[Giro 2003]Stage 12 - Shuffling and Resurrection

Giro Reporter race-report@cyclofiend.com
Thu, 22 May 2003 09:09:03 -0700


Stage 12 - San Dona - Monte Zoncolan - 185 km

The rain-induced slip & slide finish took its toll on today's starters, 
as Paolo Tiralongo of Ceramiche-Panaria, Elio Aggiano of the Formaggi 
Pinzolo Fiave, Christian Moreni of Alessio have joined the tumbling team 
of Mario Cipollini and Isaac Lopez and not signed in this morning.  It 
is sad to see Cipo's record "on hold", and the course design yesterday 
showed a stunning lack of foresight on the part of the race organziers.

That means 155 riders will start today, down from an original 169, with 
only 10 of the teams maintaining a full compliment of riders.

Then again, perhaps a short, swift blow is better than the drawn-out 
agony which will be today's stage.

Midway on the day, there's a GpM point which will take the riders up to 
about 3,000 feet, just to tenderize the legs a bit.

Then for the last 13 kilometers, the riders encounter Monte Zoncolan, 
which has never been used in the Giro (or any other races in memory) 
with around 4,000 feet of climbing @ 9% average, the last kilometer of 
22% average, with pitches to 27 % in that stretch.  Some riders have 
fitted triples, Francesco Casagrande has reportedly figured out a way to 
mount a 30 tooth _front_ chainring to his bikes, and all have probably 
gone at the paint layer of their bikes with a knife to whittle away any 
excess of weight.

Marzio Bruseghin of Fassa Bortolo rolls alone under the 30 km to go 
banner, up by about 2:05 on a chase group of about 10 riders.

2 - Pietro Caucchioli - Alessio
13  - Thomas Brozyna - CCC-Polsat
102 - Adolfo Garcia - Kelme
109 - Constantino Zaballa - Kelme
121 - Sergiy Adyeyev - Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
85 - Bo Hamburger - Formaggi Piinzolo Fiave
113 - Wladimir Belli - Lampre
32 - Fredy Gonzalez - Colombia-Selle Italia
72 - Jimmy Casper - FDJeux.com
92 - Gianni Faresin - Gerolsteiner

A beautiful warm and sunny clear day finds a red train from Saeco 
setting pace for Gilberto Simoni a few minutes back.  Bruseghin eases up 
the 959 meter climb of the Valcalda. At the GpM, the splits are 1:10
and 2:20 to the chase group and the group of the Maglia Rosa.

Wladimir Belli makes a hard effort as they climb, shaking off a few 
tiring riders in the chase group and trying to talk the others into 
working with him.  Unfortunately, his group motivational skills are not 
convincing.

As allowed under the helmet requirements, Bruseghin removes his helmet 
as he officially hits the final climb of the day.
:57 ahead of the chase
2:35 ahead of the peleton

We go from under 2,000 feet to over 5,000, having started the day at 10 
feet above sea level.

Belli, who is only 4:20 seconds behind the Maglia Rosa, again attacks 
away from the chase group.  This time, he waits for no one.  He trails 
Bruseghin by about 38 seconds, spinning a gear midway across his 
sprocket which in a closeup, seems to feature a 28 tooth sprocket.

In a flashback moment, Mercatone Uno leads a select group of about 25 or 
so riders, with Pantani's shiny head popping up in third or so. It's 
been a few years since the "Original" Bald One has been anywhere but 
struggling on serious climbs. CCC's Pavel Tonkov moves off the front of 
this group.  All that does is wake everyone up and he is quickly caught.

Off the front, Belli latches onto Bruseghin's wheel and immediately and 
unceremoniously rolls upward past him.  What was his chase group has 
been reabsorbed into a group containing the bird-boned and the Maglia Rosa.

Fassa Bortolo's Dario Frigo drops away.  He will join teammate Aitor 
Gonzalez who was struggling on the previous climb and lost contact.

In what seems to be the power group, Christian Gasparoni of Mercatone 
Uno sets the pace of the group of the Maglia Rosa.  Behind him Stefano 
Garzelli looks comfortable as he matches the pace, with Simoni in a 
fashion-forward semi-tye-dye pink shorts with pink jersey just behind. 
Pantani and Julio Perez stand and fret about a bit, unlimbering their 
climbing legs. The chase group rolls up to Bruseghin, whose adventure is 
now over.  Frigo and Gonzalez have actually pulled themselves back by 
their toestraps and reattached to the group.  Casagrande also sits in 
this group with Angelo Furlan from Alessio.  They follow Belli by about 
43 seconds.

Belli labors his gears with 6 km to go, but he's gained a couple more 
seconds over the chasers.

