Spain’s Alberto Contador reinforced his bid for overall victory at the Giro d’Italia by snatching precious bonus seconds at the end of the 12th stage won in timely fashion by Philippe Gilbert of Belgium.
A day of rain and crashes on winding descents was in store for a peloton that has already suffered during 11 days of dramatic racing, but Gilbert kept his composure in a tricky, rain-lashed finale to claim his second stage win for BMC Racing after his maiden win in 2009.
Androni-Sidermec’s Franco Pellizotti of Italy and Tanel Kangert of Astana had escaped from the peloton prior to the 1km climb to Monte Berico which hosted the finish line of the 190km ride from Imola to Vicenza, Italy.
Photo: EPA
However, the demands of the climb soon took their toll and as the peloton closed in Gilbert moved to the front in the final few hundred meters, before launching an unstoppable solo attack.
The Belgian one-day classics specialist came over the finish line with his arms spread in victory, with Tinkoff-Saxo’s Contador pushing hard to claim second place and precious bonus seconds to increase his overall lead on his rivals.
“This kind of finish is my specialty, so I was looking forward to giving it a go here,” Gilbert told Rai television. “I came to visit this stage before Milan-San Remo earlier this year and I think seeing it for real made the difference for me.”
Photo: AFP
Contador, bidding to become the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to complete the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double, finished second, 3 seconds behind Gilbert to increase his lead on Italian challenger Fabio Aru of Astana.
Aru, Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEdge and several other punchers were expected to excel on the hilly finish to what was mainly a flat stage, but the Italian rider was nowhere to be seen in the finale.
He finished outside the top 10, handing 14 seconds to Contador, and although he remained second in the general classification, Aru was 17 seconds off the lead.
“I suffered the bonk,” said Aru, in reference to the decrease in blood sugar which endurance athletes most dread at key moments.
Meanwhile, Contador was lucid enough to realize his Italian rival was out of his comfort zone.
“I was watching him and realized he wasn’t climbing as well as he should be,” Contador said. “So I just tried to stay ahead of him as much as possible.”
Another two Astana riders, Mikel Landa and Dario Cataldo are 55 seconds and 1 minute, 30 seconds behind the Spaniard, whose Czech teammate Roman Kreuziger was fifth overall, 1 minute, 55seconds back.
Richie Porte, whose bid for the maglia rosa was compounded by a two minute penalty on Tuesday after fellow Australian Simon Clarke broke the regulations by handing him his wheel during a mechanical problem, lost more seconds on the stage.
The Team Sky leader was among a group of riders who crossed the line 6 seconds behind Gilbert.
Overall, it was a forgettable day for Australian riders in the race.
Gerrans should have been looking forward to tussling with the likes of Gilbert, Contador and Aru on an uphill finish which was perfectly suited to the former Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner, but in the final 50km of the stage Gerrans suffered yet another crash, only resuming the race after several minutes of waiting by the roadside with a teammate.
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