An exciting climax to an undulating transition stage yesterday between Tortoreto and Castelfidardo.
Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin) had the most to gain from an 11-man break that escaped with around 80km to go – the possibility of reducing his 1+ miunute deficit to Contador for the GC. But the rest of the break knew it and made it clear they weren’t going to help – I felt for him as he must have burnt a lot of candles on a fruitless effort.
Daniel Moreno jumped from the break with around 20km to go and held onto a narrow lead until the final climb to the finish. With around 450m to go it looked like Moreno might stay clear but then John Gadret (AG2R) jumped from the peleton and closed the gap on Moreno, passing him at the 200m mark and taking a huge win.
At this point in the Giro it looks like Contador has an unassailable lead – 59sec to Sivtsov and over a minute to the nearest likely contenders: Scarponi and Nibali – so is the Tour now a foregone conclusion? From HTC’s antics on the podium at the end of the stage the questions begs: “Is anyone (except Contador) taking the Giro seriously anymore?”
Anyway for your viewing pleasure here are the closing km’s of Stage 11:
Stage 11 Results
1 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 3:33:11
2 Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
3 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli
4 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard
6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana
7 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team
8 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
9 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
General Classification after Stage 11
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 40:37:51
2 Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad 0:00:59
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:01:21
4 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:28
5 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
6 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:37
7 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana 0:01:41
8 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:47
9 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:02:21
10 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
