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85th Giro d'Italia (GT)
Italy, May 11-June 2, 2002
Stage profile Start list Results
Stage 19 - June 1: Cambiago-Monticello Brianza ITT, 44.3 km
Start time: 11:40 CEST
Estimated finish time: 17:10 CEST
Complete Live Report
14:30 CEST
Welcome to Cyclingnews.com's coverage of the 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia, the 44.3 (increased from 42.9) kilometre time trial from Cambiago to Monticello Brianza. Today's stage is the decider for the GC in this year's Giro - the top three riders, Paolo Savoldelli, Pietro Caucchioli and Tyler Hamilton are separated by just 1'28. Considering that these three were separated by 1'35 in the first time trial, which was only 30.3 kilometres, there is no doubt that the time gaps will be very, very close today.
Hamilton is the best time trialist of the three, and you can bet that he will give it his best shot today to catch Savoldelli. He is experienced enough to know how to pace himself on this course correctly, although he has never actually ridden it in training.
Caucchioli is not a brilliant time trialist, but he did finish ahead of Savoldelli in the first TT. He's a bit of a surprise packet, and could well cause an upset, although he will have to ride his best ever time trial.
Finally Savoldelli has been riding well in the final week, taking the maglia rosa on the second tough Dolomite stage. He will be hoping that it will "give him wings" as it has done so many others before him. Gilberto Simoni and Marco Pantani stand out in recent years.
But the winner of the Giro is rarely decided by the final time trial: only in 1976 (Gimondi beat De Muynck), 1984 (Moser "blew away" Fignon) and 2000 (Garzelli outclimbed Casagrande) has it happened.
14:45 CEST
The weather conditions today are good for time trialling - sunny with only a light breeze. The winning time should be well under the hour, despite the uphill parcours. It should be pointed out that the last part of the course is the toughest, and is more technical than the rest of it. When Savoldelli finished second in the '99 Giro, he also placed second in the final TT which was run on a similar parcours. Of course, that was three years ago...
Others to look out for today include Rik Verbrugghe, Serguei Gontchar, Aitor Gonzalez, Cadel Evans and Dario Frigo.
Fastest time so far is Frigo's teammate Mauro Radaelli (Tacconi Sport) who clocked 1.00.35 for the 44.2 kilometres. In second is Telekom's Ralf Grabsch followed by Denis Zanette (Fassa Bortolo).
15:00 CEST
Lampre Daikin's Max Sciandri has gone through the Intergiro time check in 42'19, which is the quickest so far today. He finishes his ride in 1.00.19, the best time at the moment.
There's some more news about Gilberto Simoni, who was found to have had a second "non-negative" drug test for cocaine, after he was tested after stage 9 of the Giro. Simoni has been suspended (but not sacked) by Saeco, pending further investigation into why this happened. In the past, Saeco have suspended several riders over drug related affairs, including Salvatore Commesso and Fabio Sacchi, but neither were sacked after they explained themselves to the team.
15:15 CEST
Sciandri's time is smashed by Phonak's Bert Grabsch, who comes through in 58.19, an average of 45.48 km/h. Not bad on this uphill course!
15:27 CEST
Should Tyler Hamilton win the Giro today, he will only be the second American to do so, after Andy Hampsten in 1988. Foreign victories in this race are not that common: Swiss riders Hugo Koblet, Carlo Clerici and Tony Rominger, Luxembourg's Charly Gaul (twice), France's Jacques Anquetil, Laurent Fignon and Bernard Hinault (three times), Belgium's Eddy Merckx (five times) and Johan De Muynck, Sweden's Gosta Pettersson, Ireland's Stephen Roche, Spain's Miguel Indurain (twice), Russia's Evgeni Berzin and Pavel Tonkov. That's 22 foreign wins of a total of 84. Also, the last five victories have been Italian
15:35 CEST
Serguei Gontchar (Fassa Bortolo) is on his way, and has covered the first 8 kilometres. He is certainly a big favourite today after coming so close last Sunday. His namesake Sergey Adveyev (Colnago-Lanbouwkrediet) has gone under 1 hour with a time of 59'56.
