As I tuned into the Stage 7 of the Giro, I thought Eurosport was playing a joke on the viewers and playing a replay of Stage 6 – the break was again out to over 8 minutes with about 80km to go to the finish.
I guess the peloton decided to play the “let’s try this again” game.
The peloton was slowly, but steadily taking time out of the break, however. It was clear that the pace was not that of yesterday, as the field stayed together late into the stage, falling apart on the final climb of the day.
I was really looking forward to watching the first mountaintop finish of the Giro and seeing how the climbing legs of some of the favorites would fare. The climb certainly didn’t disappoint – riders were flying off the front one after another.
At that pace, the pink jersey went out the back, and the lead was about to change for the fourth time in the first seven stages. How exciting!
All the major contenders sat quietly and worked to slowly draw all the breaks back. Lopez Herrada of Movistar was the last to get caught with just about 1km to go in the race. Then the fireworks came out in style.
Michele Scarponi of Lampre-ISD attacked from the front and was going for the win. His aim was definitely the 20-second bonus and whatever time gained on other GC contenders. He lost quite a bit of time in the first week, and needed to make it up.
However, Scarponi could not shake Paolo Tiralongo of Astana off his wheel. Tiralongo looked like he was fading, but attacked late and came around Scarponi for the stage win.
It was an exciting finish, but it nothing compared to what we’ll see in the last week, when peloton will tackle the toughest, steepest climbs of the Giro.
Frank Schleck of RadioShack Nissan and Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin Barracuda made a late move to catch Scarponi, but ran out of room to the finish line. It will certainly be interesting to see what form they bring to the mountains. And the effort was just enough for Hesjedal, who started the stage in third and rode himself into the GC lead and the pink jersey.
Garmin-Barracuda appear to be doing a lot of things correctly in this bike race.
Vic
Guest
I thought the same thing when I was watching. It seemed like they were replaying action from Stage 6.
Darryl Kotyk
Roar Pro
Good comments from both sides on this. Thanks for your input, Robert....great article, vitalyg.
vitalyg
Roar Guru
Fair point, but keep in mind that Garmin came into this race without a real chance at GC, or even the podium when you take a look at other contenders. So getting some wins and jersey holds early makes this a successful tour for them. So I think with regard to their expectations and goals, they are doing things right. The loss of Farrar was unfortunate, however.
robert
Guest
It would be nice to say Garmin was doing everything right but that is not possible at this point. They split the difference between climbing and sprinting and have already lost Farrar and are now an eight man team. They need a cadre of climbers and solid rouleurs to get through this Giro defending Hesjedal. It would be better to let the jersey go then defend it for the rest of the race and just stay close. I suppose this is considered bad manners but is strategically safer.