[Giro 2003]Stage 14 - Lets all gather at the Mountains

[Giro Reporter]

Stage 14 - Marostica - Alpe di Pampeago - 162 km

Beginning at about 100 meters above sea level, today's stage climbs
steadily and immediately for the first 75 km.  The riders will grind
away at the incline, duke it out for an InterGiro sprint point, then
roll through a feed zone.  Then the real climbing begins - three 1st
category climbs kicking upwards from 765 meters over the Passo di Rolle
- 1945 meters - dropping to the town of Paneveggio at 1552 meters before
climbing the Passo di Valles - 2033 meters - falling to the bivio di
Falcade at 1395 meters, then going back up the Passo di San Pelegrino -
1918 meters.  Of course, if that was it, this wouldn't be the Dolomites
in the Giro D'Italia.  So, the riders enjoy a longer descent to Tesero
Centro, with the final bit of the stage ascending the Alpe di Pampaeago,
a vicious 10 km climb topping out at 1740 meters.

Those specs were a bit too much more Robbie McEwen, Lotto's successful
sprinter, who did not start today (as planned and announced earlier, he
will not suffer in the mountains so that he can remain competitive at
the Tour de France). Also not signing in this morning was Nicolas
Fritsch of FDJeux.com.

Truly a sprinter's nightmare, while the hollow-boys wonder whether using
helium in their tires might give them an edge.  The last time the race
finished here, a young man named Marco Pantani won by 1:07 over some
contender named Gilberto Simoni.

Joining the race at the Passo di Valles, GpM leader Fredy Gonzales from
Columbia-Selle Italia skipped away from a small breakaway to take the
maximum points with no one else in the picture.

Behind him climb six other riders who fancy their chances in the
stratosphere:

4 - Denis Lunghi - Alessio
25 - Paolo Lanfranchi - Cermiche Panaria
46 - Michele Gobbi - De Nardi Colpack
89 - Rinaldo Nocentini - Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave
109 - Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez - Kelme
113 - Wladimir Belli - Lampre

Another 10 riders are split between this group and the main, in varied
stages of suffering as they left with the others in the escape at
kilometer 12. Zaballa follows next over the crest of the GpM points,
dropping against Gonzalez in the fight for the Green Mountains jersey.

Luca Mazzanti (Ceramiche), Gabriele Balducci (Caldirola-Sidermec), Ief
Verbrugghe (Lotto), Marcel Strauss (Gerolsteiner) and Sergei Lelekin
(Tenax) all packed it in, leaving 144 riders in the race and 6 out of
the 19 teams intact.

The climb to the San Pellegrino begins immediately upon completing the
descent, with the average gradient at 9%, pitching to 15% when it feels
nasty. The skies are overcast, and the throngs of spectators wear
jackets of noticable thickness.

The group of the Maglia Rosa sits about 5 minutes in back of the
climbing group.  Pavel Tonkov has moved out into the mix among those who
have escaped, and along with Wladimir Belli could be a serious threat to
the leaders jersey if Simoni runs into trouble today.  Tonkov has not
nearly reached the group of six, but has gained some time over the group
of the Maglia Rosa.

Saeco support riders begin to litter the roadway back among the team
cars, as they pop their cylinders while setting the pace for Simoni.
Also in trouble is Yaraslav Popovych, who is hanging onto the tail end
of the race leader group.

Gonzalez again crests the GpM point, while 1:26 back, Zaballa cleanly
takes second, but again loses the difference between his and Gonzalez'
position.  Gonzalez now has 77 GpM points, while Zaballa sits in second
with 44.

Tonkov continues to creep up toward the climbers group, now 4:00 down on
Gonzalez, while the the peleton stretches through at 4:32.  Again,
everyone drops steeply on wide and beautiful roads.  As they hurtle down
the descent at around 50 or 60 mph, Nocentini from Formaggi Pinzola
Fiave reaches both hands into his back pockets, moves stuff around, rubs
his low back, scratches, reaches into his pockets again...crikey! Lest
ye think you have bike handling skills...

By the time they reach the town, Gonzalez has lost at least 30-odd
seconds - descents are when the bird-boned-ones suffer. The chase group
has him in their sights, as they press in on his rear wheel. Tonkov is
now the only rider who isn't bunched up, as he plugs along in no-man's
land, trying to use the cables of his shifters as a makeshift aero bars.

In the group of the Maglia Rosa, four Saeco riders set the pace,
punching through the air and stringing things out in the group.  They've
caught Tonkov, and Marco Pantani is tucked in behind the cruising
Simoni. They've pinched the gap to the climbers down to 2:45.

So far, the current speed of this year's race has picked up to 39.984
km/hr, edging ahead of the fastest previous edition 38.937 km/hr in 1983.

Some zebras flock to the front, whether a brain-stem reaction to other
teams pacemaking or to deliver their climber Michele Scarponi remains to
be seen.  The sun peeks out a bit, and the massive climb looms ahead.
The gap has fallen to 2:10.

The lead group slides under the 10 km to go banner, which means about a
minute until the serious pain begins. Behind them, Saeco reminds us of
the Red Guard of old and continues to take time back. Now 1:47.

