Domenico Pozzovivo won the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday after a strong ride on the tough uphill finish, while Ryder Hesjedal retained the overall lead.
Pozzovivo made the break just under 7km from the finish of the grueling 229km leg from Sulmona to Lago Laceno, to win in 6 hours, 6 minutes, 5 seconds.
The Italian Colnago-CSF Inox rider was 23 seconds ahead of Movistar’s Benat Intxausti.
Photo: EPA
“It’s not possible, I can’t believe it,” Pozzovivo said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since last autumn and it happened how I wanted it to, with a clear victory. I rode beside [Movistar cyclist Giovanni] Visconti and I told him I’m going now and we’ll see each other after the finish. Giovanni laughed at me and just said: ‘Try not to bring anyone close to you’ ... that’s what I did and I realized my dream.” Joaquin Rodriguez led the peloton over the line 27 seconds after Pozzovivo to close the gap on Hesjedal to nine seconds in the overall standings.
“Today again, I felt in a good shape,” Rodriguez said. “The uphill was hard and the group didn’t face it full gas, because the attacks were not from riders in a good position in the overall standings. Since this competition is still long, nobody wanted to force the pace.”
Defending champion Michele Scarponi moved up into 12th, 54 seconds behind Hesjedal, while two-time winner Ivan Basso is in sixth place, 40 seconds behind the Garmin-Barracuda cyclist.
Andrey Amador, Julien Berard, Tomasz Marczynski and Miguel Minguez broke early, and had an advantage of 11 minutes about 100km into the stage.
However, as expected, the stage was decided on the ascent of the Category 2 Colle Molella climb to the finish. The 9.9km climb has an average gradient of 6 percent and includes several hairpin turns with gradients of between 10 percent and 12 percent.
Pozzovivo timed his attack to perfection, just under 3km from the top of the climb and powered ahead to claim the victory. Now he’s looking forward to the other big climbs later in the race.
“I would like to do well at the Piani dei Resinelli [on stage 15] and the Stelvio [on stage 20],” he said. “The Stelvio Pass is a bit like home for me. Seeing as it’s been a long while that I haven’t raced it, I know they are waiting for me and I don’t want to disappoint them.”
RadioShack’s Daniele Bennati had a fever and did not start. Neither did Dennis van Winden, who had a knee problem.
Eight riders have now quit the Giro after Gianni Meersman pulled out on Saturday and Pablo Lastras Garcia, Tyler Farrar, Thor Hushovd and Romain Feillu retired on Friday.
The Giro continues with a sprinter’s stage, the 171km leg from San Giorgio del Sannio to Frosinone.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set