The Cycliste Moderne, May 13, 2005

Stage 4 Dust Up.

Stage 4 resulted in a finish that pleased only NASCAR aficionados. There was rubbing, crashing and disqualifying. Exactly what the American cycling audience loves to see with our constant diet of Criterium racing. Who doesn’t always set up shop in the “carnage corner” of your local downtown nighttime crit just to see which riders are taken out by a stupid move or lapse of concentration? Unfortunately, unless you paid the $5.95 for the live weekday streams on OLNTV.com (like myself), you did not get the chance to see Wednesday’s carnage.

The rolling course and the small climb during the last 11km guaranteed that the sprinters’ teams would not keep the peleton together. Sure enough, things fragmented and the finish in Frosinone was the perfect finish for a rider like Bettini, Cunego or Di Luca. However, one sprinter did make it to the finish with the main group: Francaise de Jeux’s Aussie Baden Cooke. As Cooke and Bettini sprinted to the line, Bettini drifted left and Cooke crashed into the barricades. Bettini’s victory was shortly nullified by race officials and Ceramica Panaria-Navigare “earned” its second stage win of the Giro when second place Luca Mazzanti was elevated to the victory.

While it was an unfortunate conclusion to the stage, it is clear that Bettini drifted left during the sprint, that Cooke attempted to squeeze between Bettini and the barriers, that the signage on the barriers caused Cooke to misjudge the space and distance that he had, that Bettini did not actually make contact with Cooke, that Bettini attempted to apologize after the stage but Cooke refused, that Cooke overreacted in media interviews and that upon his disqualification on the stage that Bettini overreacted with his threats to leave the Giro. It was an unfortunate day.

Stage 5 – Di Luca Does a Double.

Following the conflict in Stage 4, Stage 5 was back to quality racing and a deserving victory by Liquigas-Bianchi’s Danilo Di Luca. The leader of the ProTour earned his first ever Maglia Rosa with his victory. Clearly angered by his disqualification, Bettini attacked early in Stage 5. He managed to stay away with a small group for over 170km on a day that saw two classified climbs and a series of significant climbs including the last 1300m uphill.

However, Liquigas-Bianchi clearly wanted to bring the stage back together for Di Luca as the finish was less than 50km from his hometown. Di Luca won an uphill finish similar to that at Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallone. He took a three second lead over Bettini in the overall and is now able to replace his ProTour white jersey with the Giro’s pink jersey. With time bonuses in Stage 6, Bettini could potentially take back the pink jersey.

Stage 6-7-8 Preview

The weekend offers something for everyone. Friday will be a competitive day on the road for Stage 6 as the riders face some early climbs but then complete three pan-flat 6km circuits in Marina Di Grosseto which could potentially give Alessandro Petacchi his first stage win. A field sprint should be guaranteed for Friday. If Bettini can win the uphill InterGiro sprint at Manciano, he could regain the pink jersey. It will be interesting to see how hard Liquigas defends the jersey with Saturday and Sunday’s important stages to come.

Saturday’s Stage 7 has the potential to shake up the overall. With a trip through the finish in Pistoia, followed by a quick climb up the Sammome, followed 13km descent back to Pistoia, Stage 7 is a day where team leaders could lose valuable time if they are not careful. Look for a break to get away and a small group to duke it out at the finish. This was a stage that Bettini rode in preparation for the Giro. Being from Tuscany, a win in Pistoia would be huge for Il Grillo, Bettini.

Sunday’s Stage 8 will let us know who the real leaders are when the first individual time trial is contested. Stage 8 is 45km long and is broken into three sections. The first 10km is a rolling approach to the day’s only climb up Monte Albano. The riders then climb 8km gaining about 300m in altitude. Although it is not a big climb, the Monte Albano does have some sections with 7% grades. Once they summit, the riders then roll 27km downhill and onto the flat run in to Firenze. The climb is not steep enough, long enough or late enough in the stage to really affect the GC contenders.

The length of the stage, the descent and the flat run in to Firenze does not favor last year’s Giro winner Damiano Cunego. Look for Domina Vacanze’s Ukrainian time trial specialist, Serhiy Honchar, to have a strong performance. Additionally, the stage favors Discovery Channel’s Paolo Savoldelli as his descending skills should give him an advantage. With the stages that will occur over the next three days, after the finish in Firenze, I expect either of Liquigas-Bianchi’s leaders, Danilo Di Luca or Steffano Garzelli, to be in pink with a lead of about a minute over Cunego, Simoni and Salvoldelli.