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Giro stage victory eludes US-based Garmin again

The pack of riders cycle during the 182km 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia from Sulmona to Benevento, Italy, on May 28. PHOTO: REUTERS

With sweat beading on his tan, freckled face and his body fighting exhaustion after nearly 18 days of racing, Danny Pate pushed himself just a little harder in the final minutes of Thursday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia.

He flexed his muscles. He pedaled faster. After riding in the lead pack nearly the entire race, he stared at the finish line and willed himself across it.

But, for what seemed like the 100th time at this Giro, a rider from Team Garmin-Slipstream came up short and did not win a stage at this three-week race.

As Pate zipped toward the finish, Michele Scarponi of Italy and Felix Rafael Cardenas of Colombia passed him. Pate, from Colorado Springs, was third.

All three, and Lars Ytting Bak of Denmark, were given the same finishing time for their 182km ride: 4 hours, 7 minutes and 41 seconds.

“Oh, a new second place for us,” said one of the Garmin team’s race directors, Lionel Marie, over the race radio afterward, with a hint of sarcasm.

The route took the Giro from Italy’s east coast almost all the way to the west coast, cutting through vast green valleys and farming villages where dairy farmers paused to watch the riders go by. In their white overcoats and white rubber boots, they applauded as the cyclists sped by.

NOT QUITE FIRST

At the end of the stage, the Garmin team did not receive the cheers for the day’s champion. For the squad based in Boulder, Colorado, that makes five close calls. After 18 stages of this 21-stage race, Garmin riders have been runners-up three times and third-place finishers twice.

With only three stages left, 16 of the 22 teams — including Garmin and Lance Armstrong’s Astana — have not won a stage. They hear the clock ticking.

Team Columbia-Highroad, with the help of star sprinter Mark Cavendish, has won six stages.

LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini, with the help of the Italian rider Danilo Di Luca, has won four stages. Rabobank, whose rider Denis Menchov retained the pink leader’s jersey on Thursday, has won two stages. Menchov is 26 seconds ahead of Di Luca in the overall standings.

The success of those teams has left others scrambling.

For Diquigiovanni-Androni, Scarponi’s team, this Giro has been a triumph. The team, which competes one level below cycling’s highest level, has won three stages.

Scarponi, who served an 18-month ban from the sport for his connection to a Spanish doping ring, giggled on Thursday after his second stage victory.

When asked if it was fun to beat the bigger teams, he said: “It’s an indescribable emotion.”

Stage 19 begins in southern Italy, then winds its way along the Amalfi Coast. The race ends atop Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed the city of Pompeii.

LAST CHANCE

Menchov, who has been the leader for a week, said he considered that 13km climb as the final chance to make a move.

“For sure, it will be the last hard day, it will be the last opportunity for someone to gain time before the time trial,” he said of the individual time trial in Rome tomorrow, the Giro’s finale.

The Saxo Bank team thought it might have a chance to win a stage on Thursday, when it had two riders in the lead pack in the closing stretch.

Jason McCartney, one of those riders, said that the team was eager to win the stage. He finished seventh, while his teammate Bak was fourth.

“Of course, we are a very, very big team and the Giro is the second biggest race of the year,” he said. “We’re not here to have fun.”
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