Pink As A Pig - Part Three
Stage 18 was flat and unadventurous. There were no stalemates, and Andreas enjoyed his day back in pink with aplomb. TV cameras caught he and Fabian sharing many a laugh along the way.
But the giggling couldn’t last long – surely – as the next two stages were brutal MTF’s, and Michelle Scarponi was less than a minute behind on GC.
The final climb of stage 19 – the Alpe di Pampeago – was ridiculously steep.
7.7kms @ 9.9%. Oh yes indeedy.
But the riders would awake to freezing conditions, and it would soon be revealed that the stage would be cut 75kms short, as a result of too much snow at the peaks of the final three climbs. And so the stage would finish on the Passo Manghen; tough at 20.5kms @ 7.4%, but the short stage may give the ‘dodgy’ climbers a chance to limit their losses.
From the Leopard-trek team bus, Klodi was heard to be singing, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”
Rujano spiced the race up on the Manghen, while Scarponi did his best to keep in contact. The rest of the pack splintered, including Kloden. Nevertheless, he did a good job to reduce the damage to 1:44 to Jose at the finish, and 1:34 to Scarponi, but one wonders just how much time Andreas would have lost if the stage had been run as originally planned. The German placed ninth on the stage and slipped to second in the general classification, with the Italian now forty-seven seconds to the good, and with more mountains to come tomorrow.
So it was all but over. The best that Klodi could hope for was a spot on the podium. Or was it?
Stage 20 was a nightmare, with the Mortirolo (11.1kms @ approximately 10.5%!) and Stelvio (24.3kms @7.4%) coming inside the last seventy kms.
And on the Mortirolo it was goodbye to Andreas Kloden. Halfway up the climb he could stick no longer, and pop he went. By the top of the climb he was seventy-five seconds in arrears.
Some daredevil descending – which is what Andreas is of course best known for – did regain him contact with the leaders, but with the Stelvio on the horizon he was set to lose multiple minutes.
But a surprise would await the riders before the commencement of the climb. As they arrived in Le Prese they were greeted with the grandest of gifts. Another shortened stage due to the snow whitening out the Stelvio, but this time without warning. Boom! The stage was over after 177.3kms, and sixteen riders were given the same time.
For Klodi it was very sweet. And in the team bus in the stages aftermath, Andreas could be heard singing a beautiful duet with Johan Bruyneel.
“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”
So now all that was left was the 31.5km ITT through the streets of Milan. During it Fulgsang endured a horrendous crash on a particularly sharp corner, but after Jacob had been flown by helicopter to the nearest hospital Fabian declared that, “it is quite clear that the man has a pulse, so it is obviously in the best interests of the race that we continue racing. Cancerella had of course set the fastest time earlier in the day and was all set for the stage win. And meanwhile Andreas Kloden was setting the next best fastest times at every split.
And he took back the 1:34 that he lost to Scarponi on the Manghen, and with it he collected his first ever grand tour victory! Had any win ever been more deserved?
Oh, and the final day contained perfect sunshine….
Oh yes indeedy.