Race Info, Preview, Live Video, Results, Photos and Highlights
 Just 21 years-old, Liquigas' Peter Sagan won three of fives stages at this year's Giro di Sardegna to claim the overall win
 More Big Photos from 2011 — sirotti |
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| 1 | Tuesday, February 22 | 138 km | ||||||||||
| Olbia → Porto Cervo | ||||||||||||
| profile | map | timetable | preview | results | photos | video | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Wednesday, February 23 | 198 km | ||||||||||
 Porto Rotondo → Nuoro | ||||||||||||
| profile | map | timetable | preview | results | photos | video | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Thursday, February 24 | 173 km | ||||||||||
| Orani → Lanusei | ||||||||||||
| profile | map | timetable | preview | results | photos | video | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Friday, February 25 | 174 km | ||||||||||
| Lanusei → Oristano | ||||||||||||
| profile | map | timetable | preview | results | photos | video | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Saturday, February 26 | 174 km | ||||||||||
| Oristano → Gesturi | ||||||||||||
| profile | map | timetable | preview | results | photos | video | ||||||||||||
| Total Distance | 857 km | |||||||||||
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News and Updates for Giro di Sardegna 2011
2012 cancelled
February 4 update:
Giro di Sardegna falls by the wayside for 2012
— cyclingnewsPavel Brutt surprises with perfectly timed move to take Classica Sarda Sassari — velonationStage 5: José Serpa narrowly misses both the stage and overall win; Michele Scarponi is the best on the most difficult finish while Peter Sagan survives to take the overall win
12 Big Photos from Stage 5 — sirottiStage 5 results 1 Michele Scarponi (Lampre Isd) 4h24'48" (39,445 km/h) 2 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli) + 3" 3 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) + 8" 4 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) + 11" 5 Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) + 14" 6 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) 7 Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago Csf Inox) + 21" 8 Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) 9 Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) 10 Eros Capecchi (Liquigas Cannondale) Final general classification 1 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) 22h28'24" 2 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli) + 3" 3 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) + 7"
Full/Official Stage 5 Results — gsemilia.itFull/Official final general classification — gsemilia.itSardegna, colpo Scarponi — gazzetta.itSagan secures Sardegna success — cyclingnews
Race footage including the finish and post-race interviews (02:04 italian) — videolina.it 12 Big Photos from Stage 5 — sirotti Stage 5 Last Kms (Giara di Gesturi Climb) (14:56 italian) — raisport2Stage 5 preview: Oristano → Gesturi, 174 km (Mountain)
 The view of Gesturi from Giara di Gesturi where Stage 5 finishes. photo credit: Artemisia |
The finish to this year's race looks like this, with the last 4 km averaging 6.25% which is tougher than stage 2 or stage 3 which averaged just over 5% for the last 4 km.
This stage finishes on Giara di Gesturi, a plateau with a great view overlooking Gesturi (pop. 1900) and the surrounding region.
The photo (above) is near the 13% section just before the final km where Cunego will likely make his bid to win the stage. He'll need the stage win and a gap of 4s provided Peter Sagan finishes outside the top 3 to win the oveall. This has been a fast, exciting race for so early in the season, where the GC men are winning all the stages. It's Lampre vs Liquigas on a hilltop finish coming up Saturday, the finale to this year's race. And don't forget José Serpa (Androni Giocattoli) sitting third at + 16". We might to have a link to the video finish before RAI comes on the air tomorrow so stay tuned...
