92nd Giro d'Italia - Stage 19 Interviews & Comments
Carlos Sastre, Denis Menchov, Danilo Di Luca, Franco Pellizotti and Gilberto Simoni After race comments from the Vesuvius summit.

Stage victor, Carlos Sastre receives his kisses from the podium misses.
Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Carlos Sastre: "This was my last chance to do something good in the race. I made a mistake in the Blockhaus stage as I started the climb too fast perhaps, and paid the price when Di Luca attacked later and I could not follow. That cost me the race, I think. I came here to win the overall but Menchov and Di Luca were just better."

"Still I'm happy with my performance. I did what I could, and I think I did fine, and so did my team, that is a brand new squad. I'm comfortable inside the team. Now I just want to go home and take some time off. I need to recover after this race, which has been fast, and run in hot temperatures. Later on, I'll start my Tour de France build-up. I think Di Luca had an impressive race. but Menchov will likely be the winner".

Denis Menchov: "I gotta respect my opponents, who are doing a very good job, so I think it's not over until the very last metres in Rome. The battle between Di Luca and me is a matter of seconds. I like being ahead of him in the GC, but still it's a close one".

Danilo Di Luca: "I tried (to drop Menchov) in every possible way today. I'm satisfied. There are some bonus seconds up for grabs tomorrow, and there is also the final stage in Rome left, so we'll see ... But Menchov is still ahead and remains the favourite".

Di Luca puts in another attack mid climb, which would blow the leaders group apart. Menchov couldn't be dropped. Garzelli climbed well to finish tenth. Levi Leipheimer, Carlos Sastre, Arroyo and Lance Armstrong are follow. Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Franco Pellizotti: "Today's was the last mountain top finish and we gave it everything we could. The others put forth a good defense, but we're satisfied nevertheless".

Ivan Basso: "I think I did the right thing in waiting for Pellizotti. He had taken some time out of Di Luca and Menchov, so his GC bid had the priority. The Giro is over ... for me. Those at the top of the GC will have to fight until Rome

Gilberto Simoni: "I tried not to get caught up in the battle of teams, I tried to anticipate it all; but I just couldn't. Basso climbed well, and Sastre ... he was so fast.  I didn't even see him when he passed me. So I caught up in the clash of gladiators. I don't think Menchov is going to be defeated. Danilo was great as he never gave up, but even if the last ITT can be a close one, it favors Menchov".

Cervélo TestTeam
Carlos Sastre Wins Second Stage
"These stages are really made for Carlos," remarked Serge Pauwels. "The short stage at Blockhaus was maybe too short, but, when the stages are longer like today with steady climbs, they are perfect for him.

"He showed he picked the right moment when the favorites were looking at each other and I was in a good position to slow down the chase group containing the favorites. So Carlos was able to immediately make a gap of thirty seconds. Then it was Astana's turn to try to ride in the front but Popovych blew and Navarro as well then it was over as Carlos rode off."

"It was the second victory for myself, the third for the team," Carlos Sastre said at the finish line. "The team support me and helped me to the end. Serge was close to me during the last hour of the race which worked nicely for us. We tried the maximum in this stage of the Giro d'Italia and I now sit fourth in the GC but it will be difficult to move up in the next couple of days. But I think we are happy, this is very good for our team because we did a fantastic job."

Team Barloworld
Robert Hunter in Lance Armstrong video
Lance Armstrong invited Team Barloworld 's Robert Hunter onto the Astana team bus before the start of stage 19 in Avellino to record a video message together. Armstrong chose Hunter to present the course of today's 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia for a video posted on www.livestrong.org (Lance Armstrong foundation).

Together with Levi Leipheimer, Armstrong and Hunter discussed the hilly stage that ended on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius overlooking Naples. The video was filmed by the Astana staff inside the bus.

Hunter was very proud to be a special guest of the Tour de France seven-time winner.

"We discussed the race and the stage route. I said that I'd reach the finish whilst Armstrong would already be taking a shower. It was fun!", Hunter said.

The two also spoke about the fight against cancer and Lance read a couple of sms from his mobile. He receives messages from all over the world to support his battle against cancer.

Saxo Bank
Lars Bak Remained 20th
164 kilometres may not sound of a whole lot for a professional cyclist but after nearly three weeks of struggling in the saddle in the highly mountainous landscape the legs have gradually become sore and tired. In addition, today's finish area was on the top of the volcano Vesuvio where the mountain riders had the last real chance to take time from the heavier riders prior to Sunday's final TT in the streets of Rome. Time was right for an explosive fight between Denis Menchov and Danilo di Luca.

It was, however, once again Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) who took all the attention by crossing the finish line alone winning the stage. Behind him Denis Menchov (Rabobank) did not take his eyes away from Danilo di Luca (LPR) and Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) could for that reason sneak off to second place behind the Spaniard. Finally Danilo di Luca managed to keep the Russian rider of Rabobank behind and thereby take a little more time before the crucial time trial on Sunday by taking the last bonus seconds.

