Giro d'Italia 2007 Route Map, Stage Details, Teams, TV Schedule, Live Updates, Results and Photos... page 2
<-- return to page one
Stage 9 results: Danilo Napolitano wins the crowded drag race along the Tuscan Riviera Reggio Emilia → Lido di Camaiore, 177k (hilly/mountainous then flat)
May 21st 6:00 CEST/ 0:00 EDT update:
After four days of heading north, stage 9 heads southwest taking the Giro back to the west coast (Tuscan Riviera). Inorder to get there, the riders must once again cross the mountain range that is the backbone of the Italian Pensinula, The Apennine Mountains (Appennini). This stage has a similar profile to yesterday's stage 8 so it may unfold in a similar manner although Marco Pinnoti's GC lead has been widdled down significantly by yesterday's large break. There will likely be a sprint finish. Just like yesterday all the climbing is in the first half of the stage, but starting out more gradually with 50k of undulating climbing before reaching the base of Passo del Cerrto (length: 12.3k, gain: 613m, avg: 5%, max: 9%), the only categorized climb of the day. From the top, it will be a fast descent to the rest area in Aula before 80k of flats to the finish, again just like yesterday. — Steve
May 21st 17:30 CEST/ 11:45 EDT update:
Stage 9 Final Results
1 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Milram
4 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic
5 Koldo Fern‡ndez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
6 Thor Hushovd (Nor) CrŽdit Agricole
General classification after stage 9
1 Marco Pinotti (Ita) T-Mobile
2 Andrea Noe (Ita) Liquigas
Full Results — Cyclingnews
Full Report — VeloNews
Graham Watson's Stage 9 Photos
Roberto Bettini's Stage 9 Photos
High-res celebration photo
May 20th 7:30 CEST/ 1:30 EDT update: The Giro is officially in Northern Italy for stage 8, a hilly stage for the first 100k before descending to the flats for the final 80k. A break will certainly form in the first half of the race, but we'll have to see whether it can stay away on the flats to the finish. It's likely the big GC contenders will save their team energy until stage 10 when the gloves will really come off so it's very possible a break will succeed today. The big climb of the day starts right from the sound of the gun. Gran Premio Della Montagna (G.P.M.): Passo della Futa at Km. 13 (length: 13.1k, gain: 565m, avg: 5.1%, max: 11%) and Sestola at Km. 101 (length: 6.7k, gain: 415m, avg: 6.2%, max: 10%). A precise link to live coverage will be posted at start time. — Steve
May 20th 17:00 CEST/ 11:00 EDT update:
|
Bettini jumped with 200m to go unaware Kurt-Asle Arvesen was on his wheel until it was too late...
|
Race Summary
As expected, the fireworks on this stage started with the sound of the gun and the category 2 climb over Passo della Futa. Sprinters including Robbie McEwen and Alessandro Petacchi were spat out the back, cresting more than a minute behind the peloton. At the 35 kilometer mark, Dario Cioni (Predictor Lotto) was driving a big group. The group of 21 riders including Paolo Bettini and George Hincapie worked very well clicking along at a good pace and opened up the gap to around 7'00". They would succeed, eventually finishing 4'19" ahead of the peloton. Riccardo Ricco was initially part of the break, but being a big GC threat he was apparently asked to drop back by Bettini and/or others in the break. Hmm... only in bike stage racing. If Ricco had remained in the break then T-Mobile and Liquigas would have surely chased harder.
The cohesive break unraveled with 5 km to go when several attacks and counter-attacks were launched since nobody wanted to drag the best sprinter, Paulo Bettini to the line. With 1 km to go, those who hadn't already tried to get away were fighting for Bettini's wheel. George Hincapie was boxed in when two riders jumped onto Bettini's wheel and, frustratingly for Hincapie, couldn't hold on. When Bettini jumped with 200m to go, it was Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Team CSC) hanging on with both hands and with 30m to go Arvesen did a sling-shot past the World Champion and crossed first. — Steve
Full Results — Cyclingnews
Full report — Velonews
Read how the race unfolded live, minute-by-minute
Graham Watson's Stage 8 Photos
Roberto Bettini's Stage 8 Photos
Cyclingnews/Sirotti Stage 8 Photos
May 19th 8:00 CEST/ 2:00 EDT update:
Stage 7 drives further north through the interior into Tuscany and not far from Florence. It's flat and the longest stage of the Giro at 254 km. There is only one categorized climb at the 200 km point: Valico di Croce a Mori (length: 12.4k, gain: 504m, avg: 4.1%, max: 8%). The course inset map of the finish in Scarperia del Mugello looks like spaghetti because the final 5k or so is on a race track. — Steve
Live tip only: Turn down the Italian audio and open the Eurosport English audio in a different window.
Live Text Update — Current Situation
May 19th 17:00 CEST/ 11:00 EDT update:
Race Summary
Final Results
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Milram
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
3 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic
4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
5 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
6 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2r Prevoyance
7 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
...