— Steve
Stage 5 start time: Saturday 11:00 CET (10:00:00 AM GMT+0000); Weather for Oristano, Italy
Earliest live video: No live video; Live/delayed coverage options
Approximate finish: 15:30 CET (2:30:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Gesturi, Italy
Stage 4: Peter Sagan wins again, stealing one from the specialists
9 Big Photos from Stage 4 — sirottiStage 4 results 1 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) 4h47'07" (36,403 km/h) 2 Manuel Belletti (Colnago Csf Inox) 3 Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli 4 Ben Swift (Great Britain) 5 Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre Isd) 6 Alexander Porsev (Katusha Team) 7 Jacopo Guarnieri (Liquigas Cannondale) 8 Luca Fioretti (Ora Hotels Carrera) 9 Danilo Napolitano (Acqua & Sapone) 10 Thomas Geraint (Great Britain) General classification after stage 4 1 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale 2 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) + 14" 3 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli + 16" 4 Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli + 28" 5 Ben Hermans (Team Radioshak + 32" 6 Michele Scarponi (Lampre Isd + 38" 7 Eros Capecchi (Liquigas Cannondale + 38" 8 Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team + 42" 9 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana + 43" 10 Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing + 44"
Full/Official Stage 4 Results — gsemilia.itFull/Official General classification after stage 4 — gsemilia.itCompleted Live Updates — ilgirodisardegna.itSagan tris in Sardegna
La maglia è sempre più sua — gazzetta.itSagan strikes again in Oristano
— cyclingnews 9 Big Photos from Stage 4 — sirotti Race footage, finish, podium and winner's interview (01:14 italian) — videolina.it Stage 4 Last 3 Kms (04:55 italian) — raisport2Stage 4 preview: Lanusei → Oristano, 174 km (hilly-flat)
February 24 update: Stage 4 is the only stage of this year's Giro di Sardegna that sets up for the pure sprinters. It starts out hilly after leaving yesterday's stage 3 finish in Lanusei, but the finish is at sea-level for the last 20 km. Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi won last year's finish in Oristano (see photo above) and Liquigas' Jacopo Guarnieri came third. Both are in the race this year, in case you haven't noticed, and both ride for the two strongest teams in the race. Petacchi is recovering from bronchitis so he's a question mark. My pick is Colnago's Manuel Belletti, but Acqua e Sapone's Danilo Napolitano, RadioShack's Robbie McEwen and Farnese Vini's Elia Favilli and Oscar Gatto are other names you'll likely see near the top of the stage 4 results. It's going to be a beautiful, sunny stage for the second day in a row. — Steve 9 Big Photos from the 2010 finish in Oristano — sirottiStage 4 start time: Friday 11:00 CET (10:00:00 AM GMT+0000); Weather for Lanusei, Italy
Earliest live video: No live video; Live/delayed coverage options
Approximate finish: 15:40 CET (2:40:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Oristano, Italy
Stage 3 results: Eros Capecchi delivers Peter Sagan to the line for his second win; Sagan moves ahead of Damiano Cunego for the race lead
17 Big Photos from Stage 3 — sirottiStage 3 results 1 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) 4h20'02" (39,918 km/h) 2 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli) 3 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) 4 Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) 5 Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) 6 Michele Scarponi (Lampre Isd) 7 Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre Isd) 8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago Csf Inox) 9 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) 10 Angel Vicioso (Androni Giocattoli) General classification after stage 3 1 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) 2 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) + 4" 3 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli) + 6" 4 Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) + 17" 5 Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) + 22" 6 Michele Scarponi (Lampre Isd) + 28" 7 Eros Capecchi (Liquigas Cannondale) + 29" 8 Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) + 32" 9 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) + 34" 10 Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing) + 39"
Full/Official Stage 3 Results — gsemilia.itFull/Official General classification after stage 3 — gsemilia.itCompleted Live Updates — ilgirodisardegna.itSagan doubles up in Lanusei — cyclingnewsSardegna, colpo Sagan; Battuti Serpa e Cunego — gazzetta.it 17 Big Photos from Stage 3 — sirotti Stage 3 Last Kms (11:17 italian) — raisport2 Race footage, finish, and Peter Sagan interview (01:22 italian) — videolina.it... more to come...
