Lance Armstrong
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Pellizotti pounces at Blockhaus; Menchov defends lead
Posted on May 27th, 2009 No comments
2009 Giro d'Italia, stage 17: Pellizotti gets the stage win at Blockhaus
Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) climbed to a solo victory in stage 17 of the 2009 Giro d’Italia on Wednesday, a short, tough ride from Chieti to Blockhaus.
Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) fought like a wildcat to take time from his rivals, but race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) stuck to him like a decal, and Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) had the audacity to sucker-punch the Killer at the line for second place on the day.
“I started this Giro with the ambition of winning. To win the Giro is hard, especially this year with the high level of participation and the diffciluty of the course,” Pellizotti said. “We’re making a good Giro, we’re attacking, now we’ve won a stage. I think we deserved to win today and the podium is very much an option.”
Lance Armstrong (Astana) showed some flash on the ascent to Blockhaus, making a bid to follow Pellozotti’s attack, but he and teammate Levi Leipheimer both lost more time on the day as the favorites for the overall rolled up the road without them.
“It was good to see that Lance tried,” said Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel. “He was able to maintain a good rhythm and once we saw that Pellizotti was gone, we were just informing him that Menchov and Di Luca were coming and that was a little too fast. Definitely he is coming to another level again. That’s exactly what I hoped for.”
“Levi was OK,” Bruyneel continued. “We had just to see if what we saw on Monte Petrano is a trend which continues to go down or not. Fortunately we saw that Levi can stay at the same level, maintain his position and climb with the best riders. I am happy about the day.”
Menchov had little difficulty staying with Di Luca’s manic attacks, though he did lose the wheel in the final charge to the line.
“The most important thing was to stay with Di Luca until the finish line. In the last 250m, in the end I had too much gear, a little bit tired, I lacked a little rhythm,” Menchov said. “One day I got bonuses, he gets one back, we’re playing a little game with these bonuses. Today was tranquilo.”
2009 Giro d'Italia, stage 17: Cardenas and Voeckler in the break
Short and decidedly unsweet
The stage was only 83 kilometers long, but it was far from an easy spin. It began with a descent for the first few kilometers and then stayed relatively flat for the next 28km or so. A couple of small, unrated climbs and a short descent followed before the road began its gradual rise to the day’s only climb, a tough haul that began to steepen at the 65km mark. The 18-kilometer climb to the finish averaged 7 percent, but the steep parts reached grades of 13 percent.The ever-active Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) had an early go and quickly found himself with company: Felix Rafael Cardenas (Barloworld); Giovanni Visconti (ISD–Neri); Ruggero Marzoli and Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo); Mauro Facci (Quick Step); Matteo Bono (Lampre-N.G.C.); Riccardo Chiarini (LPR Brakes Farnese Vini); Delio Fernandez Cruz and Gonzalo Rabunal Rios (Xacobeo Galicia).
With 49km to go, the LPR and Rabobank teams were sharing the chase work, keeping the gap around two minutes. By midrace it had gone out slightly, to just over three minutes. The Cervélos then came to the fore and started bringing the gap down.
Voeckler had another dig at the base of the climb that cracked the break into bits. LPR’s Chiarini quickly latched on, along with Cardenas, Marzoli, Gonzalo Rabunal and Delio Fernandez. But their advantage was falling, and 15km from the finish — with the climb just starting to bite — the bunch was coming up fast.
Stage 17 results
1 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 2.21.06 (35.294 km/h)
2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 0.42
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini 0.43
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.48
5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 0.57
6 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre – N.G.C. 1.54
7 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Liquigas 1.55
8 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia – Highroad 1.59
9 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team
10 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
11 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
12 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) S. Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli 2.05
14 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 2.09
15 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Columbia – Highroad 2.17General classification after stage 17
1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 72.28.24
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini 0.26
3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 2.00
4 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 3.28
5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 3.30
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 4.32
7 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia – Highroad 7.05
8 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 8.03Source: Velonews.com
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Menchov wins stage 12 time trial at Cinque Terre and takes lead
Posted on May 21st, 2009 1 comment
2009 Giro d'Italia - Stage 12: Menchov moves into the overall lead.
A spectacular 60km course along Italy’s stunning Cinque Terre lived up to expectations Thursday as Denis Menchov (Rabobank) pulled the double, winning the stage and snatching away the maglia rosa from Danilo Di Luca (LPR).
Levi Leipheimer (Astana) – who’s won three time trials in three starts this season ─ almost walked away with the jackpot, finishing just 20 seconds slower than Menchov and climbing into third at 40 seconds back.
