93rd Giro d'Italia - Stage 17 Live Part 1 & Photos
A break of 19 up the road with over ten
minutes advantage...

© 210
Gazzetta dello Sport
2010 Giro d'Italia
Jersey Leaders - After Stage 16
Maglia Rosa: David Duran Arroyo Caisse
d'Epargne
Maglia Rossa:
Cadel Evans BMC Racing
KOM: Matthew Lloyd Omega Pharma/Lotto
U26: Richie
Porte Saxo Bank
Team: Liquigas/Doimo
Stage 16
General Classification
Wednesday 26 May
Stage 17: Brunico - Peio Terme, 173 km

© 2010 Gazzetta dello Sport
Giles Belbin: "Over the last three stages
the peloton has climbed no fewer than six huge mountains......they get another
day in the mountains. Compared with what has gone before and what is still to
come this is one of the easier days. The riders are eased into the stage with a
long and gradual descent to the foot of the 1523m Passo delle Palade. There
follows a 20km climb to the top of the pass and a 25 km descent.........it
starts going up again, this time the riders face a 30km slog up to Peio Terme at
1393m. There's nothing overly taxing here, gradient wise, for the GC
contenders.....it is likely that the favourites will let a breakaway go for the
glory of a stage win......."

Partenza: the jersey leaders lead the riders out from the start. From the left:
Cadel Evans (red points jersey), Richie Porte ( white - best young rider),
Matthew Lloyd (green - KOM jersey) and David Arroyo in the maglia rosa of race
leader. Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Stage 17 (Brunico - Peio Terme, 173km) Live Ticker
Weather: Overcast but humid
Non-starters: David Loosli (Lampre)
Today's climb: Passo delle Palade - 1523m, 19 km long, 6.6% avg.
1445 CET - You join us live with a 19 man
breakaway group clear by several minutes. They escaped 58km into the stage.
Upfront, we have Vladimir Efimkin (Ag2R), Carlos Ochoa (Androni), Roman Kireyev
(Astana), Yukiya Arashiro, Danilo Wyss (BMC), (Bouygyes Telecom), Andrey Amador
(Caisse d'Epargne), Ignatas Konovalovas (Cervelo), Leonaro Duque (and Damien
Monier (Cofidis), Simone Stortoni (Colnago), Danilo Hondo and Marco Marzano
(Lampre), Daniel Moreno (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank),
Steve Cummings (Sky), Vicente Reynes (HTC-Columbia), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha),
Markus Fothen (Milram), Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank).
Their lead is now 10'24".
1446 CET - We are around 80 km into the
stage. The gap has increased to 11'44"
Steve Cummings has spent a lot of time at the back of our breakaway group
recently; I suspect the fast-approaching ascent of the Passo de Palade will see
him shed. We're just on the slower slopes of the 20km climb.
Further back, five Caisse d'Epargne riders are leading race leader David
Arroyo at the front of the peloton. Ivan Basso has said that Arroyo could hang
on to his lead and win the Giro.. is he playing mind-games? As long as there are
no allegations of blackmail, it's ok..
1453 CET - The Passo delle Palade was
previously used on Stage 17 of the 2004 Giro; Russian Pavel Tonkov took his last
big victory of his career that day.
1455 CET - Vladimir Efimkin's the best
placed of our escapees in the GC, standing 16th this moring 18'57".
An over-enthusiastic fan is running alongside the peloton in just his
underwear
If only I could say that above sentence and swap the word "his" for "her"..
1457 CET - 80km to go On the lower slopes
of today's big climb, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov are stalking the
Maglia Rosa's wheel.
The gap is now 11'26", so the peloton are (unsurprisingly still) not
concerned with our large lead group.

Mikhail Ignatiev leads the escape of nineteen on the Passo delle Palade
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
I've not heard much about David Arroyo's past achievements on the bike;
instead a lot of talk has been about the time he gained in that huge breakaway
group last week. Let's not forget he has finished 13th and 21st in the Tour,
19th in the Vuelta and came 11th in this race one year ago.
1505 CET - 78km to go. Vicente Reynes is
looking very good for HTC-Columbia upfront - and he's a former team-mate of the
Maglia Rosa.
My colleague Chris Graetz predicts Colnago's Simone Stortoni will be
victorious today. I agree that the (bulk of) the breakaway will stay clear of
the GC guys today. I hope the curse of the commentator doesn't occur now.
The TV feed has just shown Stefano Garzelli doing some bidon-carrying duties.
You don't see that too often!
1414 CET - 75km to go, Breakaway-whore
Mikhail Ignatiev is now setting the pace upfront as the riders make their way up
the long, long climb. 9'55" is where the gap now lies.
The 25 year-old Russian has come second and third in Tour de France stages, but
is yet to win a stage in a GT. He did take stage 6 of the Tirreno-Adriatico -
after an attack. He beat Garzelli, Evans and Gesink into Macerata.
1522 CET - Today's first abandon has come
in the shape of Colnago's Federico Canuti. The Cofidis duo of Duque and Monier
are looking good outfront, swapping turns of setting the pace. Nothing else
really to report at present.
Thus far, no-one has been dropped from our lead group on the mid-slopes of
the Passo.
1528 CET - 9'19"
is the gap between the break and the main field. Caisse d'Epargne's
Andrei Amador is back at the team car again. There doesn't appear to be any
problems, however.
First a man in underpants, now a man carrying a Kazakh flag and wearing a
mankini is running alongside the lead group.
Whatever happened to taste and decency, I ask?!?!
This day of fun for the ladies nearly continued with a shot of Pippo
Pozatto's unzipped jersey......luckily for those who have eaten today, he had an
vest on underneath.
1532 CET - 70 km to go From an overcast
start, the sun has emerged from behind the clouds, making an already humid day
uncomfortable for the riders.
1535 CET - Ivan Basso gets caught on
camera accidentally squirting the contents of a bidon over his face. Noticing
the mishap has gone out live on TV, he raises a wry smile.
1537 CET - As suspected, the long climb
today has not resulted in any problems upfront, and our 19 man break are fast
approaching the summit of the climb, 1523m above sea level.
1538 CET - Our leaders have reached the
summit of the climb, and have 68 km left of the stage.
GPM Result: 1. Daniel Moreno (Omega
Pharma-Lotto).
With the breakaway group on the descent of the Passo delle Palade, our coverage
continues in
Part TWO
Giles Belbin's
Parcours Preview Week 3
93rd Giro
d'Italia - Favorites Preview
Giro d'Italia
- Big Mountains
2010 Giro
d'Italia Team & Rider Start List
2010 Giro
d'Italia - At a Glance
93rd Giro
d'Italia - Start List

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