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Scarponi clinches solo win as Giro d’Italia hits Austria

A spectator known as Didi who dresses as the Devil runs near a pack of riders during the 248km sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race from Bressanone to Mayrhofen im Zillertal, Austria, on Thursday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Michele Scarponi of the Diquigiovanni team clinched a solo victory on the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia to claim his first career win in the race on Thursday.

Fellow Italian Danilo Di Luca of LPR retained the race leader’s pink jersey after a 248km ride in which a five-man breakaway provided much of the day’s drama on what was a transitional stage into nearby Austria.

Di Luca, the 2007 champion, retained his five-second lead over second-placed Swede Thomas Lovkvist, with his Columbian teammate Michael Rogers still in third, 36 seconds behind.

A quartet of arguably more probable Giro winners — Levi Leipheimer, Denis Menchov, Ivan Basso and Carlos Sastre — sit in fourth to seventh places.

Scarponi was part of a early five-man escape group that formed around 50km into the stage, but which was largely undone by the stage’s principle climb at Hochkrimml, 50km from the finish line.

Only Belarusian Vasik Kiryienka managed to stay with Scarponi on the ascent before dropping behind because of a puncture.

“In the group, I saw that Kiryienka was the most dangerous,” Scarponi said. “When he had his puncture in the last 25km, I first thought that he’d gone the wrong way. I slowed down a little bit in order not to be on my own at the end. Then he got held up.”

Scarponi dug deep, went off on his own and managed to hold off a rapidly closing but tired peloton.

“Have I got a message to give?” the Italian joked afterward. “Yes — not to start a breakaway with 200km to go. It’s a long way.”

Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen of Columbia attacked the pursuers in the final kilometer to finish second by around 30 seconds, picking up the bonus seconds that may otherwise have been snatched by rivals of his team.

It is Scarponi’s first Giro stage win and comes only months after he returned to the peloton following an 18-month ban for his implication in the Operation Puerto doping scandal.

Lance Armstrong finished 73rd after falling off the pace in the race’s closing stages and said he couldn’t believe how demanding the end of the race was.

“The last 30km were the craziest I’ve seen in my life,” the Texan said. “A long stretch, a quick descent — at 80kph — and then a tight circuit. Tomorrow, we have the same kind of finish. It’s a cycling course, not a Moto GP. At one stage we even reached 110kph. It’s crazy.”
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