Stage 3 preview: Orani → Lanusei, 173 km (hilly)
February 23 update: Stage 3 will have another uphill finish (last 15 km profile), this time on the run into Lanusei as we wind our way to the south part of the island. Although not really steep at any point according the aforementioned finish profile, the race bible actually indicates the last 600m average 10%. (Cross-checking your facts is always good for this race.) Looks like a good finish for Peter Sagan to regain the race lead; however, Damiano Cunego should be in the mix too. I'm not really sure why any pure sprinters showed up this year... must be waiting for stage 4 as their only chance. — Steve
Stage 3 start time: Thursday 11:00 CET (10:00:00 AM GMT+0000); Weather for Orani, Italy
Earliest live video: No live video; Live/delayed coverage options
Approximate finish: 15:33 CET (2:33:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Lanusei, Italy
Stage 2 results: Damiano Cunego gets his first win since 2009
12 Big Photos from Stage 2 — sirottiStage 2 results 1 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) 2 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli) 3 Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) + 0:02 4 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) 5 Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) 6 Eros Capecchi (Liquigas Cannondale) 7 Michele Scarponi (Lampre Isd) + 0:08 8 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) 9 Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) 10 Simone Stortoni (Colnago Csf Inox) + 0:14 General classification after stage 2 1 Damiano Cunego (Lampre Isd) 2 Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale) + 0:02 3 José Serpa Perez (Androni Giocattoli) + 0:04 4 Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) + 0:08 5 Eros Capecchi (Liquigas Cannondale) + 0:12 6 Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) 7 Michele Scarponi (Lampre Isd) + 0:18 8 Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) 9 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) + 0:23 10 Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing) + 0:28
Full/Official Stage 2 Results — gsemilia.itFull/Official General classification after stage 2 — gsemilia.itCunego dompte la montagne — cyclismactu.netBentornato Cunego
Tappa e maglia in Sardegna — gazzetta.itCunego ends winless streak in Sardinia — cyclingnews 12 Big Photos from Stage 2 — sirotti Stage 2 Last Kms/ Finishing Climb (14:47 italian) — raisport2Cunego dedicates Sardinia win to Sassi
— cyclingnews Race footage from the final climb, finish and podium (01:12 italian) — videolina.itStage 2 preview: Porto Rotondo → Nuoro, 198 km (Mountain)
February 22 update: Wow, great finish today and I'm pretty sure we have more en store this week. The finish on Monte Ortobene (el. 922m) makes stage 2 the Queen Stage. Last year, a select group of eight riders (photo left) stayed pretty much intact right to the finish. The 1-2-3 order of finish last year proved to be the final podium as well; however, this year there are two more stages with serious uphill finishes so things could very easily end up differently. A high of only 9C/48F for Wednesday's Stage 2. — Steve
9 Big Photos from the 2010 finish on Monte Ortobene — sirotti
Race Preview — steephill.tv
Stage 2 start time: Wednesday 10:30 CET (9:30:00 AM GMT+0000); Weather for Porto Rotondo, Italy
Earliest live video: No live video; Live/delayed coverage options
Approximate finish: 15:45 CET (2:45:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Nuoro, Italy
Stage 1 results: Peter Sagan wins the twisty, rolling run into Porto Cervo
9 Big Photos from Stage 1 — sirottiStage 1 results 1 Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) 2 Alessandro Ballan (BMC) 3 Daniel Oss (Liquigas Cannondale) 4 Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre ISD) 5 Oscar Gatto (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) 6 Angel Vicioso (Androni Giocattoli) 7 Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini Neri Sottoli)
Official Full Results — ilgirodisardegna.it Stock photo of Peter Sagan — ken conley/steephill.tv
Sagan apre il Sardegna
Sul podio Ballan e Oss — gazzetta.itSagan powers to victory in Porto Cervo — cyclingnewsSagan off to another winning start in Sardinia — cyclingweekly.co.uk 9 Big Photos from Stage 1 — sirotti Stage 1 Last Kms (10:14 italian) — raisport2 Pre-race interviews w/ Nibali, Cunego and Ballan — videolina.it Start and finish, podium — videolina.itStage 1 preview: Olbia → Porto Cervo, 138 km (flat)
February 21 update: Stage 1 is an easy one profile-wise, it being the flattest of all the stages, but the course map looks like spaghetti -- lots of chances to short-circuit this stage. Normally, we see some hills after leaving the traditional start host, Olbia, but this year instead of heading over the hilly interior to the west, we'll head north and meander around the coastal inlets for 138 km before an expected sprint finish in Porto Cervo. Veterans Alessandro PETACCHI and Robbie MCEWEN will be in tough against some good young sprinters.
