Steep climb’s race debut shatters the peloton; many Giro d’Italia contenders blown away
Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSK Inox) rode himself into the lead of the Giro del Trentino, after taking victory in the third stage between Piccoli Frutti Pergine and the horrifically steep Punta Veleno. The 29-year-old took the front early in the climb - which averaged more than 12% for nine kilometres, with sections of up to 17% in the early stages - and rode the rest of the peloton off his wheel.
Having crested the top of the climb, 28 seconds ahead of nearest challenger, Sylwester Szmyd (Liquigas-Cannondale), Pozzivivo powered along the mostly downhill final 2.5km to finish 23 seconds clear. After a battle in the mid-section of the climb, where it looked as though they might begin to reel in Szmyd, Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) won the battle for third place with Jose Rujano (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), some 1’12” back.
"Today is a great day for me, I managed to keep calm and keep up the pace I wanted,” Pozzovivo explained afterwards. The climb was so hard that I had to use the 34x29 and only in view of the GPM I switched to the 34x27. With the team we were able to control the situation and when I left, I immediately made a difference.”
Pozzovivo’s victory gave the Italian the cyclamen leader’s jersey, 25 seconds clear of stage two winner Cunego, and now just faced the final stage to the top of the Passo Pordoi the following day.
"We Hope [we can win],” he said. “It's a different climb, where will I will have to count on the team on the flat section before the Pordoi.
“Surely there will be attacks,” he added. “[Astana’s Roman] Kreuziger especially scares me,” he said of the Czech climber, who finished fifth on the stage but now lurks fourth overall, “but I'm fine and I'm ready to do battle.”
A break gets away but the final climb looms large
Almost as soon as the stage had begun, a five-man group escaped on the unclassified climb to Lases. The break consisted of Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale), Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Jan Barta (NetApp), Patxi Vila (Utensilnord-Named) and Marco Frapporti (Team Idea), and after 35km they were 1’50” clear.
The group’s advantage began to drop on the flat plain in the middle of the stage however, before going up to 2’10” on the approach to the 2nd category climb to Lumini. As Frapporti took the intermediate sprint at Rivalta Veronese, after 92km, the lead was down to 1’18”, dropping to less than a minute five kilometres later; after 102km the race was all back together again as the climbs approached.
Michael Rodriguez (Colombia-Coldeportes) and Pierre Rolland (Europcar) tried to escape as the Lumini climb began, but Colnago-CSF Inox had taken control of the peloton; Gianluca Brambilla led Pozzovivo and Stefano Locatelli over the top with just over 50km to go.
The climb, which - despite it’s steep average gradient was small beer compared to what was to come - forced a split in the peloton, with the gap only closed with 20km to go.
The race was all together as the peloton hit the bottom of the climb, but the immediate gradients were to devastate the peloton from the start. Both Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) - gauging his form for a possible bid for a third Giro d’Italia - and Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) took a wrong turn at the bottom, setting them back before they had even got going.
Pozzovivo turns the screw and nobody else responds
Colnago-CSF Inox had set up Pozzovivo perfectly however, and as the climb set in he began to pull away, with Kreuziger, Szmyd, Cunego and Rujano with him. As he increased the pace however, the others were unable to hold him, and he forged ahead alone.
Szmyd was chasing, just a few seconds behind the lone Pozzovivo, but the battle for third was drifting further back. Rujano managed briefly to escape Cunego, and was beginning to gain on Szmyd, but the Venezuelan faded and the Lampre-ISD rider clawed him back and turn the tables further up.
Behind them however, many riders were having problems, with defending Giro d’Italia champion Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) floundering on the steep gradients. Race leader Mattias Frank was struggling to hold on, minutes back, but the Swiss rider was doing far better than many more-fancied rivals.
Pozzovivo crested the top of the climb and began the narrow, sometimes winding descent towards the final kilometre. Under the red kite the road began to rise again, but at nothing like it’s previous rate and the Italian was able to turn a big gear as he sprinted towards the finish.
He sat up, punching the air, as he celebrated his victory, with Szmyd following him over the line some 23 seconds later. Cunego came in just over a minute later, a few seconds ahead of Rujano, with the rest of the peloton struggling in, in ones and twos behind them.
Frank was nursed in by BMC Racing teammate Marco Pinotti, having lost 2’35”, and the Swiss rider dropped out of overall contention. Pozzovivo took over the cyclamen leader’s jersey, with just the fourth stage to the summit of the Passo Pordoi to come.
Scarponi and Di Luca eventually crossed the line, as part of a small group, some 12’15” back. Di Luca’s team did not get an invitation to the following month’s Giro, but a successful defence for Scarponi was now looking far from likely.