Ivan Basso saw the glass as half-full at the end of the leg that upset
the leaderboard:
"Our team got four men into the breakaway group as our goal was to have the GC
leader's team working hard; then we would try something in the end.
Unfortunately things didn't go according to plans. It's a fact that for the
umpteenth time we had to do most of the job, and that it was a bad day. It's
too early to come to conclusions (about the stage) anyway, we'd better wait
until the evening, but I can tell you for sure that as usual Liquigas-Doimo
played its part. We told two riders of ours that were inside the breakaway to stop and wait so that they could help us in the chase,
and we tried to limit our losses."
"Yes, it was a negative day for us, but all top GC players at the stage
start were with us in the end. Sastre was the exception, but after all the
misfortunes he had in earlier days, he deserved to be back to the top spots
overall. So one more time the mountain stages are going be the race decider".
Liquigas's team manager Roberto Amadio fired back at those (harshly)
criticizing his team's attitude with a harsh reply: "Astana's behavior was a
shame, not ours. In the end we took responsibility, or the Giro would have
just finished today ... We had the third and the fifth placed riders in the
GC, but Vino was the Maglia Rosa holder. They should have worked first in
order to keep the gap within five-six minutes, then other teams would have
joined them. I'm not Evans's domestique, neither Vinokourov's ... all
journalists should keep that in mind".
Gibo Simoni: "It was a hard stage with a little bit of everything:
cold, wind and rain. And the breakaway that kept the peloton at bay all the
time. Everything got messed up today, I saw riders having a very hard time
even in the first hundred kilometers. We got dropped in a flat piece because
of the wind, and struggled to make it to the finish. Yeah, I was missing a
stage like this in my Giro d'Italia career. Sure I would have been very glad
to avoid that, but it's part of the game after all ...".
Michele Scarponi didn't look (didn't sound either) too upset at the
way things went today:
"I really don't know how we could have a stage like this, regardless of all
the team managers, radios etc. All I can say is that I talked with my
teammates and directors and resolved to act the way we did. I think my team
did fine, but the stage was long and difficult, the breakaway opened up a huge
advantage and made it to the finish unfortunately. That's it".
Stefano Garzelli sounded a bit resigned at the stage finish:
"You shouldn't ask us the reasons why such things occurred today. You should
ask team directors about that. Speaking of my own team, all I can say is that
Acqua & Sapone was the first to step up the chase, as I told them, once I
noticed the situation. But if such a big group takes five, six, seven or eight
minutes out of you, it just becomes impossible for anyone to bring them back.
So in the end all of us "team leaders" just took turns on the front of the
bunch in order to limit damage, but inside the breakaway group were too many
guys, and they were going too fast for us. With bad results for many of us on
the GC side of the matter. Myself included. If I was still harboring some
hopes to finish in the top spots, now I can spot many unexpected riders ahead
of me in the overall standings".
Giles Belbin's
Parcours Preview Week 2
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Giro d'Italia
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d'Italia Team & Rider Start List
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d'Italia - Start List
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