The entire peleton takes off their helmets in unison, as allowed by the
new regulations - they can remove helmets on finishing climbs. Among the
chasing peleton, the climbers have assembled and dropped away most of
the helpers - Julio Perez of Ceremiche Panaria, Marco Pantani are both
evident near the front.

In the break group, Zaballa crunches a big gear as they roll through
what looks like an alleyway, and jolts away from the leaders group. He
gains a quick 10 seconds over his breakaway ex-compatriots, who climb
only 1:22 in front of the peleton.

Back in the chasing main group, Perez and Raimondas Rumsas set the pace
on the early bits of the incline, while Stefano Garzelli sits in third
with a number of teammates in the group.  There are no Saeco riders
evident any more, anywhere in the dwindling group of the Maglia Rosa.

Belli slowly rolls over a bigger gear and has moved into stalking
distance of Zaballa. He seems to want to try one more shot at being the
climber.

At the lead of the Maglia Rosa group is, well, the Maglia Rosa on the
back of Gilberto Simoni, shadowed by Popovych who seems to have come
back from the dead.  He drives the pace strongly with no effort apparent
on his face, and instantly splits up the rest of the group, while a
select group of five riders follow his effort - Pantani, Rumsas,
Popovych, Garzelli and Perez, Others dangle just behind him, but their
numbers are up and it's time for them to head to the coat check. Table
stakes have been seriously raised here, and only the heavy hitters can
handle this action.

Now Popovych ticks up the cadence with 5 km to go and moves away from
this group.  He is, however, no longer the unknown kid, and the others
have learned to mark him.  While everyone worries about the lanky
Ukrainian, Simoni makes a big rip up the right side of the roadway and
zips away from everyone.  Popovych summons more fire and somehow grabs
his wheel, and the two of them ride away, while behind them tongues get
burnt on tires as they hang down. The Simioni-led twosome move away to a
sizeable gap, while every other rider begins to lose ground.  They sweep
up to Zaballa who has long ago lost contact with Belli, further up the
road.

Garzelli sits behind a teammate- I think Eddie Mazzoleni who has been a
strong ally in the moutains, mentally staggered, but still in the race.
    Perez finds his climbing legs, and Garzelli moves to follow the
diminutive climber.

Simoni raises from the saddle in a forest of fans, and unceremoniously
drops Popovych.  Garzelli now sets the pace for the the chasers, but
Simoni can taste blood in the air and seems to keep finding more uphill
speed.

In the riders behind him is a look of distant yet highly visible pain.
Out the back of the group tumbles Pantani who can climb but cannot match
the insane accellerations.  The riders are going uphill on a climb that
averages 10%, with peak bits near 16%.  They are actually on a temporary
road which parrallels the construction on some tunnels, and they are
hideously steepening at the cruelest time - it gets steeper as it climbs
higher.

At the head of events, Simoni headbutts this race, flying out of
the saddle while the challengers try to stay seated and punch out their
cadence. Popovych drifts away from the climbing group of Garzelli,
Rumsas and a fading Perez.  Belli has moved to another dimension of
pain.  Perez has found another niche of sugar in his veins, and manages
to dance up on Garzelli, who can match his pace, but it seems like no
one can match the tortuous power of Simoni who is rolling over a the
pedals as the climbs out of the saddle.  The climb is clearly punishing
the riders, and Perez suddenly cracks and wobbles in among the screaming
tifosi.

Garzelli still manages to ride well, Perez dances back up, and we pass
in front of a fan wearing a gorlla mask.

Simoni holds about a 30 second lead as his immediate chasers roll under
the 1 km banner.  Now the race and stage winner strains under the
inflated tea cup which lies within spitting distance to the line.  He
has acheived a demoralizing victory with this move, and the others must
wonder where his weaknesses can be found.

Garzelli rolls over 35 seconds back.  Rumsas comes in humbly on his
wheel after trying to nab second with a come-from-behind after sucking
wheel for the entire climb.

Casagrande looks to be in a world of hurt and suffering with the
confused look of a gutshot enlisted man, while Mazzoleni manages to keep
within earshot of the winners even after assisting Garzelli. A clipped
Pantani comes in just around 2 minutes down. All the finishers look at
best dazed by this strong effort of Simoni.

Stage 14 -
1 - Gilberto Simoni - 4:46:42
2 - Stefano Garzelli - @:35
3 - Raimondas Rumsas - @:36
4 - Julio Perez - @:49
5 - Yaroslav Popovych - @:49
6 - Andrea Noe - @:56
7 - Francesco Casagrande - @:59
8 - Eddy mazzoleni - @1:17
9 - Wladimir Belli - @1:38
10 - Georg Totschnig - @1:38

Overall -
Maglia Rosa - Gilberto Simoni - Saeco - 65:45:39
2 - Stefano Garzell - Caldirola-Sidermec - @1:19
3 - Andrea Noe - Alessio - @ 3:39
4 - Yaroslav Popovych - Landbouwkredeit-Colnago @4:09
5 - Raimondas Rumsas -Lampre - @5:09
6 - Francesco Casagrande - Lampre - @5:33
7 - Georg Totschnig - Gerolsteiner - @6:45
8 - Franco Pellizotti - Alessio - @7:18
9 - Marco Pantani - Mercatone-Uno - @8:19
10 - Wladimir Belli - Lampre - @8:41

Tomorrow's stage -
Merano-Bolzano Individual Time Trial - 42 km