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92nd Giro d'Italia - GT
Italy, May 9-31, 2009
Main Page Results & report Stage Details Previous Stage
Stage 21 - Sunday, May 31: Roma (ITT), 15.3 km
Complete live report
Live commentary by Susan Westemeyer
10:20 CEST
It's all over today, with this final time trial taking in the beautiful highlights of Rome. We expect to see Denis Menchov crowned as winner of the Centennial Giro d'Italia this afternoon. Let's just hope the weather doesn't do anything nasty today!
14:57 CEST
All roads lead to Rome, and the Centennial Giro d'Italia finally has found the way to the Italian capital. Today is the crowning stage of the Giro and we expect to see Denis Menchov take the title he has earned over the last three weeks. We close things out with a 14.4 time trial through beautiful Rome, taking in many of the fantastic historic sites – at least we will see them, the riders won't have a an eye to spare for them as they negotiate the many corners and cobblestones.
14:59 CEST
The best time so far belongs to Tom Stamsnijder of Team Rabobank, at 19:28, with fifty riders in.
15:01 CEST
As usual, the riders are going off at one-minute intervals until we get up to the top fifteen. They will head out with three minutes in between.
15:04 CEST
There are three intermediate time checks, at 3.3km, 7.7km and 11.6km. At the first one, the best time is shared by Bartosz Huzarski (ISD) and Addy Engels (QuickStep), 4:27.
15:06 CEST
Maarten Tjallingii of Rabobank has the best time at the second time check, 10:19.
15:07 CEST
And to round things out, Stamsnijder had the best time at the third time check, less than 4 km before the finish line where he is currently the leader. His time at 11.6 km was 15.45.
15:09 CEST
Andrea Masciarelli of Acqua & Sapone takes off from the start house.
15:10 CEST
And he is followed immediately by Edvald Boasson Hagen of Columbia, who has a stage win in the Giro to his credit.
15:12 CEST
Slowest so far today is Thomas Fothen, the younger of Milram's Fothen brothers. He took all of 23:29 to cover the course.
15:13 CEST
Don't we recall hearing about the Seven Hills of Rome? We may be seeing them in the background today but our weary warriors won't be climbing any of them. There are a few bumps near the beginning of the circuit, with the riders going all the way from 20 to 62 metres – hope the sprinters get over those high hills!
15:15 CEST
The weather might play a role here today, although of course we hope it doesn't. The forecast is for a pleasant 24° C/ 75° F, but with a chance of light rain in the afternoon. The course is hard enough, with all those corners and cobblestones, and the rain could only make things worse. We don't want to think of what might happen with the combination of grime, oil and rain on cobblestones, with riders going all out. But we are happy to say that it looks like we just might be spared that precipitation.
15:18 CEST
Boasson Hagen was only second at the first time check, with a time of 4:23, which is four seconds behind Cervelo's Ignatas Konovalovas.
15:20 CEST
Dries Devenyns of Quick Step has set a new best time by one second, at 19:02
15:20 CEST
The first rider to go today at 13:45 was Evgeny Sokolov (Bbox) who came into the stage in 169th, and therefore last place, nearly five hours down on Menchov. He fell into that last place on Stage 12, which just happened to be the 61km time trial, so we guess that this really isn't his discipline. Still, he has held out all three weeks and is at the finish today in Rome, which is a major accomplishment in itself.
15:21 CEST
Konovalovas is really flying today, and looks like he will smash the best time.
15:22 CEST
The Lithuanian comes in at 18:42, which is 20 seconds faster than the previous best.
15:22 CEST
We are sorry to say that the clouds are gaining the upper hand and we may see some rain after all.
15:23 CEST
Bradley Wiggins of Garmin Slipstream is on the course now. He is considered to have good chances here and has put in a fine show at the Giro, having come over the mountains quite well. He is currently in 73rd place, as best of the American squad.
15:24 CEST
Boasson Hagen was second at the second time check, one second behind Konovalovas.
15:25 CEST
Speaking of Garmin, we have been asked to send some very special greetings today: Happy First Birthday to Waylon Zabriskie! Dad sends you all his love and will see you again as soon as he can!
15:26 CEST
Boasson Hagen can now see the Colisseum which is his goal.
15:27 CEST
Team Columbia has a few possibilities for today, too. How about former World Champion and current Australian champ Mick Rogers? Or Italian champ Marco Pinotti, who won last year's closing Giro time trial? And another name that seems to pop up is Edvald Boasson Hagen, who already has one stage win here to his credit.
15:28 CEST
The wind is picking up and it looks like we will have rain soon, unfortunately.
15:29 CEST
No best time and therefore no victory today for Boasson Hagen, who finishes seven seconds down.
15:30 CEST
So who else is the favourite to win the stage today? Levi Leipheimer's name had been bandied around for a long time, but he has looked a little tired lately. How about his teammate, who has won so many big time trials? Is Lance Armstrong finally going to explode onto the scene today?
15:31 CEST
Wiggins has set a new best time at the second time check, three seconds ahead.