See the profile, map and timetable in the race summary table (right) for more on this stage — Steve
Race Preview — steephill.tv
9 Photos from teams and their vehicles arriving at the port on Sardinia — sirotti
Anxious Nibali happy to kick off season at Giro di Sardegna Tuesday — velonation
Steve Bauer Interview: Aiming high with Spidertech-C10 — velonation
Stage 1 start time: Tuesday 11:30 CET (10:30:00 AM GMT+0000); Weather for Olbia, Italy
Earliest live video: No live video; Live/delayed coverage options
Approximate finish: 14:57 CET (1:57:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Porto Cervo, Italy
In Diretta: Live Text Updates and Delayed Video Coverage
February 23 update: No live video, but text updates in Italian, Rai Sport 2 delayed video/highlights and photos from Sirotti. Rai Sport 2's 30 mins of daily highlights starts at 19:00 CET and repeats at 22:30 CET. Check back... — Steve
| media source | tv or internet | comments/restrictions | |
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 delayed video (restricted) delayed video (italian) tv schedule |
Italy; 30 minutes of daily highlights at 19:00 CET except Stage 2 (20:00 CET) and Stage 5 (22:30 CET) on RaiSport 2 and repeated each night at 22:30 CET. We'll post highlights if they become available | |
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live text updates (IT) live text updates (EN) |
Live text updates in Italian from the official site | |
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 steephill text updates Giro di Sardegna twitter group |
Updates on live coverage, results, photos and video will be posted here as they become available. | |
check back at race time for more and updated links;  send a comment or a new live link |
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February 21 update:
9 Photos from teams and their vehicles arriving at the port on Sardinia — sirottiFebruary 20 update: Added the rosters for FARNESE VINI - NERI SOTTOLI and ORA HOTELS CARRERA which are late additions to the provisional startlist (scroll down). Also, added profile links to the two uphill finishes for stages 3 and stage 5 to the preview (scroll down)— Steve
February 15 update: Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi will be riding the Giro di Sardegna afterall.
2011 Giro di Sardegna Race Preview
February 10 update: Giro di Sardegna is a five day stage race (2.1) that takes place on the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily). The island of Sardegna (English: Sardinia), you may recall, hosted the first three stages of the 2007 Giro d'Italia. After an eleven year absence, the Giro di Sardegna returned in 2009; it was first held in 1958. This hilly, scenic race is part of the UCI Europe Tour.
Like other five day stage races at this time of year, the race is hilly, but not too difficult. However, like last year, stage two (the Queen stage) finishes part way up Monte Ortobene (photo above) to 922m el. Stage 3 (last 15 km profile) and stage 5 (last 9 km profile) will also have uphill power finishes which will suit Stefano Garzelli, Peter Sagan, Enrico Gasparotto, Danilo di Luca, Jose Serpa, Damiano Cunego and Michele Scarponi.
The field will be smaller this year with 14 teams taking part, down from 16 last year, but there will be four English based teams in the field: 1 GBR, 1 CAN and 2 US teams. — Steve
Season build-up continues in Sardinia — cyclingnews
Anxious Nibali happy to kick off season at Giro di Sardegna Tuesday — velonation
50 Big Photos from 2010 — sirotti
Official Site — ilgirodisardegna.it
About Sardinia — en.wikipedia.org
2011 route and stage details will be announced Feb 10th
February 5 update: The 2011 route details will be announced Thursday, February 10th at a press conference in Cagliari, the headquarters of Sardinia Tourism. These eleven teams are expected to partake: Liquigas-Cannondale, Lampre-ISD, Pro Team Astana, BMC Racing Team, Team Katusha, Team Radioshack, Acqua e Sapone, Colnago CSF Inox, Miche-Guerciotti Spidertech and the Great Britain National Team. Last year, sixteen teams participated so expect five or so more teams to be added.February 4 update: Ivan Basso, Vincenzo Nibali, Maxim Iglinskiy, Alessandro Ballan, Michele Scarponi and Danilo Di Luca are expected to partake.