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Sivtsov takes stage 8 in solo break
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Columbia-Highroad’s juggernaut at the 2009 Giro d’Italia continued Saturday as Kanstantsin Sivtsov used a bold solo breakaway late in the 208km stage to deliver a stunning solo victory 21 seconds clear of the hungry pack.
Columbia almost made it a podium sweep, with Friday’s winner Edvald Boasson Hagen taking his second runner-up spot in three days while Michael Rogers was pipped by race leader Danilo Di Luca (LPR) for third.
The quiet, hard-working Sivtsov stepped center stage and even got kisses from the podium girls, but he was more interested in someone else waiting at the line.
“I think this is the best win of my career, better than the worlds and better than my victory in the Tour of Georgia last year, too,” a happy Sivtsov said after the stage. “Both of those are great races to win, but here, for the first time, I won with my wife watching me. I got to hug her afterwards and that made it the best win of my career so far.”
Sivtsov, the 2005 U23 world road champion, hails from Belorussia, but moved to Bergamo a few years ago. The local knowledge helped him lay down the vicious attack that caught the favorites completely off guard.
2009 Giro d'Italia
- Stage 8: Morbegno to Bergamo
- 209km (130 miles)
- Stage winner: Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Columbia-Highroad) in 5:56:52
- Stage winner's average speed: 41.567km/h (25.828mph)
- GC leader: Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes)
- Points jersey: Di Luca
- Climber's jersey: Di Luca
- Team GC leader: Columbia-Highroad
- Most aggressive for the day: Sivtsov
- Best young rider: Thomas Lovkvist (Columbia-Highroad)
- Previous stage winners/GC leaders
- Stage 1: Team Columbia-Highroad/Cavendish
- Stage 2: Petacchi/Cavendish
- Stage 3: Petacchi/Petacchi
- Stage 4: Di Luca/Lovkvist
- Stage 5: Menchov/Di Luca
- Stage 6: Scarponi/Di Luca
- Stage 7: Boasson Hagen/Di Luca
- Up next: Stage 9
- Sunday's stage is an unusual route for a grand tour: 11 laps of an 11.4km circuit around Milan. The route is completely flat and passes many of the city's historic landmarks. Clearly it's a route for the sprinters, and could give Mark Cavendish his first individual stage win of the Giro.
“I knew the last 15 kilometers and attacked at the right moment. When (rival Stefano) Garzelli won here in another race, he proved that whoever gets over the top of the final climb with a few seconds advantage can win,” he said. “(Director Valerio) Piva told me I had 20 seconds on the bunch at the top, so I took it steady on the descent and stayed away to win.”
Sivtsov shot out of the bunch just moments after it reeled in a dangerous break featuring some real firepower, launched over the Cat.2 Colle del Gallo with under 30km to go.
In the promising group were Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone), Rogers, Damiano Cunego (Lampre-NGC), Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), Boasson Hagen and David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne).
As the bunch swallowed them up, the unsung Sivtsov put his head down — and the hammer, too — and simply left a group of 50 furiously chasing riders to choke on his fumes.
The chase was fast and furious, and even included strong efforts by race leader Di Luca himself. But it was in vain.
“He’s a gutsy rider. No one remembers he finished 17th in the Tour last year as a helper. He’s been world champion. No one remembers he beat Leipheimer at the Tour de Georgia,” said Columbia sport director Allan Peiper.
The victory caps an incredible run by Columbia so far through the centenary Giro. Through the opening eight days of racing, the team has won three stages, placed two different riders in the maglia rosa and has GC candidates Thomas Lovkvist and Michael Rogers parked in the second- and third-place spots.
Even more impressive, the team has placed a rider in the top three in six of eight stages — and top sprinter Mark Cavendish still has yet to win.
What’s the secret? Peiper says there isn’t one, except hard work, teamwork and a motivated group of ambitious riders.
“We won six stages in the Tour and five stages in the Giro last year, so no one can say it’s a fluke. We have an ethical code that we stand by 100 percent. We have shown the world how it’s done,” Peiper said. “This team is about honesty and it’s upstanding. We brought in brand-new riders. It starts with Bob Stapleton, he starts with setting the tone and everything else is about working professionally and setting high goals.”
Fast from the start
The 208km race from Morbegno to Bergamo got right down to business with a break by Dario Cataldo (Quick Step) and David Lopez Garcia (Caisse d'Epargne) at 33km.
They were joined by Carlos José Ochoa (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni), Johann Tschopp (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Serge Pauwels (Cervélo TestTeam), Jelle Vanendert (Silence-Lotto) and Evgeni Petrov (Katusha). Next to join up were Eduard Vorganov (Xacobeo Galicia), Giovanni Visconti (ISD-Neri) and Hector Gonzalez Baeza (Fuji-Servetto), and it was a 10-man break approaching the Cat. 1 Culmine di San Petro at 65km.