“Twenty second is not a lot. Menchov was better than me today, so I have to congratulate him today, but 20 seconds is hard to swallow on a course like today because I wanted to win,” Leipheimer said. “Even though we lost Horner, I am confident in our team. Lance is getting better. I think we can still win it.”
Menchov ─ the first Russian since Pavel Tonkov to wear the famed pink tunic – erased his 1 minute, 20 second deficit to overnight leader Di Luca on the punishing, two-climb course to win in 1 hour, 34 minutes, 29 seconds (38.482kph).
“Today was one of the decisive stages of this Giro and it’s an important step in trying to win,” said Menchov, who dedicated the victory to Pedro Horrillo. “Nothing’s decided yet. There are still a lot of hard stages to come.”
The grueling time trial course – one of the longest and most difficult seen in a grand tour in a decade – tightened up the battle for the pink jersey, with the top 3 separated by just 40 seconds.
Behind them, there are four heavy hitters – Franco Pellizotti, Carlos Sastre, Michael Rogers and Ivan Basso ─ still within three minutes of Menchov with the hardest part of the Giro still ahead.
“We can expect attacks. Liquigas is perhaps the strongest team with the most interest in this race, but you cannot discount the others,” Menchov said. “Perhaps the most dangerous rider now is Di Luca. You can see how motivated he is, how he’s climbing, how he sprints for the bonuses.”
Lance Armstrong (Astana) rode well in his first major time trial since retiring in 2005.
2009 Giro d'Italia - Stage 12: Leipheimer is in a strong position on GC.
The seven-time winner of the Tour de France demonstrated his form continues to improve, stopping the clock in 1h36:55 at 2:26 off the pace to climb to 12th overall at 6:34 back. He left the race without speaking to reporters.
Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) rode well to post an early fast time and ended up third on the stage at 1:03 slower. The 2000 Giro winner is out to defend his King of the Mountains jersey and aim for a stage victory.
Favorites duke it out
Di Luca ─ who held the pink jersey since stage 5 ─ did his best to defend the maglia rosa, stopping the clock at 1:54 slower than Menchov.The 2007 Giro champion slipped to second at 34 seconds back, stayed ahead of Leipheimer and widening his gap to such rivals as Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Carlos Sastre (Cervélo) by more than two minutes.
“I have to be content. I gave everything to defend the maglia rosa,” said Di Luca, who rode decked out in pink head-to-toe. “Menchov was super-strong today. I said the Giro starts today. There are still a lot of stages to suit me well. I want to take back the jersey as soon as possible.”
Despite the difficulty and length of the course, huge gaps were not opened up as expected by some pundits.
Rogers dropped from third to sixth, now 2:59 back, but otherwise there were reshufflings among the top 10 with the leading three taking important gains.
Pellizotti, Sastre and Gilberto Simoni (now 8th at 4:38 back) all moved up, while Lovkivist slipped from eighth to 10th, but retained the best young rider’s jersey.
2009 Giro d'Italia - Stage 12: Garzelli set the early mark, but finished third, at 1:03.
Basso and Sastre finished 11th and 12th, respectively, at 2:17 and 2:18 off the pace. Both ceded ground, but expressed satisfaction with their respective performances.
“I have to be pretty satisfied. The race is still open,” Basso said. “There are still the hardest stages ahead of us. It was a very hard time trial and the downhills weren’t good for me. Menchov was clearly the best man today with the long, hard climbs. I am taking things with tranquility right now. There are still some hard stages to attack.”
Sastre – who started this Giro with the goal of finishing on the top-3 podium ─ realizes he’s still in with a shot.
“I went at my maximum and I felt pretty good. I didn’t set any real objectives, except to go all out, without thinking of any specific result,” he said. “I went full-gas on the climbs and eased back a little on the descents, because I didn’t want to take any risks. I climbed up to fifth. There are three key stages, and with the speed that we’re racing this Giro, everything is still possible.”
With Pellizotti now fourth at 2:00 back and Basso stuck in seventh at 3:00 back, one of the big questions, at least among the Italians, was who would take over the leadership for Liquigas.
“We always said from the start that Ivan and I would share the leadership of the team,” Pellizotti said. “I am demonstrating that I have some good form. It’s always the journalists who are saying there’s some sort of problem within the team. We started as equals and we will both race to win. What’s important is that someone from Liqugas win the Giro.”