14 Robbie McEwen
General classification after stage 7
1 Marco Pinotti (Ita) T-Mobile
Full results and report
Velonews report
Read the live report
Graham Watson's Stage 7 Photos
Roberto Bettini's Stage 7 Photos
May 18th 06:45 CEST/ 00:45 EDT update: As the Giro continues to push north, Stage 6 is the first real mountain stage in my books and a precursor to the difficult, but not overly long mountain stages to come.
Starting east of Rome in Tivoli, the riders will roll through the scenic countryside on their way to the Sabini mountain range, Monti Sabini. At mid-race the field will split on the long climb up Monte Terminillo - Sella di Leonessa (length: 21 km, gain: 1394 m, avg: 6.6%, max: 12%), the first of three Premio Della Montagna (GPM or KOM). From there, the descent to the finish will be interrupted, abruptly, by the other two GPMs as the race passes over Forca Capistrello (length: 11.2k, gain: 426m, avg: 3.8%, max: 14%) and Forca di Cerro (length: 10.1k, gain: 491m, avg: 4.9%, max 17%).
This should be an exciting stage with a skilled, risk-taking descender possibly winning the day in Spoleto at the end of 177 km. — Steve
Read all about the Giro's classifications: Giro d'Italia classifications demystified
May 18th 17:30 CEST/ 11:30 EDT update:
Stage 6 Results: 177km in 4:58:23 (35.993kph)
1 Luis Felipe Laverde (Col) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
2 Marco Pinotti (Ita) T-Mobile
3 Christophe Kern (Fra) Credit Agricole
4 Hubert Schwab (Swi) Quickstep-Innergetic
5 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
General classification after stage 6
1 Marco Pinotti (Ita) T-Mobile
Race Summary
70 km into the race and just before the big climb of the day, Monte Terminillo - Sella di Leonessa, a group of five broke free:
Hubert Schwab (Quickstep-Innergetic), Luis Felipe Laverde (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare), Christophe Kern (Credit Agricole), Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems) and Marco Pinotti (T-Mobile). They eventually built up a gap of
7'45" before Laverde attacked his companions on the climb to Forca di Cerro, the last pass of the day with 22k to go. Pinotti was the only one to match his surge and the two descended together in Spoleto with Pinotti conceding the win to Laverde somewhere on the home stretch. Pinotti is now in the Maglia Rosa. Laverde won all the GPMs (KOMs) so the strongest man in the break won, but Danilo Di Luca, Liquigas and the field never chased.
"I don't really care who has it [Maglia Rosa] before that [Stage 10]," Danilo Di Luca said before the start on Friday. "I have no interest in wasting my energy - my teammates' energy - fighting to keep the maglia rosa now when it doesn't count. I will happily give it away and today seems like there will be an opportunity to do it."
A break that succeeds is exciting to watch but this one was somewhat anticlimatic since the field never chased and the two-man battle was conceded well before the finish line. Alessandro Petacchi won the 100 man field sprint for 7th, 7'09" behind the winner. —
Steve
Full report and results
Read how the race unfolded live
Velonews report
Graham Watson's Stage 6 Photos
Roberto Bettini's Stage 6 Photos
May 17th 06:45 CEST/ 00:45 EDT update: Stage 5 takes the Giro north through the interior of Italy to Frascati just outside of Rome. It will be rolling, 173 km course with one category 3 climb, Le Macere (length: 233m, avg: 3.9%, max: 7%), 16k from the finish. Any break that escapes over the top will be hunted down by the sprinter teams on the downhill into Frascati because this one of the few remaining flat stages. — Steve
Thursday's race start: 13:00 CEST / 7:00 EDT
Live text starts at 14:30 CEST / 8:30 EDT
Live video starts at 15:15 CEST / 9:15 EDT
Other live coverage options
Estimated finish: 17:13 CEST / 11:13 EDT
Live tip only: Turn down the Italian audio and open the Eurosport English audio in a different window
Live Text Update — Current Situation
May 17th 17:30 CEST/ 11:30 EDT update:
Race Summary
Stage 5 Results:
1 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Milram
4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
5 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
6 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2r Prevoyance
7 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica
Full report and results
Live report on how it unfolded
Graham Watson's Stage 5 Photos
Roberto Bettini's Stage 5 Photos
|
Montevergine di Mercogliano Profile |
May 16th 07:45 CEST/ 01:45 EDT update: After yesterday's rest day, the Giro resumes on the mainland with the first mountain stage of this year's race. At just 153 km in length, this stage is the second shortest road race stage. It starts out with a scenic 80 km ride along the Gulf of Salerno/Naples (Sorrento) with one categorized climb at the 50 km point, Picco S. Angelo. As the course heads inland, the profile flattens out before the first big climb of the Giro, the mountaintop finish at Montevergine di Mercogliano. Damiano Cunego and Danilo di Luca are the two past winners of Montevergine. — Steve
Live Text
Report
May 16th 17:45 CEST/ 11:45 EDT update:
Danilo Di Luca crosses first just ahead of Riccardo Ricco:
High quality image of Di Luca and Ricco crossing the line
Race Summary
The tone of this Giro is being set by Liquigas and Danilo di Luca. After a solid opening TTT win, the team is strengthening its hold on the Maglia Rosa with team leader Danilo Di Luca now in charge. Of course there is lots of racing left, but with his win today atop Montevergine and the time bonus that goes along with it, di Luca is 54 seconds up on Damiano Cunego, the pre-race favorite, in GC and 2 minutes up on Gilberto Simoni who felt and looked tired post race. Simoni's teammate, Riccardo Ricco, was the only rider who could match di Luca's surge with 200m to go and finished second. An exhausted Paolo Savoldelli finished 34 seconds further back of di Luca.