15:33 CEST
A few days ago, Astana DS Johan Bruyneel seemed to think his seven-time Tour de France winner might shine here today. "He will show something special at the time trial in Rome. I am convinced of that," he said.
And the first spitty raindrops have been reported....
15:35 CEST
The sprinters ended their festival in Bayern today, with -- guess who? -- Columbia's Andre Greipel taking his third stage win. This time he beat Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) and Gerald Ciolek (Milram).
15:36 CEST
3 km to go for Wiggins!
And third in Bayern was not Ciolek but Koldo Fernandez of Euskaltel.
15:37 CEST
The rain is coming down more now, as Visconti crosses the line in 19:00.
15:38 CEST
The rain has picked up even more, so things will start getting unpleasant.
15:39 CEST
Sprick of Bbox has crashed and looks to have a mechanical. Blame it on the weatherman!
15:40 CEST
NO! Wiggns didn't make it! He finished one second down. Did the rain slow him down?
15:40 CEST
We have a very hard driving rain right now, so that is very much to the disadvantage of the riders underway now and later.
15:42 CEST
Things haven't gone as planned for Team Silence-Lotto, which the Belgian team admits. Silence-Lotto has had not only a difficult first half of the season, but a rather anonymous Giro d'Italia. That all changed on Saturday when Philippe Gilbert salvaged the team's race with a perfectly timed move to take the stage win in Anagni.
Hard to believe, but it was only the team's third victory this season and Gilbert's first.
15:44 CEST
Gilbert put in a time of 19:18 today, currently putting him in seventh place.
15:44 CEST
Rain, rain, go away...... It is coming down hard, the road is wet, the cobbles are wet....
15:46 CEST
We're seeing a lot of very slow times right now. But most of the riders now are domestiques and not time trial specialists, who only want to finsh the race. So why should they take any risks? The season isn't even half over.
15:47 CEST
Jens Voigt is on the road now, and looks to be taking things carefully.
15:47 CEST
Saxo Bank is another of those teams which hasn't particularly stood out in this Giro. Will they do something today? DS Torsten Schmidt said, "I'm sure that both Lars Bak and Jens Voigt want to show what they are made of on the tricky time trial in the streets of Rome - but I am not expecting a stage victory."
15:50 CEST
Voigt's teammate Jason McCartney heads toward the finish line well down, with a time of 21:06.
15:51 CEST
We now have a bit of sun mixed in with our rain. In the US we would say that means the devil is beating his wife, but in Germany, we say the devil is celebrating his wedding!
15:52 CEST
Looks like the sun has won the fight at the moment, we are happy to see shadows again!
15:53 CEST
Voigt has a slight slip on the wet cobblestones, but the old fox recovers quickly.
15:54 CEST
Pinotti takes to the course. Will he be able to win, as expected by many, or will the wet pavement put an end to those plans?
15:56 CEST
What is there to say about Rome that hasn't already been said? Population over 2.7 million, capital of Italy, spans the Tiber River, over two and a half thousand years old. The centre of the Roman Empire, and the home of the Roman Catholic Church.
15:58 CEST
Sebastien Rosseler (Quick Step) won the final stage of Tour of Belgium. Overall leader Lars Boom (Rabobank) put in a strong time trial to take second on the stage and the win in the race.
15:59 CEST
Voigt is definitely taking it easy today.
16:00 CEST
Danilo Di Luca of LPR Brakes did his best to win this race, but it wasn't enough. He is proving to be a gracious loser. "I can only say well done to Menchov," he said. "He was the strongest in the time trial and one of the strongest on the climbs, so he deserves to win the Giro."
16:03 CEST
Michele Scarponi is now underway.
16:06 CEST
The top fifteen take to the course as of 16:18. Lance Armstrong starts at 16:28, Mick Rogers at 16:40, Leipheimer at 16:46, and the top three of Pellizotti (16:55), Di Luca (16l.58) and Menchov (17:01) will finish things off.
16:07 CEST
Voigt approaches the finish line, having had a safe ride, as compared to a fast one. His time of 21:27 make him 101st so far.
16:08 CEST
Here comes the sun, la la la la, and I say, it's alright......
16:10 CEST
2km to go for Pinotti, in the sunshine. He now passes the man who started in front of him.
16:11 CEST
Still one km to go for Pinotti. Looks like he won't repeat his victory from last year.
16:14 CEST
Who is riding what today, you ask? Well, for one, Sylvester Szmyd of Liquigas is on a normal bike. He's not going to come close to a best time today, but why should he? He put in a tremendous amount of work in the mountains for his two captains, so he deserves to take it easy today.
16:15 CEST
Pinotto finished in a time of 19:11, or 29 seconds down, by the way.
16:16 CEST
The Rabobank Russian isn't taking anything for granted. "I can't say I've won until I cross the finish line in Rome," Menchov said. "I don't have three minutes, so I can't relax and go for a stroll. The times are tight, so I'll be going flat out in the time trial."
16:17 CEST
Damiano Cunego takes off. He came into this stage in 18th place, 27:52 down. Definitely not the kind of results he expected.
