[Giro 2003]Stage 8 - Can Cipo Come Through?

[Giro Reporter]

Stage 8 - Rieti to Arezzo (241 km)

A fine sunny day, a relatively flat ride and a wide and straight final 
sprint zone.  Arezzo is a town that Mario Cipollini has won in before, 
and interestingly enough, it is also a town where Alfredo Binda won a 
stage in 1928.  Today Mario sits just below a record which has stood for 
nearly 50 years, and no other rider active today is anywhere near Cipo's 
40.  But, 40 is not 41, and maybe the pressure to perform has become too 
great, or the legs just lack the snap that they need to put him across 
the finish line first. Today will be a test on many levels.

At the front of the race today are the yellow and black jerseys of the 
Vini Calidirola, looking maybe a touch uneasy now that the protection of 
the Maglia Rosa have fallen upon their shoulders.

As the arrowhead of the peleton spreads, a mass of Saeco riders surround 
Gilberto Simoni and the striped Kelme team ride smartly toward the front.

An InterGiro sprint point looms ahead, as the Force du Nord of Team 
Fakta drag their main man Magnus Backstedt to the head of the bunch, the 
cheesy team responds strongly - as Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave have two 
riders in the top 6 of this competition.

Currently - InterGiro Competition after Stage 7
1 - Moreno Di Biase - Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave
2 - Andris Naudusz - CCC-Polsat  @ :17
3 - Elio Aggiano - Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave  @ :22
4 - Magnus Backstedt - Fakta  @ :24
5 - Giovanni Palumbo - @ :52
6 - Mario Cipollini - Dominia-Vacanze @ :54

The InterGiro is among the more bizarre competitions in any major tour. 
  It's a time-based competition, with its own set of bonuses which do 
not affect the riders overall time.  The leader in this competition 
wears a blue jersey, not to be confused with the cyclimina 
(purplish-mauve) jersey awarded to the points leader (most consistent 
finisher). For the InterGiro, there is a 30 second competition bonus for 
first, 24 seconds for second and 18 seconds for third, so  Backstedt 
could move up a little here.  Backstedt's teammates drive the pace 
strongly and hip check a couple of lesser teams away from the big 
Swede's wheel.  Di Biase slots in just behind Backstedt as the leadout 
men peel away.  High gear and full power as the line comes into view - 
Di Biase senses the line and begins to move up Backstedt's hip, but 
finds that the big man breaks a lot of wind, and cannot come any 
further.  A few more feet to the right, another big man in a FDJeux.com 
jersey - looks like the sprinter Jimmy Casper - hammers it and finds he 
can accellerate up to the pair.  At the line, both Backstedt and Casper 
throw their bikes...damn close! That will go to the photo finish! Di 
Biase was clearly behind, but even though the provisional results show 
Backstedt taking first, even he doesn't seem convinced.

Within a few minutes, the official results agree with Backstedt, and 
Casper is the winner, with Backstedt in second and Di Biase third.

Of course, the InterGiro sprint and subsequent easing up causes a quick 
breakaway of 6 opportunistic riders:

49 - Leonardo Zanotti - De Nardi-Colpack
74 - Carlos Dacruz - FDJeux.com
81 - Elio Aggiano - Formaggi Pinzolo
104 - Ignacio Guiterrez - Kelme
121 - Sergiy Adyeyev - Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
175 - Mirko Marini - Tenax

They head up the road and work nicely together, pushing their lead out 
to 22 seconds.  No one in the gang are a danger overall (Zanotti at 
about 9 minutes or so is closest to the leader's jersey), so the boys 
from Vini Caldirola can ease up a bit and let the sprinters' teams worry 
about setting the pace. They fulfill their obligations with varying 
degrees of effort, even convincing the Vini Caldirola men back into the 
rotation, while the break bounces between 20 and 30 seconds off the front.

When the teams get serious and the gap begins to seriously evaporate, 
Adyeyev takes a flyer from the break in a bid for glory. Now the zebras 
begin showing up in pairs to push the pace with Fassa Bortolo, and 
although the curving roads keep Adyeyev slightly hidden from his 
chasers, they are now within 12 seconds as they pass under the 20 km to 
go banner.

