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Garzelli redeems his Giro with a stage win; Cunego remains in charge
Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola) salvaged a disappointing Giro d’Italia with an emotional stage victory Saturday in a grueling stage that paid homage to fallen hero Marco Pantani over the legendary Passo di Mortirolo.
Once seen as a natural inheritor of Pantani’s crown after winning the 2000 Giro, Garzelli held off two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) to win the three-climb, 122km stage from Bormio to Presolana high in the Italian Alps.
“I wanted to try to win today to save something of this Giro, which has been very disappointing for me,” said Garzelli, who zipped away from Simoni with 300 meters to go. “I wasn’t able to win this Giro, but this will mean something to me.”
Damiano Cunego (Saeco) has picked up the mantle from Pantani, at least in the eyes of Italian cycling fans. Tens of thousands of fans lining the Category 1 Passo della Presolana reached out to touch the maglia rosa as the 22-year-old revelation danced his way up the Giro’s final climb.
Saturday’s arduous stage was the last chance for Cunego’s rivals to try to crack the ever-steady youngster. Simoni and Garzelli attacked on the Mortirolo, but Cunego answered the challenge.
Cunego finished fifth to widen his lead to 2:02 over second-place Serhiy Honchar (De Nardi) with just one stage remaining before the 2004 Giro is part of the history books.
“I just want to savor this right now,” Cunego said. “There’s still one stage left, so I don’t want to celebrate too much. It’s all been very exciting, but I don’t want to jinx anything.”
Barring disaster Sunday, Cunego will be the youngest Giro winner since Giuseppe Saronni won as a 21-year-old in 1979.
Up the Mortirolo (Cat. 1, 1855m, 42.2km)
It’s been a frustrating Giro for defending champion Simoni. After crossing Friday’s finish line at Bormio 2000, he abruptly turned around and rode back down to the team hotel. The Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that he called Cunego “a bastard and an idiot” for reeling in Simoni’s solo attack and then taking the victory on the climbing finish.
“I was upset that Damiano wanted to win in such a dominant fashion this Giro,” Simoni said Saturday. “I didn’t think that was necessary when Damiano accelerated in front of me in Friday’s stage. It did annoy me, but that’s all finished now.”
Tempers seemed to cool overnight, and Saeco was all smiles in the start village in sunny Bormio, site of the 2005 World Alpine Ski Championships.
“I read his statements and we had a discussion this morning and cleared things up,” Cunego said. “It’s the kind of thing you say and later on when you think about it you regret it.
With three Category 1 climbs in the offing, 10 riders attacked at 10km, including young German rider Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner), who had lost the green King of the Mountains jersey to Cunego in the previous stage.
“It was really too bad I lost the jersey, because Cunego doesn’t really want the jersey and I really do. It would mean a lot to me to win the climber’s jersey, but it looks like it’s not going to happen,” Wegmann said before the stage. “In Friday’s stage I went away to get the first mountain points, and the only way I could have lost the jersey is if Cunego won the stage, and that’s what happened.”
The Wegmann group drove down the valley toward the base of the Mortirolo with a three-minute head start on the main group. Thousands of fans cheered the riders on as they wound their way up the climb named in honor of Pantani, who died of an apparent drug overdose February 14.
The remainder of the Wegmann group gave way to the grinding pace of the Mortirolo as Garzelli attacked the maglia rosa group. Simoni, Tadej Valjavec (Phonak) and Juan Garate (Lampre) followed the move. Simoni counter-attacked, but then the four worked together up the grueling climb, with ramps as steep as 18 percent.
Raffaele Illiano (Colombia-Selle Italia) spoiled Wegmann’s dream of being first over the Mortirolo, but the German came through second to grab six points, putting him back into the climber’s jersey. Simoni, Garzelli and Valjavec followed at 1:15, while the maglia rosa group rode steadily to push through at two minutes in arrears.
“This has been a great Giro for me, it’s my first three-week tour and I’ve shown that I can do well in longer races,” said Wegmann. “I like the classics, the hard one-day races, but this Giro gives me motivation to try to do more.”
Once over the Mortirolo, the riders plunged down the other side of the Mortirolo on roads barely wide enough for a car to pass. Ruggero Marzoli (Acqua & Sapone) crashed, Wladimir Belli (Lampre) punctured, and seven leading riders, among them Simoni, Garzelli and Valjavec, grouped up to chase Illiano.
Up the Vivione (Cat. 1, 1828m, 90.3km)
The Passo del Vivione is only 28 meters lower than the Mortirolo, and it was just as demanding. On equally narrow roads, the climb never seemed to end as it pushed up a knife-ridge lined with huge crowds of fans.
Simoni, Garzelli and Valjavec soon pulled away from the other riders on the 20km climb and opened up a gap of nearly two minutes on the maglia rosa group. Supported by the ever-faithful Eddy Mazzoleni, Cunego was trying not to get too worried about the leading trio’s progress.
