Cor Vos/Bike World News ? 2011
John Gadret of the Ag2R team executed a perfectly timed attack to pass lone breakaway fugitive Daniel Moreno of the Katusha squad in the final meters of Wednesday?s 11th stage of the 2011 Giro d?Italia. No change in the G.C. today as Contador rolled across in 5th place.
Alberto Contador was the overall leader heading into the 11th stage of the Giro, a hilly 144km trek from Tortoreto Lido to Castelfidardo. The?188 riders departed from Tortoreto Lido following a minute?s silence in memory of Wouter Weylandt whose funeral took place in Belgium today. The peloton was looking forward to a day of ups and downs on what organizers classify as a medio montagne day through the foothills of the Central Apennines (the longest flat section is just 3km). There are a quartet of catergory four climbs before the uphill finish in Castelfidardo.
Five riders ? including RadioShack?s Tiago Machado ? tried to get away at km 125, but they were quickly reeled back into the peloton.
At km 115, another eight try to make a go of it. Angel Vicioso (Androni Giocattoli), Marco Frapporti (Colnago), Pavel Brutt (Katusha), Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre), Vasili Kiriyenka (Movistar), Francisco Ventoso (Movistar), Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Francesco Reda (Quick Step) briefly open a gap, but cannot make it stick.
It takes until km 78 when a group of ten riders pulls away.?Carlos Betancourt and Fabio Taborre (both Acqua & Sapone), Simoni Stortoni (Colnago), Daniel Moreno (Katusha), Marco Marzano (Lampre), Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas), Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar), Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank), Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cevelo), Tiago Machado (RadioShack) and Lars Nordhaug (Sky) are able to get out to a 2 minute gap. Le Mevel is just 1?19? down on Contador in the general classification, so he briefly has the virtual maglia rosa. Saxo Bank is leading the chase, but recent comments from Contador make it clear that he?s not really concerned about hanging onto the leader?s jersey for the entire race as long as he wears it in Milan.
By kilometer 42, the gap is up to 2?25?, but that?s about as big as it got. By kilometer 30 the advantage is 1?38? and falling. By the final fourth category climb of the day, Kruijswijk and Machado were putting in stints on the front, but the gap was coming down (1?19?).
Moreno attacked on the climb and was followed by Agnoli, but the Liquigas rider didn?t have the legs, leaving Moreno to take the points and start the descent on his own.?Colnago?s Stortoni tried to bridge to Moreno and Kruijswijk followed, but the formerly cogent group of ten riders was quickly spreading out.
On his own, Moreno had a gap of 1?39? over the peloton that was being lead by the Androni squad.
The road continued to go up and down. Carlos Betancourt set off in pursuit of Moreno, but the rest of his break compatriots chased him down. LeMevel seemed to have the most interest in keeping the chasers together.?Moreno takes the final intermediate sprint around 20 seconds ahead of the chasers. The peloton was just another minute back, so while Le Mevel could still gain some valuable seconds in the G.C., he won?t be in pink tonight.
At the 13 km mark,?Konovalovas breaks clear of the chasing group and goes in pursuit of Moreno. He?s able to pass him at the 10km flag. Moreno looked cooked, but after a brief respite he was able to get back with?Konovalovas. Le Mevel and the other chasers were 37 second back.
At 7km, Stortoni attacks the chase group to try and bridge to Moreno and Konavalovas.?Kruijswijk got on Stortoni?s wheel to go along for the ride. Back at the front, Moreno found his second wind and was definitely leading?Konavalovas through the winding roads to the finish.
With 4km to go,?Moreno and Konavalovas had 34 seconds over the chasing group and just 52 seconds over the peloton. Androni and Lampre were doing all of the chasing and they were quickly able to sweep up the stragglers of the chasing group. The leaders had just 44 seconds over the peloton with less than 3 km to go.
Liquigas joins Lampre in the chase as Stefano Pirazzi of Colnago attacks the peloton. He gets caught as Moreno pours it on to leave Konavalovas on his own.
John Gadret (Ag2r) attacks and is able to go right past Moreno. Visconti and Rodriguez go too,?But Gadret was able to get it with a perfectly timed attack. Moreno was caught and passed with less than 300m to go.
Brief Results:
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General Classification:
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Source: http://www.bikeworldnews.com/2011/05/18/2011-giro-ditalia-stage-11-results/
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