Here's a question: what the hell is Mercatone Uno doing on the front of 
the bike race? For some reason Pantani has put them up at the front, and 
we're getting the word that we have a "Gruppo Compato" - which means 
that they've caught the last breakaway man.  On the left hand side of 
the road Saeco has formed a lead group,  but doesn't seem want anything 
to do with the bald one's team.  The subtle jostling continues as the 
zebras snuffle and organize, while a couple of Fassa Bortolo join up 
together.

The course begins to pitch down a bit, and speed rises in the group with 
5 km to go.  The hours of drills assert themselves, as the striped team 
suddenly materialize at the head of events.  Six Domina Vacanze riders 
flying down the roadway, with Mario tucked in at a blistering pace. 
Cipollini uses his shoulders to maintain the wheel of leadout man 
Giovanni Lombardi through the twists of a traffic roundabout.  The pace 
notches up again and the members of Saeco and Vini Caldirola bow out of 
the company of the fast-twitchers.

Three or four riders try to muscle in on Cipo's wheel, McEwen and 
Petacchi get involved in a bit of argy-bargy as they fly through a hard 
left and then a hard left in the confines of the town.  Narrow streets 
and high speeds, now five zebras on the front, pacing a rainbow-striped 
Cipollini.  Again, they are leading the sprint pace to perfection - but 
can 36 year old Mario hold off the speed of the youngsters who trail 
him? Now Backstedt moves up into the mix behind Petacchi and McEwen.  A 
false train appears to one side, but they cannot match the efforts of 
the speeding zebras of Domina Vacanze, and subside like a wave into 
anonymity.

Cipo has two riders in front with 600 meters to go.  They sweep around 
the last wide right turn and the second to last rider peels away.  Now 
it's down to Lombardi's leadout.  The speed is insane.  Petacchi begins 
a huge effort with just outside of 100 meters to go, swinging wide to 
Cipo's left hand side.  Lombardi pulls off to the same side, making 
Petacchi's route just that much longer.  McEwen tries pull up alongside 
on Cipo's right side, but runs out of afterburner as they match pedal 
stroke to pedal stroke.  Backstedt can only watch from behind as the 
three move up the road.  Petacchi tries to find just a hair more speed, 
but he cannot move up any further as Mario begins to find his form and 
desire intersecting on this finish line today.  With a man on either 
side of him lunging for the line, Cipo throws up his hands - half a bike 
length up on McEwen and half a bike length and a spoke up on Petacchi. 
Cipollini has Giro D'Italia win number 41!  He collapses into the arms 
of a soigneur and the entire town of Avezzo throws their arms up and 
howls, "Forza Mario!"  Cipo stands surrounded by well-wishers and 
teammates, beaming broadly.

Stage 8 -
1 - Mario Cipollini - Domina Vacanze
2 - Robbie McEwen - Lotto
3 - Alessandro Petacchi - Fassa Bortolo
4 - Magnus Backstedt - Fakta
5 - Isaac Lopez - Kelme
6 - Andris Nauduzs - CCC-Polsat
7 - Jan Svorada - Lampre
8 - Angelo Furlan - Alessio

All riders at Same Time.

Cipollini is now tied with the record number of stage wins in the Giro 
D'Italia, matching the 41 wins of Alfredo Binda.  Mario won his first 
stage in the Giro D'Italia in 1989.

Overall -
Another split occurred today in the final runup, which has meant some 
shifting in the GC. If they gave out a jersey for smartest rider, it 
would have to go to Garzelli - he's been in the right place on every stage.

Maglia Rosa - Stefano Garzelli
2 - Gilberto Simoni @:31
3 - Andrea Noe @ :54
4 - Franco Pelliotti @ 1:36
5 - Marius Sabaliauskas @ 1:38

Tomorrow:

Stage 9 - Avezzo - Montecatini Terme (160 km)

Other than an uncategorized climb at the 45 km, this stage has a 
remarkable lack of topographical changes. Flat and fast. Perhaps Cipo 
can find his legs again tomorrow, or maybe we will watch McEwen, 
Petacchi or one of the other sprinters try to regain some credibility. 
But, a winning Mario is a difficult Mario to beat.