Dekker_Tifosi said:
Can anybody tell me what happened today. I missed it and I'm completely suprised about the massacre that happened here.
What happened? Falls?
Okay, quite consistent rain throughout the day. Flens and Nicki Sorensen were in an early attack, but after the half-way point Katusha (mainly) started pulling on the peleton hard. Caused quite a sizable rift in the peleton, with about 60 riders being shelled. With around 45k to go Katusha eased off and other teams took up the chase. About 10 km before the gravel roads started some attacks were coming in and Liquigas started to put there men on the front to control the race. At that point there was a flurry of attacks, the first significant one of which I believe was Linus Gerdemann. A couple of guys (like Bakelants) tried, and succeeded in bridging.
The the moment surpreme happened. Agnoli (i believe) slipped out of a turn on the wet tarmac and pretty much brought down the entire Liquigas train on the front of the peleton (a la Sky a couple of days ago), Nibali was with them. It also, briefly, held up guys like Cadel and Sastre and others. At this point (i believe) Garzelli attacked and bridged up to Gerdemann on the front and Vino attacked to stay with him. Garzelli worked hard to keep the break alive, but Vino just hung on, clearly not wanting to work. This group was around 5 strong at the time. At this point they hit the gravel roads with around 30km to go.
Nibali was slow to get going and Liqui regrouped pretty much their entire team (Basso inc.) around him. When the Liquigas train got rolling they were down well over a minute (something like 1'15) on the Garzelli & Milram (Rohregger was pulling a lot too) led leaders, with plenty of people in the middle. While still on the gravel roads a trio which had Evans, Pozzato and some random started coming closer and closer to the leaders, and eventually, with a little solo effort, Cadel succeeded in bridging up to the leaders, which now numbered around 8. When Cadel joined the leaders there was a brief stall in the pulling, and shortly thereafter they also hit a stretch of tarmac again. This slight stall led the lead group to grow around 20 or-so, with guys like Pozzato and Cunego having joined up too. Cadel, Vino and Garzelli only big men up there. 20 k to go or so.
Meanwhile the Liqui chase wasn't going particularly well. They werent getting any help, and when the gravel roads sloped uphill Nibali typically got isolated quickly. Gap to Cadel, Vino & Cowas hovering around 1'30.
With 15k to go the gravel starts again, this time sloping heavily upwards to Montalcino. Vino, who looked tired and frustrated all the time, nevertheless had a dig and Cadel joined him, but despite both guys taking pulls a thinned out group containing Cunego, Garzelli, Gadret, Pinotti and Arroyo didn't let them get too much distance, and they were pulled back. Meanwhile Nibali had lost most of his teammates and basically formed a two-man team with Basso and an occasional person they caught who clamped on for a km or so before releasing again.
Within the final 10k Vino again attacked seriously uphill and only Evans could hold early on, but Arroyo eventually managed to bridge and the three got a decent gap. Vino struck again, and Evans clamped on, Arroyo got shelled. As they left the gravel for the last time and there was a brief decent, which allowed Cunego, Arroyo and Pinotti to get back on. Grazelli was out the back.
At this point (still on the climb) Scarponi started putting in a strong comeback (he had still been hovering inbetween the front and Nibali) with a couple of teammates early on. But now he was alone and going solo. He was really flying up that final climb.
Back on the tarmac with a few km to go Vino tried still to attack twice, but each time Cadel closed him down with considerable effort. Then the attacking ceased and they went (the 5) to the line together, despite a rather half-hearted attack from Cunego with just about 1km to go. The final few hundred metres were pretty nastily uphill and Cadel led the whole way. Vino could hold him, then Cunego couldn't close him down either. Cadel took the stage. Pinotti and Arroyo were a bit back. Garzelli and Gadret a bit further.
Scarponi final effort took him accross the line as the first person who wasn't in the lead group during the last gravel section about a minute down. A bunch of stragglers led by Rohregger and Gerdemann then slowly streamed in, having picked up guys like Karpets and Millar as hangers on. Ritchie Porte and Gustav Larsson also finished as a two man TT slighly further back, with Larsson looking far the healthier of the two. Then a dead Nibali and an even deader Ivan Basso came in two minutes down. Then we didn't see much more, but Sastre and Tondo came accross together, well down and miserable. Pozzato also seemed to have badly cracked at some point too, finishing in the mid-30s or so, but ahead of Sastre nevertheless.
That's about as detailed a summary as I can give you. Hope it made sense.
On the whole very few falls (at least on the front) except for the big Liqui one, and almost no mechanicals.
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