THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Bennati wins a photo finish to take Giro d'Italia stage
Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) wants nothing more than to win a stage in the Giro d’Italia wearing the rainbow jersey.
“The Cricket” came close but fell short in 2007, and when he successfully defended the world championship last fall in Stuttgart, one of the first things he said he wanted to do was win in Italy wearing the rainbow stripes.
Bettini, 34, still has some unfinished business after losing in a photo-finish to Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) in a hotly contested sprint in Sunday’s 218km ninth stage from Civitavecchia to San Vicenzo.
“If I was going to win this year, I would have loved to have today. It would have been a great satisfaction,” said Bettini, who lives in nearby La California. “I was close, oh so close! It was a dangerous sprint, but I really wanted to win. It was complicated because I was alone behind the trains for Zabel and Bennati.”
The peloton came roaring into San Vicenzo after reeling an all-day breakaway with about 12km to go.
Oscar Gatto (Gerolsetiner) opened up a long sprint, but Bennati came off Erik Zabel’s wheel and closed off the veteran German on the right side. A fast-charging Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) was also blocked and was forced to restart his sprint and settled for third.
“I am in very good condition because I have done two sprints. I was with Zabel but when he didn’t attack, I went instead. As usual I raised my arms but then I felt a rocket had arrived at my side, it was Bettini. I feel sorry for him as this is the only stage in Tuscany but I came to win,” said Bennati, who won in Milazzo. “In the sprints, it's a lot easier to lose than to win. It's a shame that the last stage will be a time-trial in place of a sprint. I have won them in Paris on the Tour de France and in Madrid on the Vuelta. In Milan what I can hope for is the points classification.”
Bennati, 27, notched his second stage victory of this Giro while Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) defend his maglia rosa for the third day.
“I hope to still have the maglia rosa at the end of the time trial,” said Visconti, who snagged the jersey in stage six. “I cannot ignore Russ, but I defend pretty well in the time trials.”
There was a lot of finger-pointing at the finish, with Andrei Greipel (High Road) going after a rider from CSF-Navigare.
Headbanger’s ball to nowhere
It didn’t take long before the day’s first attack came. Yuriy Krivtsov (Ag2r) tore out of the field almost from the gun as the pack rolled out of Civitavecchia. Mickael Buffaz (Cofidis) soon bridged out to give him some company for the long, mostly flat 218km run to San Vincenzo along the Livorno coast.
Neither man posed a real threat to the overall standings, with Buffaz starting the day in 110th place, 48:19 back with Krivtsov back even further, in 129th, at 56:34.
At 65km, the two escapees upped their advantage to 9:25 and it dangled there for the middle part of the race. Quick Step found some help from Milram and Gerolsteiner in the later part of the chase and the lead was slowly whittled down to under two minutes it approached the first passage through San Vicenzo.
Filippo Savini (CSF Group Navigare) over-cooked a turn, hit a small concrete lip and crashed into a ditch. Bingen Fernández (Cofidis) also hit the deck hard at the back of the bunch and was carried away on a stretcher and neck brace for a trip to a local hospital.
On the unrated climb with about 17km to go, Bettini set a glaring pace that split the pack, sending Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) and Emanuele Sella (CSF-Navigare) chasing his wheel.
With the peloton just 30 seconds back, Riccò and Bettini soon realized their folly and sat up. Sella kept motoring straight through the breakaway and held a slender gap until he was gobbled up with 10km to go.
The weary peloton enjoys the first of two rest days on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s decisive 39.4km time trial from Pesaro to Urbino.
Results, Stage 9
1. Daniele Bennati (ITA), Liquigas in 5:30:06
2. Paolo Bettini (ITA), Quick Step, s.t.
3. Robbie Mcewen (AUS), Silence-Lotto, s.t.
4. Erik Zabel (GER), Milram, s.t.
5. Koldo Fernandez (ESP), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.
6. Robert Forster (GER), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
7. Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team High Road, s.t.
8. Tiziano Dall'antonia (ITA), CSF Group Navigare, s.t.
9. Julian Dean (NZL), Slipstream-Chipotle, s.t.
10. Alexandre Usov (BLR), Ag2r La Mondiale, s.t.
Overall, after Stage 9
1. Giovanni Visconti (ITA), Quick Step in 42:14:16
2. Matthias Russ (GER), Gerolsteiner, at 0:34
3. Gabriele Bosisio (ITA), Team L.P.R., at 5:53
4. Danilo Di Luca (ITA), Team L.P.R., at 7:27
5. Emanuele Sella (ITA), CSF Group Navigare, at 7:32
6. Riccardo Ricco' (ITA), Saunier Duval, at 7:33
7. Rafael Cardenas Felix (COL), Barloworld, at 7:46
8. Alberto Contador (ESP), Astana, at 7:56
9. Franco Pellizotti (ITA), Liquigas, at 8:11
10. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Liquigas, at 8:15
Photo Gallery