Stage 12 results
1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.34.29
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.20
3 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 1.03
4 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana 1.14
5 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 1.27
6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini 1.57
7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 1.59
8 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini 2.04
9 Jose Serpa (Col) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli 2.13
10 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre – N.G.C. 2.17General classification after stage 12
1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 50.27.17
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini 0.34
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.40
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 2.00
5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 2.52
6 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia – Highroad 2.58
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 3.00
8 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli 4.38
9 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia – Highroad 5.53
10 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 5.55source: velonews.com
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Cavendish strikes again; Farrar second in the finale of Giro transition stage
Posted on May 20th, 2009 No comments
2009 Giro d'Italia - Stage 11: Isaichev's lead was trimmed by a chase driven by Garmin, Quick Step and Milram.
Mark Cavendish (Columbia-High Road) couldn’t help himself when the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia hit the coast road that leads down the Italian Riviera and toward the finish line of greatest glory of his young, but prolific career at Milan-San Remo.
The pack hit the Via Aurelia after a revived Lance Armstrong led the peloton down the Passo di Turchino at full speed ahead toward Arenzano.
Columbia-Highroad led out its pugnacious sprinter to perfection and, with his narrow San Remo victory fresh in his mind, Cavendish finished off the job to win for the second time in this Giro and deliver Columbia’s fifth Giro stage win.
“I was thinking about Milan-San Remo all day,” Cavendish said after kisses from the podium girls. “It was important to be at the front coming down the Turchino. The team did a good job again. They believed in me and all I had to do was finish off the sprint.”
There was quite a fight to grab Cavendish’s wheel, with Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) winning that battle only to lose the war for the sprint. Farrar bolted to second for his third top-3 so far in this Giro and relegated Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) to third.
“Today was a brutal stage, the heat was incredible and we were full gas most of the day,” Farrar said afterward. “The team did a fantastic job to set me up for the sprint, unfortunately a win wasn’t in the cards today. We’ll try again on Friday in Firenze (stage 13).”
Danilo Di Luca (LPR) finished safely in the pack to retain the maglia rosa for the seventh day in a row as there were no major shakeups in the GC ahead of Thursday’s highly anticipated Cinque Terre time trial.
2009 Giro d'Italia - Stage 11: Leipheimer works his way back into the peloton.
Leipheimer crashes, Horner out
On a sunny hot day, a minute of silence was observed before the start of the stage in memory of 69-year-old motorbike rider Fabio Saccani who died in a crash on the way to the start of Tuesday’s stage.Key Astana worker Chris Horner didn’t start, suffering from consequences from a frightening crash coming off the first descent in Tuesday’s monster stage.
Vladimir Isaichev (Xacobeo Galicia) took the day’s big flyer, taking off at the 113km mark and building a lead of over 8 minutes ahead of the pack, which was content to allow a long leash for the man who was almost 2 hours behind on the GC.
The sprinters’ teams — Garmin, Milram and Quick Step, most noticeably — eventually woke up and brought back Isaichev before the day’s only categorized climb, the cat. 3 Passo del Turchino, best known as part of the Milan-San Remo classic.
Armstrong led the charge up the final section of the Turchino climb (with Stefano Garzelli squirting ahead to claim the mountain points) and then drove the pack all the way down to the coast.
Part of it was to avoid any sort of danger on the descent, but it also revealed Armstrong’s rising fitness.
The Texan was revealing improving form in Tuesday’s climbing stage and promises to make some noises in Thursday’s time trial.
“He’s definitely going to try to go hard. I think he’s going to do good in the time trial,” said Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel before the stage. “It’s 60 kilometers so we don’t really know but his form is coming. We don’t know how good he can be over 60 kilometers. But I think he’s motivated to do well tomorrow.”
Astana suffered a day, however, when Horner did not start only followed up by a potentially disastrous crash involving team captain Levi Leipheimer when he hit the deck midway through the stage.
Leipheimer said he was taking a drink with one hand on the handlebars when a full water bottle dropped in front him. He hit it with his front wheel and went rattling to the ground. Luckily, he wasn’t seriously injured and he was able to finish the stage with the favorites.
“I just made a little mistake. Di Luca came on my inside, then I lost the wheel for a couple of seconds and I just couldn’t get back on. It was so tricky, if you made one little mistake, it was over,” Leipheimer said of Tuesday’s wild finale. “Di Luca is doing what he’s got to do to win the race so far, so he’s strong.”
Stage 11 results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia – Highroad
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin – Slipstream
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini
4 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step
5 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Davide Vigano (Ita) Fuji-Servetto
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia – Highroad
8 Alexander Serov (Rus) Team KatushaGeneral classification after stage 11
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini
2 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.20
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia – Highroad 1.33
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 1.40
5 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 1.53
6 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 1.53
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 2.03source: velonews.com
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Di Luca denies Soler on the line, Lovkvist takes pink jersey
Posted on May 12th, 2009 1 comment
Colombian rider Juan Mauricio Soler’s late bid for the stage victory was thwarted on the line by Danilo Di Luca.It was not a vintage mountain stage, proving perhaps that the best climbing action comes when the general classification has settled into some kind of order. With more to lose than to gain on this, only the fourth stage, everyone watched and waited until the final three kilometres.