Now Danilo di Luca is only 18 seconds away from the leader's jersey.

”Tomorrow, it will probably be difficult to be allowed to get in a breakaway because di Luca will try and get all the seconds he can steal before the time trial, although it may become fruitless for him when Menchov is stronger in that particular discipline. Meanwhile, LPR have another card to play as Petacchi can do the final sprint, so whatever they choose they have to keep the peloton in one group. Should the stage end with a sprint, I expect that Goss will be the best card to play for Team Saxo Bank with this particular kind of sprint up hill that suits him well. However, we can not afford a larger breakaway to leave without a Team Saxo Bank-rider in it”, said sports director Lars Michaelsen after stage 19 where Lars Bak maintained his position as number 20 in the overall standings.

Stage 18 Comments

Saxo Bank
Lars Bak Gave What He Had - 4th Place
Once again Lars Bak came close to achieving what he is in Italy for these days and the power invested in 18th stage of the Giro gave him another fourth position.

Commenting after the stage the Danish rider said, "Before the Giro I have had an eye on this particular stage and thought that it would suit me and I was the last rider to enter the breakaway of 25 strong riders. 20 kilometres from the finish line Lars Michaelsen asked Jason to go solo for several reasons. The field behind was about to get organized, the riders in the break began to save their strength for the final and time was also a factor. Jason, in general, did a phenomenal stage where he was virtually all over the place, despite a fierce headwind. Finally he was in front of me for the sprint and it was a really close finish. And yes, I was disappointed just after the stage, because both Jason and I were feeling on top of things and although we tried our best, luck was not with us. Now I know we did everything we could to get the victory today.

Tomorrow's stage is sheer survival, for our part, but the twentieth stage looks more interesting. Particularly if the GC-riders have decided who's to win overall, "
 

 Lampre/NGC
Francesco Gavazzi Crashes - Finishes 14th in Break
Francesco Gavazzi showed that he's one of the most combative riders in the pack today. Blue-fucsia cyclist was in fact in the breakaway that characterized the race and that succeeded at the finish.The action was born after 60 km and Gavazzi was skillfull in joining it, but he suffered a crash that caused him wounds on his left side.

Gavazzi recovered the breakaway before the the feed zone,  but he could not go with the riders who attacked with less than 15 km to go. These athletes battled for the victory in Benevento and Scarponi won, while Gavazzi crossed the finish line in 14th position with a gap of 1'09”.

“I knew today could be one of the last chances in this Giro d'Italia," Gavazzi said after the race. "I joined the winning breakaway, but a bit of bad luck with the crash and then the strong attacks didn't allow me to compete for the victory”.

Cervélo TestTeam
Tougher Day Than It Looked
Today was a windy, overcast day, giving the riders a break from the heat that has been present through so much of this Giro. The stage was defined by a 25-rider breakaway that formed 55 km into the race, including Philip Deignan of Cervélo TestTeam. The peloton never managed to regain contact with the break, despite closing the gap significantly towards the end of the stage as the break split into 3 smaller groupings. Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni-Androni) beat the six other riders in the first group in a sprint finish. The overall GC remains unchanged, with Denis Menchov (Rabobank) leading Danilo Di Luca (LPR) by 26 seconds, and Carlos Sastre sitting 5th overall.

"Three days to go," said Ted King. "My legs are hurting and mind is going a bit numb, but at this point, I'm super excited to be as far as I am and Rome is just around the corner!"

"Today was tough. We had a 15 km climb right from the gun, so that was certainly difficult. On top of that it was just crazy windy all day, so what looked to be a fairly easy day on paper turned out to be pretty tough, but we made it through, and Philip was great in the break, and tomorrow is another day."

"We're getting near the end, and people are tired," said Jean Paul Van Poppel. "But there are only 6 teams who have a stage win here, and there are a lot of teams who are chasing for a win, but there are not many chances left. So we were looking for a breakaway today, and Philip Deignan had super legs today and got into the break of 25 riders. Unfortunately, he has been having some difficulty with his foot, which has made things hard for him, and when it came to the final 10 km, he did not have the legs. Actually, I was surprised he was so strong today and managed to get into the break at all, as he suffered a bad crash yesterday, and he did crash again today."

"I think all the guys did a great job today. A few were suffering, and it was the first time in three weeks I've really seen these guys suffer. The big guys who have raced hard and been riding in the wind for Carlos for three weeks are starting to feel it now. But with only three days left, we're one of only a few teams with 2 stage wins, and we have Carlos in the top 5 of the GC, so I'm very happy with the results.

"Tomorrow is Vesuvio. We're going to play it hard and hope that Carlos has his legs again. I think he can do it, which is why we are planning to go for it tomorrow. We know it is going to be very difficult, but we won't give up until the climb is finished tomorrow."

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