Stage


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May 27 update: I'm sure the race organizers were hoping to repeat the epic finale from 2005 when they created this stage; however, Alberto Contador has what should be an insurmountable lead of five minutes and eighteen seconds. So the drama on this stage should be the battle for second place between Michele Scarponi and Vincenzo Nibali, neither of which has won as stage so far.

After 190k of flat-rolling terrain starting from Verbania, we'll get to the final two climbs of stage 20 and this year's Giro d'Italia. Colle delle Finestre (18.6 km of 9.1%) and Sestriere (10 km of 5.1%), were last featured in 2005 when race leader Paolo Savoldelli barely survived an attack by Gilberto Simoni and Jose Rujano to the win his first and only Giro d'Italia.

In 2005, Paolo Savoldelli trailed the lead group, which also consisted of Danilo di Luca, over the unpaved Colle delle Finestre by 2:18 making Gilberto Simoni the virtual leader on the road with one climb (Sestriere) still to go. However, Savoldelli, one of the best descenders ever, cut the gap down to 1:37 on the descent and with some help from riders on other teams didn't lose any time to Simoni on the Sestriere and held onto his Pink Jersey by 28s over Simoni and 45s on Rujano. Rujano had actually dropped Simoni on the final climb so there was much drama with riders scattered on the road and the tv announcers trying to keep track of the gaps between Rujano, Simoni and Savoldelli to determine who was going to win the 2005 Giro d'Italia. It made for great entertainment and surely ranks as one of the best Giro d'Italia stages of all-time. See the video clips below for a replay.

The 2005 Giro d'Italia was a break out event for Jose Rujano, but he never lived up to his promise as the saying goes. However and somewhat ironically, we are now six years later and he's performing at this year's Giro the best he's been since the 2005 race. Danilo di Luca is still racing of course after serving two doping suspensions and Paolo Savoldelli although retired will be on the road as the on-course/moto race commentator for RAI as he has for every stage this month.. — Steve

The Epic Colle delle Finestre/Sestriere Finish from 2005:


 Stage 20 Flyover (01:22) — rai.tv