The lead changed hands, as everyone knew it would. Alessandro Petacchi lost contact on the penultimate climb, and Sweden’s young rider Thomas Lovkvist ensured the pink jersey transferred back to the Columbia-Highroad team. His team-mate Mark Cavendish led the race for two days before Petacchi took over.
It means that between them, Columbia-Highroad and LPR have all the stage wins, and all the pink jerseys so far.
Soler, a former winner of the king of the mountains competition at the Tour de France, looked lively on the final 14-kilometre climb to San Martino di Castrozza. Despite a graze on his cheek and bruises suffered in yesterday’s crash, Soler attacked just over five kilometres from the finish.
Although he was reeled in quickly, he had another go with 1.5 kilometres to go. It looked as if Liquigas had it all under control, but Sylvester Szmyd, who had been setting a very good pace on the front, reached his limit and the momentum was lost, giving Soler hope.
Thomas Lovkvist In Pink Jersey After Stage 4 of the Giro D'Italia
He lasted until he was round the final bend and could almost touch the line. Di Luca, the winner of the 2007 Giro, opened up his sprint and got the stage win, with another former champion, Stefano Garzelli, second.
Lance Armstrong was with the front group until the final 500 metres or so, when he went out the back, although his team-mate Levi Leipheimer did finish with the front runners.
It was an interesting early date with the mountains and softened the contenders up for tomorrow’s fifth stage to Alpe di Siusi, which is shorter, but features a tougher summit finish.
Britain’s Ian Stannard was in the six-man break that went clear in the early stages as the ISD team continued to be aggressive.
They had a six-minute lead approaching the second-category Croce d’Aune, when they split up. Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), Francesco Bellotti (Barloworld) and Francesco De Bonis (Serramenti) pressed on as Serafin Martinez (Xacobeo-Galicia), Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto) and Stannard going backwards.
Pink jersey holder Alessandro Petacchi was working for LPR Brakes and his team-mate Danilo Di Luca on the Croce d’Aune, but was dropped before the top and was more than eight minutes down as the reached the final climb
As the final 14-kilometre climb began, Voigt attacked, which shed De Bonis. Voigt and Bellotti pressed on, but all eyes were on the bunch behind.
With eight kilometres to go, Voigt attacked Bellotti and set off alone. Bellotti had not been sharing the work, and when he did go to the front he looked to be suffering, so Voigt clearly felt he would be better off by himself. At that stage the gap was just 1-20 to the peloton.
Everything was still and calm in the main group until Juan Maurio Soler (Barloworld) threw a pebble in the water with an attack.
The Colombian, with a graze on his cheek and bandaged fingers after yesterday’s crash, was shut down quickly by Thomas Lovkvist (Columbia-Highroad). All the big favourites were there, watching, waiting, as they entered the final five kilometres.
Voigt’s lead began to melt away and was just 25 seconds going into the final three kilometres. There hadn’t been much in the way of action in the main group, but it started to stretch out as Liquigas put the pressure on at the front with Szmyd on the front with Ivan Basso on his wheel.
The big German cracked and watched the group stream past him. With both the stage win and the pink jersey up for grabs, it was perhaps not a surprise that no one was willing to play their cards too early and blow their chance.
With about 1.5km to go, Soler had another dig. It looked to be under control until Szmyd peeled off the front of the bunch and the Liquigas momentum was lost. It was left to Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) to take up the chase, but Soler cranked it up again. As the pace lifted again Armstrong was dropped.
As they rounded the last corner, Di Luca and Garzelli were upon Soler to deny him the victory.
Di Luca trails overall by just two seconds.