The action lit up on Montevergine when Julio Perez (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare) attacked the field and passed the three man break with 8k to go. He's won three Giro stages in the past and it looked possible he might do it again, but his tank ran out with 800m to go.
Before the big climb and after the scenic route along the Sorrento coast, there was a big pile up that took down about 80 riders including the Maglia Rosa (Enrico Gasparotto).
— Steve
Full Report and Results | Velonews report
Graham Watson's Stage 4 Photos
Roberto Bettini's Stage 4 Photos
May 14th 04:00 CEST/ 10:00 EDT update: The Giro continues on Monday with the third and final stage from the beautiful island of Sardinia before a rest day and back to the mainland. This 181km flat stage from Barumini to prehistoric Cagliari is again well suited for Robbie McEwen and the sprinters. The stage features no rated climbs with only a few small hills as cyclists make there way southeast to the Tirreno coast. The route then heads south before hooking back inland toward a downtown sprint in the bustling port city of Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia. — Steve
Archived Text Coverage
May 14th 17:30 CEST CEST/ 11:30 EDT update:
How it unfolded minute-by-minute
Full report and results
Graham Watson's Stage 3 Photos
"I cried for joy after winning because after going through what I did it's like starting racing all over again," Petacchi told reporters.
"When I started my rehabilitation work a 90-year-old women who was sat next to me was able to ride a bike better than I could. — CNN/Reuters
May 13th 13:04 CEST/ 07:04 EDT update: Stage 2 starts with a mostly flat spin west along the wind-swept dunes between Castelsardo and Porto Torres before dipping south toward the walled city of Alghero. The hilly second half of the route sees the Giro's first rated climb with the Cat. 2 Villanova Monteleone climb at 156.8km, though there are several unrated hills in the final 50km that could split the bunch before arriving into Bosa along Sardinia's spectacular west coast.
Click for Current Situation
Final Results
1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Milram
4 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
5 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
Text coverage: How it unfolded minute-by-minute
Race Summary
May 13th 17:36 CEST/ 11:36 EDT update: Milram sent five of it's men to the front with several km to go for Alessandro Pettachi, but it was Robbie McEwen who won the strung-out, slightly uphill sprint finish. Paolo Bettini slipped by a fading/frustrated Pettachi at the line to capture 2nd. There was a serious crash with 1300m to go: "Andrea Tonti (Quickstep-Innergetic) is on the ground and does not look good." Danilo Di Luca gets the Maglia Rosa he wanted yesterday. — Steve
Graham Watson's Stage 2 Photos
May 12th 7:45 AM PST update: Live Free Video from RAI but don't install the ActiveX control they are pushing. Paid customers of the Cycling.tv/Versus coverage are apparently having problems with cycling.tv. Eurosport has their ticker and audio working.
Race Summary
May 12th 9:00 AM PST update:
It was a great day for Danilo Di Luca and Liquigas but cyclingnews reports he was upset that Enrico Gasparotto crossed the line first; thus, depriving the Liquigas team captain of the Maglia Rosa on the first day. Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel) crashed on a right-hand turn leading to the finish. He quickly got up but his waiting team ended up coasting across for 5th. Damiano Cunego's Lampre-Fondital team, surprisingly, finished ahead of Discovery just 42 seconds behind Liquigas' winning time of 33.35; while Gilberto Simoni's climber-laden, Saunier Duval team finished 1:28 back. The technical 25.6km course nullified CSC's TT advantage, who were only able to grab the last podium position with the World's 1-2 TT specialists, Cancellara and Zabriskie, setting the pace. — Steve
Graham Watson's Stage 1 Photos
|
Final TTT Results 26.5 km
Liquigas (45.668 km/h) 33.35
Astana 33.51
CSC 34.08
Lampre-Fondital 34.17
Discovery Channel 34.27
Acqua & Sapone-Caffe 34.38
Tinkoff Credit Systems 34.42
Credit Agricole 34.51
Caisse d'Epargne 35.01
Quickstep-Innergetic 35.01
Saunier Duval-Prodir 35.03
Predictor-Lotto 35.06
Gerolsteiner 35.10
Milram 35.11
Cofidis 35.16
T-Mobile 35.23
Rabobank 35.23
Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 35.39
Bouygues Telecom 35.45
Ag2r Prevoyance 35.55
Euskaltel-Euskadi 36.28
Francaise Des Jeux 36.28 |
<-- return to page one