“When the gap was at its widest, Mazzoleni calmed me down because I was worried that they might stay away. He’s become a great friend, and I count on him a lot. He’s been fantastic during this race,” Cunego said. “My sport director told me to stay calm; that everything was under control.”
With about 4km to go on the climb, Emanuele Sella (Panaria), a winner of the stage into Pantani’s hometown, jumped off the front of the maglia rosa group. Honchar – nursing a 1:36 lead over Simoni for second place - was worried about the trio’s progress and began working hard at the front of the 20-rider group.
Brad McGee (FDJeux.com), who’s been showing new resolve through the difficult climbing stages, was struggling under the pace and dropped back. With 2km to go, Cioni suffered an ill-timed puncture, but made a quick tire change, and Fassa Bortolo teammate Marzio Bruseghin was there to help tow him back.
Garzelli cleared the summit with Simoni while Valjavec struggled on the final sections and topped out 30 seconds back. Sella passed at 1:25 back while Popovych led the maglia rosa group at 1:56.
The narrow, twisting descent off the Vivione was as treacherous as the plummet from the Mortirolo. Race crews had installed nets used in downhill ski racing to keep riders from launching into the void if they overcooked one of the narrow hairpins.
Belli was one rider who slid into the netting, while Pavel Tonkov (Vini Caldirola) veered off-course, driving his bike into the woods rather than risk missing a turn. Valjavec soon caught back onto Simoni and Garzelli and the three worked together while seven riders – Popovych, Mazzoleni, Cunego, Honchar, Cioni, Belli and Garate – gave chase. The leading trio hit the base of the final climb of the 2004 Giro holding a 1:27 lead on the maglia rosa group.
Passo della Presolana (Cat. 1, 1193m, 121.2km)
The final climb up Presolana was choked with tens of thousands of rowdy, Italian fans in a classic Giro moment. More than 150 members of the Damiano Cunego fan club cheered in delirium as the Giro’s newest hero rode past in the maglia rosa.
Valjavec faded near the finish as Simoni and Garzelli eyed each other, both desperately wanting to win the stage. Simoni rolled across the summit ahead of Garzelli and the two made the quick descent to the rising finish just under 2km to go.
In the end, the quicker Garzelli made easy work of Simoni to win his fourth career Giro stage and bounced from eighth to sixth in the GC.
“I was not strong enough to win this Giro,” said the 30-year-old Garzelli. “Yesterday I attacked to try to blow apart the race, but Saeco was too strong. Cunego is a new champion. He has a great future, but I am not finished yet. I can come back to be stronger.”
As for Simoni, he was forced to swallow another bitter pill at the end of the stage. Honchar battled hard to come through at 1:23 back, securing his hold on second place by just three seconds.
“Simoni and Garzelli attacked in a very difficult section for me on the Mortirolo,” said Honchar, the 2000 world time trial champion. “I had to work very hard to stay with the group, and we were able to get back in contact with the Cunego group on the downhill. It was very close but I am content to keep the second place in the overall classification.”
Simoni will finish third in the Giro for the third time. Following his two third places in 1999 and 2000, Simoni roared to victory in 2001 and 2003. He expected the same thing this year, but admitted he didn’t have the strength in the decisive final week.
“Seeing how things went today, maybe I should have followed Garzelli yesterday over the Gavia, but I’ve realized the past two days I didn’t have it at the start of the Giro,” Simoni said. “I just don’t feel that spark I normally have.”
Meanwhile, McGee bridged up to the maglia rosa group just as it hit the first ramps on the Passo della Presolana and fought hard to finish ninth in the stage. McGee will roll out of this Giro with a victory in the prologue, two days in the maglia rosa and a strong eighth place overall.
With 8km remaining, Franco Pellizzoti (Alessio-Bianchi) attacked, a move Cunego quickly marked. Cioni countered and Cunego followed again. Cioni worked the entire way up the climb as the maglia rosa sat on his wheel, and Cunego didn’t challenge him in the final sprint, reaching out to shake his hand after crossing the line fifth.
“I felt good again today, and I wanted to make a try,” Cioni said. “I am a good worker, so this is a great satisfaction for me to make such a strong Giro in the general classification.”
Cioni finished fourth in the stage and moved into fourth overall, ahead of last year’s third-place finisher, Popovych. Of all the former mountain bikers who have crossed over to the road scene in recent years, Cioni is about to post the best result in a grand tour so far.
It’s all downhill from here
Just as he promised, Fred Rodriguez (Acqua & Sapone) survived four tough mountain stages to fight for the finale in Milan on Sunday. “Fast Freddy,” a winner in stage 9, was safely tucked in the “gruppetto” that came through 34:58 in arrears to Garzelli.
The 149km 20th stage is downhill all the way. Starting at 476m in Clusone, the course rolls down past Bergamo onto the flats toward Milan and finishes with 10 laps on a 4.8km finishing circuit.
Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is the favorite and will be going for stage win No. 9, while Rodriguez will hope to play spoiler before he flies Monday to the United States to race in the Wachovia series next week.
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