall at least. Cunego down to fifth.
1734 CEST Andy Schleck is taking on the
final kilometre. His time is the fourth one ... with 300m to go. 200... 150
... 100 .. his time 53:48 and is 6th in
the stage. About one and a half minutes down on Savoldelli.
So there's only
one guy left ... the KING! Aka, the "southernmost" winner of the Giro
d'Italia. Aka, Danilo Di Luca aka "Killer of Spoltore"... Mr. Valentina.
Anyway with 1 rider to come Astana takes a beautiful 1-2 in the stage, and
with Mazzoleni on the podium it's a very sunny day in Verona for the two
Bergamasco and the Kazakh team
HERE COMES DANILO AND HE IS IN AS 8TH - HIS
TIME ... 54'17" AND WITHOUT ACCIDENTS THE
NEW WINNER OF THE GIRO D'ITALIA
He was no match for Il Falco in the
stage, but so what ... HE IS THE CHAMIPION!
PAOLOOOOO SAVOLDELLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII HAS WON THE STAGE
AAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNDDD
.....
DAAAAAANNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODIIIIIII LUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAS
WON THE GIRO (barring a catastrophe)
BUT WITH SOMEONE FROM
THE US IN MILAN TOMORROW, NO CATASTROPHE IS POSSIBLE (I meant Aaron Olson, of
course ...) Aaron and Marco will fly both on Monday to the states to take part
in the Philly race next Sunday
Eddy Mazzoleni put forth a sensational
performance to take second in the stage, and move onto the podium positions.
David "Z-Man" Zabriskie had a good performance, but had to settle for third
place only. Andy Schleck must be satisfied. okay, he may have missed both
stage victory and the Maglia Rosa, but had a very solid ride today. And showed
us one more time that the future belongs (also) to him. See you on the next GT
podium, Andy! And Riccardo Riccó saved his sixth placing from the "bad" guy
from Russia.
"I am "strafelice". I'm very, very happy. it's an extraordinary
day for me. For an Italian, the Giro is the best race ever" were Di Luca's
first after-stage words in front of the RAI cameras.
Mazzoleni thanked
Savoldelli for giving him green light and helping him in the crucial stages.
Team mate, Paolo Savoldelli said today's victory gives his Giro a new,
positive meaning after he started with the final podium as objective, but his
plans got messed up when he fell badly in the early stages. Then he also
thought about pulling out of the race, but now is glad that his team manager
Fidanza as well as Mazzoleni persuaded him to stay. So that he could get his
redemption today.
Piepioli was almost in shock when he realized a rider born
in 1985 made the podium; of course Piepoli was ... is class of 1971. And
Cunego was asked (for the 1468948947th time) about his fav music band. That
like everyone on the planet knows, are The Doors and Jim Morrison. Last and
least, Cipo praised Cunego for his improvements, and said he thinks Damiano
has got all the chances to win again.
Official Results
Stage 20: Bardolino - Verona - ITT
43 km - 52:20 49.299 km/h
1 SAVOLDELLI Paolo ITA AST 52:20
2 MAZZOLENI Eddy ITA AST 52:56 0:36
3 ZABRISKIE David USA CSC 52:58 0:38
4 BODROGI Laszlo HUN C.A 53:28 1:08
5 BRUSEGHIN Marzio ITA LAM 53:36 1:16
6 SCHLECK Andy LUX CSC 53:48 1:28
7 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA LIQ 54:04 1:44
8 DI LUCA Danilo ITA LIQ 54:17 1:57
9 IGNATIEV Mikhail RUS TCS 54:21 2:01
10 PELLIZOTTI Franco ITA LIQ 54:22 2:02
Classifica Generale after Stage 20
1 DI LUCA Danilo ITA LIQ 87:40:45
2 SCHLECK Andy LUX CSC 87:42:40 1:55
3 MAZZOLENI Eddy ITA AST 87:43:10 2:25
4 SIMONI Gilberto ITA SDV 87:44:00 3:15
5 CUNEGO Damiano ITA LAM 87:44:34 3:49
6 RICCO' Riccardo ITA SDV 87:47:45 7:00
7 PETROV Evgeni RUS TCS 87:49:19 8:34
8 BRUSEGHIN Marzio ITA LAM 87:50:59 10:14
9 PELLIZOTTI Franco ITA LIQ 87:51:29 10:44
10 ARROYO DURAN David ESP GCE 87:52:43 11:58
This concludes our live coverage of Stage 20 of
the Giro d'Italia. Full Official Results, Interviews and Photos to
follow shortly. Thanks for joining us today.
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