Intersting factoid: Today's stage starts right outside Colnago's factory in Cambiago. But it doesn't look as though they'll have a Giro winner today. Also, 5 km down the road is the Coppi factory - Paolo Savoldelli's Index-Alexia team is riding on Coppi bikes. On the other hand, Hamilton's CSC team are riding Look bikes, which are French.
15:44 CEST
Gontchar is flying along, pushing a large gear as is his style. He has the fastest time at the first intermediate split, not surprisingly. Temperatures have risen to 27 degrees - it's hot out there.
15:50 CEST
Cadel Evans (Mapei), who placed third in the first time trial, has just started. We'll see how well he has recovered from his spectacular bonk in stage 17. Admittedly it took over 7 hours for that to happen, whereas today's stage is only 1 hour. He is now in 15th overall on GC, and has the possibility of moving up to 14th if he beats Pellizzotti by enough.
Michael Rasmussen (CSC) comes in right behind Mariano Piccoli (Lampre), who will do just over an hour.
15:55 CEST
Daniel Nardello (Mapei) comes in with 59'10 - a good time for the Italian champion, and second best so far behind Grabsch.
Gontchar is really flying - he's going to catch his 2 minute man very soon.
16:00 CEST
Dario Frigo, the 10th rider on GC, is just about to start. He won a Giro time trial in Salo last year, but has not been quite up there this year after winning the Tour de Romandie.
His teammate Eddy Mazzoleni has set the second fastest time at the first time check, behind Gontchar.
Evans goes through 9 km in 11'34, the 15th best time.
16:05 CEST
Vladimir Duma, one of the few Panaria riders left in the race, has finished with 59'56, equal fifth best time.
Serguei Gontchar is really flying - going through the intergiro (km 32.1) in 39'27, which is 1'17 quicker than Grabsch.
Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto-Adecco) starts his ride.
16:10 CEST
The best placed Austrian rider in the race, Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) has started his time trial. He is lying 7th overall at 5'32, but has a two minute buffer to both 6th and 8th so he should stay where he is.
Dario Frigo comes through 9 km in 11'02, the second best time so far - Gontchar did 10'51.
16:13 CEST
Aitor Gonzalez (Kelme) crosses the 9 km check in 10'42, the best time by far. Gontchar was nine seconds slower than this. Then Frigo at 20 seconds and Rik Verbrugghe at 21 seconds.
Juan Manuel Garate (Lampre), the fourth last rider to start, is on his way.
16:23 CEST
Gontchar finishes with 56'41, that's an average of 46.9 km/h. He is 1'38 quicker than Grabsch and 2'29 faster than Nardello.
Tyler Hamilton and Pietro Caucchioli are now on their way. Only Savoldelli to come.
Frigo has the third best time at the second time check.
16:28 CEST
Savoldelli, clad in a pink Index-Alexia skinsuit, is not bothering with a helmet today - just a turned back cap and sunglasses. He sprints out of the starting gate and gets straight into the tuck.
Aitor Gonzalez is 21 seconds quicker than Gontchar at the second time check.
16:32 CEST
Hamilton comes through 9 km in 10'58, that's the third quickest time so far behind Gonzalez and Gontchar. But the important thing is what Savoldelli and Caucchioli can do. Also, the final part of the course is tougher.
Both Hamilton and Savoldelli look very smooth, with Hamilton pedalling a smaller gear as is normal for him.
16:36 CEST
Caucchioli's time at 9 km is 11'07, which is 9 seconds slower than Hamilton and 25 seconds slower than Gonzalez.
16:38 CEST
Savoldelli's time at 9 km is 10'46 - that's 12 seconds quicker than Hamilton and the second fastest today. There's still 35 kilometres to go, but Hamilton will need a great ride over the final kilometres.
Andrea Noe' (Mapei) finishes with 1'01.44, 34th best time.
16:42 CEST
At the Intergiro (km 32.1), the top five are Gontchar, Grabsch, Mazzoleni, Nardello and Frigo. But Aitor Gonzalez comes through 17 seconds quicker than Gontchar. He'll have to work to stay ahead of Gontchar's time.
