Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Giro finale Photo ©: Bettini |
86th Giro d'Italia - Grand Tour
Italy, May 10-June 1, 2003
Main Page Stage Profile Start List Latest Live Report
Stage 15 - May 25: Merano-Bolzano, ITT, 42.5 km
Complete Live Report
Start time: 12:15 CEST
Estimated finish time: 17:00 CEST
Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia, the first time trial stage despite being two weeks into the tour. Today's test against the clock is 42.5 kilometres, over a fairly flat parcours between Merano and Bolzano. There is however a tough little climb with 10 km to go at San Paolo, with a maximum grade of 10 percent, and that will take the sting out of the climbers legs.
The big question today is whether Stefano Garzelli can take back 1'19 on Gilberto Simoni, who has been the superior rider in the mountains so far. Garzelli has fought hard, and is on paper a better time trialist that Simoni. However he lacks race condition, and Simoni could well take more time out him.
Another question is who's going to take the third spot on GC? At the moment it's held by Andrea Noe, who has a 30 second lead on Yaroslav Popovych (Colnago-Landbouwkrediet) and 1'29 on 5th placed Raimondas Rumsas (Lampre), who is an excellent time trialist.
The final question is who will win the stage? Of the non-GC riders, Aitor Gonzalez and Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo), Serguei Gontchar (De Nardi) are probably the favourites.
14:42 CEST
So far, 69 of the remaining 138 riders in the race have completed the 42.5 kilometres.
The best rider so far is Sweden's Magnus Backstedt, who is in the hunt for the
Intergiro classification. The rider with the best time to the 24.2 km mark in
the time trial scores Intergiro points/seconds, which means that Backstedt can
take back some time on Moreno DiBiase, provided he stays in the top 10 to this
point.
Backstedt's took 29'55 to get to the Intergiro, which is the fastest to date. Di Biase took 32'43, so there'll be no Intergiro points for him today. Backstedt's overall time for the 42.5 km is a respectable 55'24, an average speed of 46.028 km/h.
14:54 CEST
The first 20 km of this time trial is slightly downhill, and there have been
some pretty quick times set early on. Backstedt was past the 10 km mark in 11'17
(53.175 km/h), so he was obviously on a mission for a fast first half. Second
fastest to that point was local rider Manuel Quinziato (Lampre), who did it
in 11'37.
After 42.5 km, Backstedt has the best time followed by Bogdan Bondariew (CCC-Polsat) at 39 seconds and Quinziato at 1'16.
15:12 CEST
We know have 82 riders who have completed the course, meaning that there are
still 56 to come. Best rider remains Magnus Backstedt (fakta-Pata Chips) who
leads Bogdan Bondariew (CCC) by 39 seconds and local boy Manuel Quinziato (Lampre)
by 1'16. The slowest rider is Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), who completed
the course in a fairly moderate 1:06'07. Petacchi is probably not in danger
of getting eliminated on time however...
15:27 CEST
91 riders have finished the time trial, with another 47 to come. No-one has
come close to threatening Magnus Backstedt's leading time of 55'24, but the
best riders are still to come.
15:37 CEST
Landbouwkrediet-Colnago's Vladimir Duma has just recorded the third fastest
time, 1'14 behind Magnus Backstedt (fakta-Pata Chips). Still 40 riders to come
in this stage, including of course all the top GC riders.
15:49 CEST
Two of the favourites for the stage win today, Aitor Gonzalez and Dario Frigo,
have gone through 10 km in 2nd and 4th place respectively, conceding some time
to Backstedt, who did start extremely fast. Let's see what these two can do
at the Intergiro mark (24.2 km).
15:55 CEST
Another favourite for the stage, Serguei Gontchar (De Nardi) has passed 10 km
in third place, 16 seconds behind Backstedt. 105 riders have finished, 33 to
come.
16:00 CEST
Scott Sunderland, who has been entertaining you with his Giro
diary, has finished his ride in 1:00:24, conceding 5'00 to teammate Magnus
Backstedt.
16:03 CEST
At the Intergiro point (km 24.2), Fassa Bortolo's Aitor Gonzalez is the fastest,
shaving four seconds off Backstedt's time. Gonzalez is on track to becoming
the new leader in the stage. Dario Frigo was fifth at the Intergiro, 54"
behind Gonzalez.
16:15 CEST
Gonzalez still hasn't finished his ride yet, but is on track to beat Magnus
Backstedt's time, which is starting to look quite good. There are still 21 riders
to finish, including the top GC riders.
16:19 CEST
Aitor Gonzalez has done it, as expected. The new best time is 54'33, an average
of 46.746 km/h. He knocked 50 seconds off Backstedt's time, which has stood
the test so far.
16:24 CEST
All the riders have started now, and both Yaroslav Popovych and Raimondas Rumsas
have passed through the 10 km point. Popo was 5th fastest, losing 25" to
Backstedt at the same point. Rumsas was 11th, conceding 33 seconds. His teammate
Casagrande was 20th at 47".
16:27 CEST
Stefano Garzelli has gone through 10 km in 11'40, which is fifth fastest. Not
bad. Andrea Noe is 28th at the same point, losing 51" to Backstedt.
16:32 CEST
Simoni has come across the 10 km point in 11'59 (18th place). That means he's
lost 19" to Garzelli so far. He can lose 1'19 before Garzelli takes the
pink.
16:35 CEST
Francesco Casagrande is 32nd at the Intergiro, losing 2'23 to Gonzalez. It looks
like Backstedt will get second in the Intergiro today.
16:39 CEST
Yaroslav Popovych has dropped a few places at the Intergiro, crossing the 24.2
km point in 13th place. Rumsas is 21st here, losing 1'56 to Backstedt and 35"
to Popovych.
16:47 CEST
Andrea Noe is now past the Intergiro, in 32'09 (29th). That means he's lost
nearly a minute to Popovych, who is now a virtual third place on GC.
Simoni has taken time back from Garzelli - he's now 11" in front of him, as Garzelli tackles the climb.
16:51 CEST
Casagrande finishes in 57'27, some three minutes slower than Aitor Gonzalez,
who looks to have this stage won. Casagrande's teammate Rumsas had to have a
bike change, so he is not doing too well today. He crosses in 57'16, only 11"
faster than Casagrande.
Garzelli has lost 2'09 at 32 km to Gonzalez. Simoni has only lost 1'30 at the same point.
16:55 CEST
Yaroslav Popovych is home in 56'09, 6th place on the stage so far. That will
move him up on GC to third.
Simoni is flying down the last hill, with 7 km to go to the finish.
16:58 CEST
Simoni is still rolling along smoothly, and he has put 36" into Garzelli
with 5 km to go. Garzelli's chances of regaining pink have pretty much vanished.
Aitor Gonzalez will certainly win this stage, with Backstedt and Gontchar in second and third.
17:00 CEST
Noe finishes his ride in 57'50, losing 3'17 to Gonzalez and 1'41 to Popovych.
He's definitely out of third place.
Garzelli rides through the streets of Bolzano, where he is cheered on by a huge crowd. He finishes in 56'52, which will give him 13th after Simoni finishes.
17:03 CEST
Here comes Simoni - his compact figure looking very fast as he navigates the
final kilometre. He will gain important time today on Garzelli, who has been
in Simoni's shadow for most of the race.
His finishing time is 56'13 - 7th place at 1'40 from Gonzalez. He has picked up 39" on Garzelli.
Intermediate timing
Finish - 42.5 km 1 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 54.33 2 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team fakta-Pata Chips 0.51 3 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) De Nardi-Colpack 1.22 4 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1.23 5 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 1.30 6 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1.36 7 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 1.40 8 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo 1.41 9 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 10 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.52 Provisional general classification 1 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Team Saeco 66.41.52 2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-SO.DI 1.58 3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 4.05 4 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio 5.16 5 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Lampre 6.11 6 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Lampre 6.47 7 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 6.57 8 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) De Nardi 9.38 Intergiro - 24.2 km 1 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 29.51 2 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team fakta-Pata Chips 0.04 3 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 0.32 4 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) De Nardi-Colpack 0.34 5 Martin Hvastija (Slo) Tenax 0.44 6 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.54 7 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 0.58 8 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 1.04 9 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 1.05 10 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1.06
