Movistar rider Vasili Kiryienka secured an emotional victory in stage twenty of the Giro d'Italia today, crossing the line alone in style to dedicate his victory to fallen teammate Xavier Tondo as he pointed towards the sky. Jose Rujano (Androni Giocattoli) finished second on the day, with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) coming in just behind in third.
"This was the best way to remember a teammate that was with us only for this season, but yet seemed to have been here for such a long time," said Kiryienka after his victory. "I didn't know Xavi very well," he admitted, "but shared some moments with him in the Ardennes classics week and he was an enthusiastic person when it came to cycling.
"We decided that the best way to pay him tribute was staying into the Giro, and I think we made a good choice, because winning in such a hard mountain stage and into such a long break, it was the kind of winning that he liked so much."
Alberto Contador's (Saxo Bank-Sungard) Maglia Rosa was never in danger on the day, with the Spaniard able to easily follow as Michele Scarponi and Vincenzo Nibali battled for second place overall. Scarponi ended up ahead on the day, gaining a valuable 22 seconds on the Sicilian as they head into tomorrow's test against the clock.
Yesterday's wet conditions were a distant memory as the Italian countryside gave way to sunny skies for the start of stage twenty. Again the peloton started quickly with the assistance of a friendly tailwind and, by the time they reached the 29 kilometer mark, a group of thirteen had made their way off the front.
The best rider overall in what would become the break of the day was Movistar's Vasili Kiryienka, who sat more than an hour behind the Maglia Rosa in the standings. He was joined by Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD), Kevin Seeldraeyers (Quick Step), Cristiano Salerno (Liquigas-Cannondale), Sebastian Lang (GER, OLO), Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack), Angel Vicioso (Androni Giocattoli), Carlos Betancourt (Acqua & Sapone), Josep Jufré (Astana), Luca Mazzanti (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli), Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
The break enjoyed a maximum advantage of 11 minutes and 20 seconds, a gap that was helped by an incident that saw third place overall Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) hit the pavement. But the Saxo Bank-Sungard and AG2r La Mondiale squads slowly chipped away at their lead as they worked their way towards the big mountain tests of the day.
By the time the leaders started the 2178 meter Colle delle Finestre the gap to the peloton was down to 6 minutes and 13 seconds. As they snaked their way up the 18.5 kilometer climb, the gap continued to erode. The peloton started the Finestre 5 minutes and 30 seconds behind the escape and immediately began to disintegrate as they powered on.
Stefano Pirazzi (COlnago-CSF Inox) was the first to attack from the peloton, with Rabobank behind taking up the chase to bring him back. Kiryienka rode away from the lead group to make himself the lone leader, while Rujano hit the peloton hard and quickly rode across to the break.
Behind the Maglia Rosa group was already down to a select group of ten riders that included Contador, Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), Vincenzo Nibali, Cristiano Salerno and Sylvester Szmyd from Liquigas-Cannondale, John Gadret (AG2r La Mondiale), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Stephen Kruijswijk (Rabobank) and Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov from the Geox-TMC squad. Notably missing from the group was Astana's Roman Krueziger who led the best young rider competition, with Kruijswijk now threatening his place. Nibali's team took control.
Rujano continued on through the break in pursuit of the lone Movistar rider, with 4 minutes to close on the Belarusian and a 30 second lead over the pink jersey group. The break was shattered over the slopes of the mountain as the Venezuelan continued to pick his way past its remnants towards the summit. When the group containing the overall leaders hit the dirt road signaling 8 kilometers to the top, the Liqugas-Cannondale team continued at the front putting in a strong pace.
Betancourt was the only one able to hold onto the flying Androni Giocattoli rider, and under the 30 kilometers remaining banner Kiryienka was holding onto his advantage, pedaling style still fluid as he approached the kilometer marker to the summit. The leader had 3 minutes and 51 seconds over Rujano with the Maglia Rosa group a further 2 minutes behind.
Rodriguez was next to hit the favorites group, which caused Nibali to lose contact. The Catalan continued the push the pace and keep the Italian under pressure, but with a long descent ahead, Nibali wouldn't bother going into the red.
The Movistar rider continued to race down towards the final climb up Sestriere, as Nibali made light work of latching back onto the leaders on the descent. Krueziger continued to work hard behind for a chance to hang onto the white jersey, as Kiryienka began the final ascent of the day with 5 minutes and 40 seconds in hand. He had a massive 4.5 kilometer advantage over the Maglia Rosa group, and now looked to be in control of his own fate as he continued to climb.
It was the Katusha rider who struck first from the group of favorites as they rode the day's final test, with 6 minutes and 20 seconds to the lone leader and 6 kilometers left to race. Menchov was next to go in an attempt to move himself up the overall standings, while the Astana rider led the chase behind. Rujano was a minute ahead of the Contador group when Betancourt blew and lost the little climber's wheel.
With 5 kilometers to race for the Contador group there was no sense of urgency from the top three overall. Up front the Movistar rider was beginning to show his efforts of the day as the final kilometer came into sight. Rodriguez continued to ride at his maximum up the mountain, and closed in on Rujano as Gadre hit the group from behind to open a gap immediately. The Movistar rider had done enough for the win though, and crossed the finish line pointing to the sky to honor fallen teammate Xavier Tondo, who died tragically earlier this week.
The Frenchman continued to power ahead and closed the gap to Menchov, as Nibali began to increase the pace in the chase. Kruijswijk countered the Italian's surge to put both Nibali and Krueziger in difficulty. Scarponi went to the front and worked hard to increase the distance between himself and his compatriot for tomorrow's time trial.