At the 50km mark, the break had 2:30 on the main field, led by Lampre. Baeza took the KOM at Culmine di San Pietro. Ochoa crashed on the descent, and Tshopp and Cataldo took a slight gap, chased by Petrov and Visconti. But the break reformed on the descent, and the gap had topped three minutes at the 125km mark.
With 75km to go the gap was down to 1:52. The pack was chasing at 51km/h, and as the gap started shrinking Cataldo had a dig out of the break on the Solto Colino, joined by Lopez Garcia and Gonzales Baeza. Petrov bridged up, and after four hours of racing it was a four-man lead group with 12 seconds on their erstwhile companions and more than a minute on the maglia rosa group with less than 40km to race.
LPR and Liquigas added some horsepower to the chase as the race approached the Cat. 2 Colle del Gallo at 182.3km. Up front, Ochoa, Vorganov, Petrov and Visconti tacked back onto the leaders. With 35km to go the gap was down to 42 seconds.
Attacks on Gallo
Pauwels had a dig on the Colle del Gallo, with an average grade of 7 percent and a max of 11 percent. Behind, a strong group formed that included remnants of the original break, plus Rogers, Cunego, Pellizotti, Garzelli, Horner and Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni).
Leipheimer and Boasson Hagen made it to the leaders, too, and once Leipheimer was on board Horner went to the front and drilled it. Race leader Di Luca and Ivan Basso (Liquigas) were left behind, as were Lance Armstrong (Astana) and Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam).
Garzelli, Horner and Pellizotti led the way over the summit of the Colle del Gallo. Cunego was dropped, crossing some 20-odd seconds later, with the maglia rosa group trailing at 54 seconds with 26.7km to race.
Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel said the attack was not planned.
“The plan was just to stay with the favorites and stay out of trouble. But all of a sudden there was this little group and Horner was in there, Rogers was in there and Levi saw that LPR wasn't looking very strong,” he said.
“He made the decision himself to bridge across and I think it was a smart move. Di Luca and (Ivan) Basso weren't there. With a little bit of luck they could have made it to the finish and took a minute. Who knows? It was a good try without spending so much energy. I think it was a smart move."
Di Luca said afterward that he was unruffled by the move.
"There was no panic when Leipheimer attacked; I knew we were still a long way from the finish,” he said. "The other teams with an interest in the maglia rosa, Rabobank, Cervélo, Diquigiovanni, came up to the front and helped us bring the escape back.
"Maybe they wanted to see if I could be put into difficulty, but I'm calm — that's my nature. And I have a pretty good team behind me."
Gabriele Bosisio led the chase for Di Luca as the five-man break — Leipheimer, Horner, Garzelli, Pellizotti and Rogers — drove furiously toward the finish.
With 20km to go Cunego and Boasson Hagen had caught back on, as had David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne). But the break’s advantage was dwindling, to just 18 seconds with 18km remaining.
Sivtsov attacks
Five kilometers later it was all over and as the bunch retrieved the break Sivtsov made his move, quickly taking a dozen seconds’ lead. Ten kilometers from the line he had more than doubled his advantage, and he clung to it with 5km to race.
Behind, Astana’s Yaroslav Popovych tried an escape, countered by the race leader himself, but neither he nor Di Luca were able to shed their companions.
And as Sivtsov hit the final kilometer it was clear that he would not be caught. He hit the line alone, and the bunch was left to fight for the lesser spots on the podium a couple dozen seconds later.
All of the GC favorites finished safely in the front pack and there were no major changes in the top-10.
“This is becoming a really hard Giro, in that there’s not one day of cease-fire,” said defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre (Cervelo TestTeam), seventh overall at 1:24 back. “Realizing that we still have two weeks to go, this can be truly difficult.”
Di Luca, however, picked up a third-place time bonus worth eight seconds to widen his lead to Thomas Lovkvist (Columbia-Highroad) to 13 seconds.
Those bonuses are starting to add up, Horner said.
“Di Luca is grabbing these bonuses, a few seconds, a few more there,” he said. “Before you know it, he’s going to have two minutes!”
Tomorrow’s stage
The 92nd Giro d’Italia continues Sunday with the 165km ninth stage on a circuit course in Milan. The stage starts at Milan’s Piazza Castello and covers 11 laps on a 11.4km circuit through downtown Milan. The stage finishes down a long, 2km straightaway on Corso Venezia. Watch for Mark Cavendish to keep the Columbia-Highroad party rolling.
"We hope that Mark can come out to play tomorrow, and show again that he's the fastest sprinter in the world," said Columbia boss Bob Stapleton. "The course suits him for sure, and we'll try to win another stage and keep the run of success going." —Agence France Presse contributed to this report.
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