HOW LPR AND COLUMBIA HAVE DOMINATED
Stages
1 Columbia
2 Petacchi (LPR)
3 Petacchi (LPR)
4 Di Luca (LPR)Pink jerseys
1 Cavendish (Columbia)
2 Cavendish (Columbia)
3 Petacchi (LPR)
4 Lovkvist (Columbia)RESULTS
Stage four: Padova – San Martino di Castrozza, 162km
1. Danilo Di Luca (Italy) LPR Brakes in 4-15-04
2. Stefano Garzelli (Italy) Acqua & Sapone
3. Franco Pellizotti (Italy) Liquigas
4. Juan Mauricio Soler (Colombia) Barloworld
5. Gilberto Simoni (Italy) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
6. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
7. Thomas Lovkvist (Sweden) Columbia-Highroad
8. Ivan Basso (Italy) Liquigas
9. Denis Menchov (Russia) Rabobank
10. David Arroyo (Spain) Caisse d’Epargne all same time.
Other
35. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Garmin-Slipstream at 32secs
40. Charly Wegelius (GB) Silence-Lotto at 51secs
48. Chris Froome (GB) Barloworld at 1-31
118. Ian Stannard (GB) ISD at 18-05
150. Mark Cavendish (GB) Columbia-Highroad at 19-50
151. Daniel Lloyd (GB) Cervelo at 19-50
171. Ben Swift (GB) Katusha at 19-50
187. David Millar (GB) Garmin-Slipstream at 19-50
194. Jeremy Hunt (GB) Cervelo at 19-50Overall classification after stage four
1. Thomas Lovkvist (Sweden) Columbia-Highroad
2. Danilo Di Luca (Italy) LPR Brakes at 2sec
3. Michael Rogers (Australia) Columbia-Highroad at 6secs
4. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine) Astana at 26secs
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana at 26secs
6. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 28secs
7. Franco Pellizotti (Italy) Liquigas at 32secs
8. Damiano Cunego (Italy) Lampre at 42secs
9. Marzio Bruseghin (Italy) Lampre at 42secs
10. Carlos Sastre (Spain) Cervelo at 49secs
Other
11. Ivan Basso (Italy) Liquigas at 53secs
30. Bradley Wiggins (GB) Garmin-Slipstream at 2-03
34. Chris Froome (GB) Barloworld at 2-38
62. Charly Wegelius (GB) Silence-Lotto at 6-07
118. Mark Cavendish (GB) Columbia-Highroad at 21-01
140. Ben Swift (GB) Katusha at 24-06
145. David Millar (GB) Garmin-Slipstream at 24-32
148. Ian Stannard (GB) ISD at 24-37
156. Daniel Lloyd (GB) Cervelo at 25-32
178. Jeremy Hunt (GB) Cervelo at 31-41Source: CyclingWeekly.co.uk
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Giro d’Italia Preview
Posted on May 7th, 2009 1 comment
Lance Armstrong's Cycling Helmet emblazoned with "Giro", which he will wear in the Tour of Italy
By Chris Brewer
Last year the Astana Cycling Team literally got a week’s notice to participate in the Giro, and as everyone will recall it was a historic three weeks as Alberto Contador took an overall victory that basically no one expected. So when Lance Armstrong announced his comeback last year, his desire to race the Giro, and received a general “open arms” welcome from the race organizers, the stage was set for another chapter in his incredible career. And then a not-so-funny thing happened at Castilla y Leon as the 7-time Tour de France champion broke his collarbone, apparently derailing his impending battle with the likes of Basso, Simoni, and Di Luca.
Armstrong’s reaction? “I can’t deny that having a crash, a surgery and all the things involved with it, completely derails any ambitions. And in March I wasn’t in condition to win the Giro anyway as I was still in the process of building my form. This was a difficult setback, but I don’t think that it’s a bad thing. I think the team will be coy about our chances in the Giro, but I think we have a strong guy and that works perfectly for me. I get to ride with no pressure, do an event that I’ve always wanted to do and get to help a guy try to win the Giro.”So who is this other guy? It’s “the guy” who has displayed an ever-growing form that simply cannot be ignored. Following victories at California, Castilla y Leon, and the Tour of the Gila, Levi Leipheimer is now poised to be the Astana team leader as the roads all lead to Venice and eventually Rome. But the always modest champion had this to say after his Gila win, “I think I’m just going to take it day by day. I think this year especially, and the last few years, I’ve been more and more relaxed and just having fun and going with the flow and it seems to be working. I’m definitely not going to step up and say I am equally a favorite as Basso or Di Luca or whoever, I just have to be sorta the underdog and play conservative and day by day and we’ll see what happens.”
So who will be up front challenging for Italian glory? I see the GC race being between Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes), Dennis Menchov (Rabobank), and Armstrong / Leipheimer (Astana). Add in to the mix Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Carlos Sastre (Cervelo Test Team), Christian Vande Velde (Garmin), and Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) and you’ve got quite a mix of amazing riders. And recall that the Giro almost always comes down to dramatic mano-a-mano battles, and this Grand Tour has plenty of opportunities for that.
For route analysis and more about the teams, visit the Astana website.
Source: LiveStrong.com