Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) took his first professional victory today in stage nineteen of the Giro d'Italia. The Italian attacked on the final ascent to the finish in Macugnaga, and managed to stay away from a select group of chasers until the final 1.5 kilometers. It was then when Maglia Rosa Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) unleashed his fury on the group of favorites and struck out on his own. He rode straight up to Tiralongo and, after some encouragement from his former teammate, the Astana rider was able to muster the strength hang onto the flying pink jersey to secure the stage win. There were no changes in the race for the overall, with Contador proving again that he is able to gain time on his rivals when the road tilts upward.
"Today was difficult," Contador confirmed after the stage. "Especially with the weather, it rained so much we couldn't see anything. But with the rain I was going well, my legs felt good, and in the end I managed to put time on all my rivals. Except one, Tiralongo, who last year had done everything to help me win the Tour and to assist me throughout the year.
"He was very strong today and deserved this victory; I did it [gave him the victory] instinctively. When you have that feeling, you have to do it," he continued. "Paolo's victory is my victory."
When asked what was going through his mind at the end of the stage, Contador replied: "I wasn't thinking of helping Tiralongo win, I just wanted to shake [them off] and stretch [the lead] over my rivals in the general classification."
Bad weather hits the Giro d'Italia
Today's start in Bergamo saw cloudy skies with heavy rain introduce the 209 kilometer journey to Macugnaga. Early in the day a large group tried to peel themselves off the front of the peloton, but the powers that be deemed it too dangerous to let go free. Several attacks followed their assimilation into the peloton, with three finally getting on with it to form the escape of the day at the 51 kilometer mark.
Frenchman Jérôme Pineau made the break again today, and he was joined by Italian Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) and Dane Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad). The trio gained a massive lead of 11 minutes and 50 seconds, but 135 kilometers into the race the category one climb up the Mottarone saw the peloton pull themselves back to within reach.
Bak lost contact with his two companions on the ascent with around 75 kilometers remaining in the race. The duo's advantage was reduced down to only 1 minute and 30 seconds over the peloton, so Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) took the opportunity to attack from the Maglia Rosa group and ride across the gap. Bak was able to get back on terms with the leaders, and Garzelli collected some points over the top of the climb to add to his lead in the king of the mountains competition. Next to try their luck from behind were Johann Tschopp (BMC Racing) and Mickaël Chérel (AG2r La Mondiale). The duo worked well to close the gap to the front of the race on the descent, making it six in the lead.
With 53 kilometers left to race the leaders had an advantage of 4 minutes and 12 seconds over the peloton. The advantage helped by the Maglia Rosa group's pedestrian descent down the hairpin switchbacks on the Mottarone.
The Peloton comes to life
Katusha woke up the peloton after their sluggish descent, and pushed the pace causing the group to line out in single file. By the time they had 45 kilometers to go, the leaders had lost 30 seconds of their advantage. The escape could sense the pressure from behind and continued to work well through the sopping wet conditions, but the weren't able to take advantage of the foul weather as the peloton behind rode under the power of the Russian team.
The advantage of the leaders' continued to plummet as they approached the final ascent of the day, a near 30 kilometer gradual rise to the finish rated category three for its length.
The six men began the long uphill drag, with Pineau starting the attacks at the 26 kilometer mark. Nasty weather and tired legs saw the numbers up front dwindle down to two, with just Pineau and Rabottini left to keep the Katusha led peloton at bay. They held out until there were 13.5 kilometers to race, and thanked each other for the honest effort on the day. The pair were steamrolled by the speeding peloton as the sun began to streak through the clouds.
Riders continued to fall off the pace as the kilometers ticked down, and it remained status quo at the front with the Russian team leading the charge. Tiralongo was the first to jump out of the bunch, but Danilo Di Luca (Katusha) quickly pulled him back into the fold as they approached the 6 kilometer mark. The Italian hit the group again, and this time was able to force a small gap.
Behind the chasing group was down to a select 20 as the Saxo Bank-Sungard squad took over the efforts. Richie Porte forced the pace up front to keep the option of attacking for the win open to his leader. Behind Jose Rujano was caught out of the Maglia Rosa group, and was forced to chase hard to limit his losses in a small group 30 seconds adrift.
Another big move, followed by a gift
Under the 3 kilometer banner Contador moved up to the front as Hubert Dupont (AG2r La Mondiale) attacked. He was quickly followed and passed by Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). The Frenchman was unable to close the gap to the Katusha rider and fell back into the group. Contador was next to try a tester, but Vincenzo Nibal (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) were immediately glued onto his wheel. John Gadre (AG2r La Mondiale) was next to go, with Contador hitting the group again, this time even harder. He powered open a quick gap and easily blew past the pair immediately ahead and rode up to his former teammate Tiralongo. The Maglia Rosa then offered some words of encouragement for him to stay on his wheel, probably something along the lines of "stay on my wheel and I'll let you win". That's all Tiralongo needed to hear. The Italian dug deep to hold onto the flying Spaniard's wheel, with the pink jersey staying mindful of where his rivals were behind. As they approached the final meters Contador slowed as he sensed Tiralongo might blow, and moved aside as they approached the line to give the stage glory to the Astana rider.