Julio Perez Cuapio finishes with 1'01.48 - not a bad time at all for the Mexican climber, who wants to win the Giro. Close behind him is Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) who clocks 1'00.52
16:47 CEST
Eddy Mazzoleni finishes with 59'32, fifth best so far. At the second time check (20 km), Hamilton goes through 46 seconds slower than Gonzalez Jimenez, and 15 seconds slower than Gontchar.
Cadel Evans (Mapei) has done a respectable time, finishing in 59'19, 4th best and 9 seconds behind his teammate Nardello.
16:52 CEST
Pellizzotti finishes over the hour: 1'00.33, which means that Evans will overtake him on GC.
At the second time check, Hamilton has made a bit of time up on Savoldelli, but is still 9 seconds behind him. He needs to make up 1'37 in the next 25 kilometres. Also, Caucchioli had only lost 16 seconds to Hamilton at this stage (he can lose 33 seconds before Hamilton knocks him off 2nd place).
Yaroslav Popovych (Colnago-Landbouwkrediet) finishes in 1'00.30, again a good performance from this Ukrainian sensation, who is 12th on GC.
16:56 CEST
Ivan Gotti finishes in 1'00.26. He is followed by Oscar Pereiro in 59'22 - 5th best time. Still Gontchar leads.
17:00 CEST
Aitor Gonzalez finishes in 55'56 - an awesome time, 45 seconds faster than Gontchar. He's looking good for the stage win, unless Hamilton or Savoldelli can do something amazing.
He caught Dario Frigo, who finished with 59'23.
Hamilton is 3rd quickest at the Intergiro, 53 seconds slower than Gonzalez. Savoldelli looks too strong today.
17:05 CEST
Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio) comes through the Intergiro. in 40'47, 1'27 slower than Gonzalez (34 seconds slower than Hamilton). That means that Hamilton is the virtual second place.
Rik Verbrugghe has a good ride, sprinting up the final climb to finish in 58'44 - 4th best today.
17:08 CEST
Savoldelli is through the Intergiro in 40'03 - still 10 seconds faster than Hamilton. There's no way he will lose that plus another 1'28 in 12 km.
Totschnig equals Verbrugghe's time - good performance from the Austrian.
17:11 CEST
Pavel Tonkov (Lampre) comes home in 59'40, 12th best time.
The battle appears to be for second place on GC now between Hamilton and Caucchioli. Hamilton has 4 kilometres to go, and is struggling over the hardest part of the parcours. Savoldelli is also struggling, but he has the advantage. He tosses away his sunglasses.
17:16 CEST
Fernando Escartin (Team Coast) goes over the hour to finish in 1'01.02.
Hamilton has 2 km to go and is giving it everything. Savoldelli has now got rid of his cap and is on the last uphill part before the run into the finish.
Juan Manuel Garate finishes in 58.49.
17:19 CEST
Hamilton finishes in 57'27, 1'31 slower than Gonzalez for third place. Cuacchioli is now on his way to the finish, but looks like he'll lose his second spot to Hamilton.
17:23 CEST
Caucchioli's time is 58'31, a good time but he will end up as third on the podium. Savoldelli has 1 km to go.
17:25 CEST
Savoldelli wins the Giro, placing third in the final time trial with a time of 56'14. He was quicker than Hamilton at every time check, and rode an excellent race.
Aitor Gonzalez was also very strong to win the stage from Gontchar, who had to be content with another second place.
Results
Provisional 1 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Kelme 55.56 2 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo 0.45 3 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Index-Alexia 1.18 4 Tyler Hamilton (USA) CSC-Tiscali 1.31 5 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak 2.23 6 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 2.35 7 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 2.48 8 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 9 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre 2.53 10 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei 3.14 11 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei 3.23 12 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak 3.26 General classification after stage 19 1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Index Alexia 85.46.09 2 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC Tiscali 1.41 3 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 2.12 4 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre-Daikin 3.14 5 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Lampre-Daikin 6 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 7 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 8 Fernando Escartin (Spa) Team Coast 9 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 9.24 10 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 11.50 11 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 12.49 12 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13 Ivan Gotti (Ita) Alessio 14 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 16.25 15 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 16 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio
