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87th Giro d'Italia - Grand Tour
Italy, May 8-30, 2004
Map Stages Stage profile Start List Results Latest live report
Stage 12 - May 21: Cesena - Treviso, 210 Km
Commentary by Jeff Jones, with additional reporting from Tim Maloney
Complete live report
Live coverage starts: 14:30 CEST
Estimated finish time: 17:15 CEST
14:18 CEST
Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of Stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia. After
yesterday's longest stage of 228 km, today is another long one: 210 km between
Cesena and Treviso. In contrast to yesterday, today's stage is dead flat, with
the highest point being only 25m above sea level! The weather is perfect too
- sunny and around 25 degrees with no wind. You couldn't ask for a better day
for a ride!
On paper, it looks like another bunch sprint today, especially as the sprinters
can take a bit of a rest in tomorrow's time trial. So look out for Petacchi,
McEwen, Zanotti and Rodriguez again.
The Intergiro point is after 181 km today - quite late in the stage.
14:33 CEST 110km/100km to go
Massimo Iannetti (Domina Vacanze) didn't start today after fracturing his collarbone
in yesterday's 11th stage. 152 riders signed on in Cesena this morning.
The racing started almost immediately, with attacks going from the gun until
three riders escaped at the 14 km mark: Leonardo Scarselli (Colombia-Selle Italia),
Gert Steegmans (Lotto-Domo) and Radoslav Rogina (Tenax). After covering 43.2
km in the first hour, the trio quickly gained an advantage of four minutes.
After 50 km, it was 5'05 but with Fassa Bortolo controlling the peloton, the
gap has hovered between four and five minutes since then.
They're now at km 110 - still 100 km to race. The average speed after two hours
was 43.3 km/h.
14:47 CEST 117km/93km to go
Lotto Domo and Fassa Bortolo are marshalling the peloton, riding a controlling
tempo behind the three man break. The last time check was 3'58 at the 110 km
mark.
14:51 CEST
What sort of bike has carried Alessandro Petacchi to five stage wins (so far)
in this year's Giro. You can take a look for yourself at Petacchi's Pinarello
Dogma in our latest edition of Tech
news.
15:00 CEST 124km/86km to go
The main bunch passes through the feed zone at Adria, still rolling along at
a nice tempo. In another 60 km, the stage will pass by Venice, but will not
pay a visit to this famous Italian city.
15:06 CEST 129km/81km to go
There is a moderate tailwind blowing the riders up the eastern coast of Italy,
and when they make the turn past Padua towards Treviso it will be directly behind
them. Not surprisingly, the average after 3 hours is 43.35 km/h. Not quite the
same as yesterday's tempo of 48 km/h, but still quick enough. The sun is out
and the temperature is climbing up above the 25 degree mark.
15:16 CEST 137km/73km to go
It's now Fassa Bortolo doing all the work to chase Scarselli, Steegmans and
Rogina who have been away since kilometre 14. The biggest lead they got was
5'05 and it's now 3'50 with less than 75 km to go to the finish.
15:21 CEST 140km/70km to go
We're not going to see the Saeco team doing a lot of work in front today, as
none of the three leaders present the remotest of threats to the maglia rosa.
Leonardo Scarselli is the best placed on GC in 57th at 32.16 down. He's not
going to get that back today.
15:29 CEST 146km/64km to go
The gap between Scarselli, Steegmans and Rogina has fallen to 3'30 as they approach
the 60 km to go mark. The Intergiro is still a good 35 km away.
15:39 CEST 152km/58km to go
Most of the riders are using today's long flat stage to relax a bit before tomorrow's
TT. Thus they're happy to let Fassa Bortolo to do the work and bring it back
for a bunch sprint. Lotto-Domo and Saeco are the next two teams in line behind
Fassa.
The gap to the three leaders is 2'55 now.
15:46 CEST 159km/51km to go
There are just over 50 km to go in this 12th stage, and we still have three
leaders: Geert Steegmans, Radoslav Rogina and Leonardo Scarselli. The time gap
is 2'58, and should start to come down a bit more now.
15:52 CEST 163km/47km to go
Dario Cioni is doing his turn on the front of the Fassa Bortolo train, despite
the fact that he is the best placed rider on GC. Fassa Bortolo is all for Petacchi
in this Giro.
The gap is now down to 2'10.
15:55 CEST
Steve Zampieri (Vini Caldirola) is getting attention for a bleeding nose it
looks like. He is ok though.
15:59 CEST 167km/43km to go
Rogina, Steegmans and Scarselli now have 1'40 to the Fassa train with 43 km
to go.
16:05 CEST 171km/39km to go
We now have just two Fassa Bortolo riders in front of the bunch, doing enough
to slowly reduce the gap to the three leaders.
16:07 CEST 175km/35km to go
The leading trio have 35 km left in this 210 km journey between Cesena and Treviso.
The bunch passes through led by two Saeco riders at a distance of 1'27
16:15 CEST 180km/30km to go
The leaders are now at the Intergiro point with just 1'00 seconds lead on the
flying peloton. Steegmans takes a flyer and survives for a bit longer.
16:17 CEST
Steegmans leads Scarselli and Rogina by three seconds with the peloton at 48
seconds, but moving very fast...
16:21 CEST 185km/25km to go
Steegmans is riding away from Scarselli and Rogina and is now 10 seconds clear.
The peloton is at 56 seconds, led by most of Fassa Bortolo and a couple of Saeccos.
Australian champion Matt Wilson is also up the front with three FDJeux.com teammates
looking after Brad McGee.
16:23 CEST 190km/20km to go
Fornaciari is now leading the peloton, clawing the gap back to 48 seconds.
Intergiro results: Rogina, Scarselli and Steegmans, who attacked just after
the Intergiro mark. Robert Forster, Aart Vierhouten, Crescenzo D'Amore and Marlon
Perez Arango took fourth to seventh places.
16:25 CEST 190km/20km to go
Steegmans has 35 seconds lead on the entire peloton, which has caught Scarselli
and Rogina now. The Lotto man has 20 km to go.
16:27 CEST 191km/19km to go
Philippe Gilbert (FDJ) is sitting next to PEtacchi behind the parallel trains
of Fassa Bortolo and FDJeux.com. FDJ is working to protect McGee, who has a
chance to take the maglia rosa back in tomorrow's TT. He'll need a very good
ride to haul back 1'49 on Cunego, but anything's possible. McGee has been very
active in this Giro, winning a stage and finishing second twice, not to mention
a few good attacks.
16:29 CEST 194km/16km to go
Steegmans has had a pretty good ride today, spending 175 km in front of the
race. The 23 year old is now passing through thousands of fans with just over
15 km to go. He only has a 10 second lead though.
16:31 CEST 195km/15km to go
After around 180 km in front, Steegmans is caught at last and Fassa Bortolo
puts all its men on the front. Now it's going to be the usual fight for Petacchi's
wheel.
16:33 CEST 196km/14km to go
It looks like the entire Fassa Bortolo team is at the front with Petacchi in
9th wheel, but there's a bit of a challenge from Tenax on the right hand side.
McEwen is in about 20th wheel, near Petacchi as normal. 14 km to go now.
16:36 CEST 197km/13km to go
The race has just passed through Zero Branco on the outskirts of Treviso. Various
trains are manoevering behind and next to Fassa Bortolo, trying to put their
sprinters in the right spot. Alessio and Acqua e Sapone are also up there.
We're now at Quinto di Treviso.
16:38 CEST 200km/10km to go
Codol and Gustov drive the Fassa train along with all of their teammates in
place. They have 10 km to go before the finish, which will surely be a bunch
sprint. No team has yet been able to launch a train to match Fassa Bortolo.
16:40 CEST 202km/8km to go
The speed is now up around 60 km/h with 8 km to go as Alessio continues to ride
next to Fassa Bortolo. Another Alessio (Galletti) from Domina Vacanze takes
a turn from the Fassa Bortolos.
16:42 CEST 203km/7km to go
The peloton is in full flight in preparation for the sprint in Treviso. Nauduzs
(Domina) is well placed now, as are Furlan and Backstedt. But Petacchi is sitting
comfortably behind his train. Furlan now has Petacchi's wheel. McEwen is a little
bit behind.
16:43 CEST 205km/5km to go
A suicide attack - Domenico Gualdi (Formaggi) goes with just over 5km left and
gets a nice gap. But this will be difficult.
16:44 CEST 206km/4km to go
Gualdi has his head down as he hammers along at 55 km/h in the last 5 km. Behind
him, the peloton gets organised again and swallows him with 4 km to go.
16:44 CEST 207km/3km to go
Anotehr Formaggi rider leads the peloton with the Fassa train in tow. Nauduzs
and Petacchi (wearing similar purple jerseys) are in 7th and 8th wheels. Backstedt
does a big turn in front.
16:45 CEST
Backstedt pulls off with four Fassas on his wheel, including Petacchi, with
3 km to go. Then Domina and Acqua e Sapone try to swamp the Fassas. Scirea is
leading.
16:46 CEST
Lombardi is just in front of Petacchi in fourth wheel with 2.5 km to go. Not
too many corners - just a loooong straight.
16:46 CEST 208km/2km to go
McEwen and Pollack fight for Petacchi's wheel, as does Zanotti. Petacchi in
fourth wheel with 2km to go. Usov moves up alongside.
16:47 CEST 209km/1km to go
Three Fassas lead out with 1.5 km to go with Petacchi in fourth. Now third as
one pulls off. McEwen is on Petacchi's wheel with 1km togo.
16:49 CEST 210km/0km to go
Ongarato leads, then Velo and Petacchi. Usov moves up next to Petacchi as Velo
leads out. But McGee surprises them and goes early as Ongarato pulls off - but
he is taken by Furlan, who has Petacchi right on his wheel. Zanotti crashes....
McEwen goes hard but can't get around Petacchi, who takes his SIXTH stage win
of this year's Giro. That was a little messy in the last 500m but Petacchi held
his own yet again.
Zanotti is being helped up.
The GC remains similar, but it appears that there was a break in the peloton
and Simoni lost six seconds. So Cunego now leads by 16 seconds with Pellizotti
third at 34 seconds.
Results
Provisional 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4.48.12 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 3 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 4 Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Tenax 5 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7 Crescenzo d'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 8 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Chocolade Jacques Wincor-Nixdorf 9 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) Domina Vacanze 10 Simone Cadamuro (Ita) De Nardi General classification after stage 12 1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Saeco 55.31.41 2 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 0.16 3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 0.34 4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.40 5 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Margres 0.58 6 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie 1.15 7 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1.19 8 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 1.23 9 Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) De Nardi 10 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria-Margres 1.25
