The Cycliste Moderne, May 23, 2005

Giro Weekend #3 Wrap Up

The Expected

Saturday and Sunday were high mountain days in the Giro d’Italia. As expected, the Italian-Colombian team of Selle Italia made its showing with Ivan Parra winning both stages. His teammate, Jose Rujano cemented his lead in the King of the Mountain competition. As has come to be expected, the Selle Italia team shows its strength in the mountains and makes the most of its opportunities.

On Saturday, while the leaders were watching each other, Parra and Rujano got away in an early large break that managed to stay away from the Pink Jersey group. Rujano was the first over the first couple of climbs on the day. Parra then rode away on the final climb and soloed to victory.

Sunday had a similar result. Parra and Rujano got in the early break and again managed to stay away. Rujano was the first one away over the first couple of climbs and Parra then rode away on the final climb. Selle Italia has certainly had a Giro to be proud of and with Rujano having a 50 point lead over Parra in the King of the Mountains competition, the Green Jersey should stay on a Selle Italia rider all the way to Milan.

The Unexpected

CSC’s Ivan Basso had two very bad days. On Saturday, the leader lost time to all his main rivals due to stomach problems. He managed to minimize the damage over the last climb, but it was not enough and he lost the pink leader’s jersey to Discovery Channel’s Paolo Savoldelli. In post race comments, Basso indicated that he had been sick and unable to eat throughout the stage. Although the team was hopeful that Basso would get over it quickly and still be able to contend for the Giro podium, Sunday was worse.

Basso threw up numerous times on Sunday and the team grouped around him to get him to the finish on the stage. Basso lost almost forty minutes to Savoldelli on Sunday’s stage but did not drop out. Basso indicated that he would rather be driven off the mountain in an ambulance after he collapsed than get in the team car and abandon. Basso’s courage should be commended. Many cyclists have climbed into the comfort of the team car and abandoned when things have not gone well during a Grand Tour (Mayo, Beloki, etc.). Basso saw his chances for victory diminish significantly on Saturday and saw them disappear entirely on Sunday. His unwillingness to quit is a testament to the type of team that Bjarne Riis has built at CSC.

The Not Unexpected

Critics have already begun to question the team that Discovery Channel brought to the Giro to support leader Paolo Savoldelli. With the loss of climbers Tom Danielson and Ryder Hesjedal due to injury, Discovery has a team that can protect Savoldelli on the flats but will have a hard time staying with Savoldelli on the brutal climbs that await. Saturday and Sunday confirmed this as Savoldelli found himself without teammates for essentially the last half of both stages. Savoldelli was required to go back to his team vehicle for food and water and race back up to the leaders. On Sunday he had to ask Liquigas’ Danilo Di Luca for water.

Discovery had made it clear that the team that was going to the Giro was not a Tour de France type team, designed solely for Lance Armstrong’s purposes, and that if Savoldelli were to win, he would likely have to do it on his own. That is not to say that Discovery does not want to win the Giro, it is just that with this being Armstrong’s last year and with the demands of the ProTour requiring Discovery to field a team at the Volta a Catalunya, Discovery could not send the type of team to Italy that it will send to France in July.

It is important to note, however, that none of the teams in the Giro, with the possible exception of CSC, have come to the race to work for a single leader. Even CSC, which came with the focus of putting Ivan Basso on the podium and has worked solely for his success, has been criticized for not bringing a strong enough team.

Over the last decade, the Giro has typically rewarded individual efforts. Teams have not come to work entirely for their GC rider as has been the case at the Tour de France pretty much since 1990. Savoldelli won the Giro in 2002 riding for the Index Alumina team which provided him little or no support. The Saeco victories by Gilberto Simoni in 2003 and Damiano Cunego in 2004 came with teams that were not really built like what fans have come to expect from Armstrong’s US Postal Service or Indurain’s Banesto. In fact Cunego’s win came under circumstances where there clearly was a lack of team cooperation as Cunego and Simoni battled each other to the bitter end.

Looking forward to the end.

The Giro this year will prove who is the strongest Italian cyclist this year. At this point, it does not appear that there are any non-Italians who can win the race. More to the point, however, there does not appear to be any team which is strong enough to protect its leader every day. Basso had a bad couple of days notwithstanding his team’s support. Simoni has had a couple of bad days. Savoldelli had a rough day on Sunday.

Monday’s stage is the type of stage that Discovery should be able to keep under control as it is essentially down hill after the first 20km. Tuesday is a rest day. Wednesday is another stage with an early climb that Discovery should be able to keep under control once the descent starts. Thursday and Saturday both have mountaintop finishes, although Thursday is clearly the easier day. Any leader could lose huge time on Saturday if he has a bad day.

Friday’s time trial will likely be the deciding stage, assuming catastrophe does not strike any of the leaders. The time trial into Torino has a profile almost identical to the time trial into Firenze last week. The first third is a rolling approach to the climb. The riders then climb 350 meters before descending into Torino. The difference is the fact that the stage is about 10km shorter than the Firenze stage. Savoldelli will likely have a good ride if he is still in pink. Simoni should not lose as much time to Savoldelli as he did in the early stages. If Di Luca can remain close to the lead, it is a stage that could see him do well especially in light of his surprising performance to date. Although non Italians are lurking close behind the trio, I believe that the winner in Milan will likely be one of the three. Di Luca can win if he can stay close in the mountains and be prepared to use his stronger team to attack Simoni and Savoldelli. Simoni can win if Cunego is able to support him in the mountains. Savoldelli can win if his team can defend over the flats and he rides like he has ridden the first two weeks.

There is real suspense due to the fact that with Basso’s collapse, the remaining GC contenders will largely have to show their own metal and not be able to rely upon a strong team to deliver victory. There will be an exciting and suspenseful finish in Milan next week.