Garzelli looks very comfortable behind Gasparoni's pacemaking, with his 
teammate Eddy Mazzoleni ready to assist.  Just as I type the last 
sentence, Gasparoni cracks and falters suddenly, pulls out wide from the 
group, and now Mazzoleni begins to earn his pay at the front of the 
chase.  He clips the lead back down to 40 seconds at the 5 km to go 
banner.  There's about 14 men left in the chase group as they head up 
into the steepest bits - now averaging somewhere around 18 percent. 
Pavel Tonkov's early exuberance has ended, and he is 1:40 off the leader.

The main chase group now only sits 20-odd seconds behind and beginning 
to see Belli's rear wheel.  The labor is evident for the Lampre climber.

Simoni makes a serious acceleration, matched quickly by Casagrande, my 
main man Yaraslav Popovych, and Garzelli, while Pantani struggles to 
hold the pace.

The attacking group almost instantly sweep up to Belli, with Casagrande 
stuck firmly to Simoni's wheel.  Garzelli rocks side to side as they 
climb hits about 20%.  Scarponi the climbing zebra tumbles backward from 
the remenants of the leaders group.

Simoni continues climbing out of the saddle on hideously steep roads. 
Casagrande can no longer hold the wheel of an ever-accelerating Simoni. 
  Pantani has moved up onto dropped Popovych's wheel, finding a climbing 
cadence that suits him, while up near the front, Garzellil ticks over a 
fast tempo and moves back up to Casagrande.  They can see Simoni up 
ahead, but cannot stem the leak of time to him.  Then, what to my 
wondering eyes should appear, but Marco, Marco, Marco, with the 
surgically pinned back ear... The familiar in-the-drops hunched 
attacking form that we haven't seen in sooooo very long bobs in front of 
the camera, moves away from Popyvych, and hooks up with the duo of 
Garzelli and Casagrande.

Garzelli moves away and gains a bit of a gap, while the Pirate with the 
tacked back ears pulls up to Garzelli and the two continue to gap 
Casagrande.  Heads a bobbing - two bald men continue to try to kick it 
over.  Popovych grasps Casagrande's wheel, and Pantani now leads 
Garzelli as they climb narrow roads which even look steep on television.

Simoni rolls under the red kite and is now between the barriers with 
only 1 long kilometer to go.  The gradient now at about 22 percent, the 
two bald buddies roll under the banner at 22 seconds back.

An idiot fan decides to share a two liter bottle of water with the two 
ex-teammates, dousing first Pantani, then Garzelli, trying to run on a 
frighteningly steep stretch, while dodging a motorcycle on a curve.  Men 
who drink grappa should not be allowed to watch bike races.

Up ahead, the even more seriously insane gradient bites hard, and Simoni 
can barely keep his bike moving.  This is probably the longest final 
kilometer I've ever seen in a televised bike race.
The cameras ar ahead of Pantani and Garzelli, and it seems like we're 
looking down the side of a building - the narrow pavement a painful 
purgatory.

Garzelli eased away a bit, while Pantani has faltered slightly. In 
another dimension of the universe, finally, finally Simoni is on 
something slightly flatter.  He has a thousand-yard stare yet knows he 
has been able to damage his opponents.  Simoni finishes in first, 
clearly wrung out from the effort.

Garzelli hammers it to minimize the gap, with Pantani now out of sight 
behind him behind the screaming throngs.

He comes in at 34 seconds back, followed by Casagrande at 39 seconds, 
then Popovych at 42 and the reborn climber Pantani another second back.
Shattered riders continue to limp over the line, with the early 
instigator Belli rolls in just over 2 minutes back.


Stage 12 -
1 - Simoni - 5:10:29
2 - Garzelli @ :34
3 - Casagrande @ :39
4 - Popovych @ :42
5 - Pantani  @ :43
6 - Julio Perez @ 1:05
7 - Andrea Noe @ s.t.
8 - Eddy Mazzoleni @ s.t.
9 - Aitor Gonzalez @ 1:30
10 - Kim Kirchen @ s.t.
11 - Michele Scarponi (no gap given)
12 - Dario  Frigo (no gap given)
13 - Raimondas Rumsas (no gap given)

The great shuffling has occurred, as expected, with the powerful Simoni 
adding the stage time bonus to his lead.  Behind him, Andrea Noe quietly 
holds onto third, and the young standout Popovych sits in a strong 
position.  There's still two time trials in this race, and three more 
mountain top finishes.  But the big waves have begun to hit the shore, 
and only the strong will survive the surges.

Overall -
Maglia Rosa - Gilberto Simoni - Saeco
2 - Stefano Garzelli - Caldirola-Sidermec @:44
3 - Andrea Noe - Alessio - @ 2:23
4 - Yaroslav Popobych - Landbouwkrediet-Colnago - @ 3:00
5 - Francesco Casagrande - Lampre - @ 4:14
6 - Raimondas Rumsas - Lampre - @ 4:20

Tomorrow:
Stage 13 Pordenone - Marostica 155 km
An undulating stage which might give the sprinters a last day to kick it 
to the finish. No climbs over 1,000 feet, and a lot of cooked quadriceps 
from today's vicious ascent.  Of course the 14th stage goes... up.