16:18 CEST
Barloworld's Christopher Froome nears the finish. He gets a good time of 19:42, exactly one minute behind the leader.
16:20 CEST
Jean-Paul Van Poppel of Cervelo is quite proud of his team, and not just fourth-ranked Carlos Sastre. Yesterday morning he told them "this is not an ordinary team. It started as a small team but we cannot hide anymore behind that, especially after the spring classics but also from here.
"It was the first Grand Tour for a lot of the riders and I think we can be really proud of our young riders. Our respected riders like Carlos Sastre pulled the team to a level that was extremely good. We are really happy with the performance of the riders and Carlos as well with two stage wins plus Simon a stage win."
16:20 CEST
20:15 for Evgeny Petrov.
16:22 CEST
Scarponi comes in at 20:29.
16:24 CEST
We are in the top 15 now, going off at three minute intervals.
16:26 CEST
Thomas Rohregger of Milram heads in to the finsh line. The Austrian is riding his first Grand Tour.
16:27 CEST
Who is the next to go out? Armstong, in an aero helmet.
16:28 CEST
Armstrong takes off. Will he try to win the stage?
16:29 CEST
Lövkivst crosses the finish line in just over 19 minutes.
16:30 CEST
Popovych is in third place at the first time check.
16:31 CEST
Lots of people out on the street today, and they are happily cheering on Armstrong, who is powering along.
16:33 CEST
As we get down to the last riders, let's take a look at some of the sights we are passing here on the course.
The Castel San Angelo was built between 135 and 139 as the tomb for the Roman emperor Hadrian. Over the centuries it has been looted and destroyed and rebuilt. It was used as a papal castle and a prison, before being turned over to the state in1901. It now houses a museum. It also features in Dan Brown's book "Angels and Demons", as well as the opera "Tosca".
16:33 CEST
What is Armstrong riding today? He is of course on his TT Bike!
16:34 CEST
No stage win for Armstrong today! He was way down at the first time check.
16:35 CEST
Armstrong crossed the first time check at 3.3km 22 seconds down and in 65th place.
16:36 CEST
Armstrong now heads towards Vatican City as he powers along the cobblestones in the sunshine.
16:37 CEST
Popovych is the next to come towards the Colisseum. He will have a good time.
16:38 CEST
It is a time of 18:53, or fourth place, for Popovych.
16:38 CEST
The Piazza del Popolo is an oval shaped park at the northernmost tip of the time trial route. In modern Italian it means "plaza of the people" but actually takes its name from the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which is in the piazza and in turn got its name from the poplar trees.
16:39 CEST
Armstrong is 45 seconds down at the second time check, putting him in 21st position there.
16:41 CEST
Whoops, lets scratch that Armstrong time. We don't have a confirmation on that.
16:42 CEST
Best young rider Kevin Seeldraeyers is currently 17th at the finish.
16:43 CEST
We have confirmation of 45 seconds down for Armstong, putting him in 40th place.
16:43 CEST
The green-clad Stefano Garzelli takes off. No mountains for him today!
16:45 CEST
2 km to go for Armstrong, and he can expect a very low ranking.
16:46 CEST
Leipheimer is the next to go. He will probably be highly motivated to go all out today.
16:47 CEST
Armstrong nears the finish and has picked up his speed.
16:48 CEST
Armstrong crosses the finish line in a time of 20:01, which currently puts him 42nd place.
16:49 CEST
Ivan Basso is the next on the start ramp.
16:49 CEST
Only 4 riders to go now: Sastre, Pellizotti, Di Luca and Menchov.
16:50 CEST
The course today takes the riders over the Tiber River and back again. The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, at 460 km, but probably the most famous.
16:51 CEST
David Arroyo heads towards the finish, with a time of 19:58.
16:53 CEST
Marzio Bruseghin finishes in 18:58, which now makes him fifth.
16:54 CEST
Thomas Fothen no longer has the slowest time. That dubious honour has gone to Volodymir Gustov of Cervelo with a time of 24:28.
16:55 CEST
Sastre has been underway for three minutes, and now Pellizotti and his blond curls take to the course.
16:56 CEST
Di Luca in his cyclamen jersey is moving into the starting blocks.
16:57 CEST
Our man at the scene Gregor Brown says that the rain is picking up again, which is not good news for the top riders.
16:58 CEST
Di Lucas is on the course now. How much time will he lose today?
16:59 CEST
Why did Bruseghin not do better today? According to Brown, the Lampre rider said "I couldn't go very well over the cobblestones. I'm not used to them, since I never go to church."
17:00 CEST
19:31 is the time for Mick Rogers. Only seven more riders to come in.
17:00 CEST
The riders go by St. Peter's Square, which is actually not in Rome but in Vatican City. The Square is right in front of St. Peter's Basilica, one of the largest churches in the wold and a holy site.
17:01 CEST
Di Luca is up out of the saddle, powering his way along.
Leader Menchov is now on his way.
17:01 CEST
Oh dear, he is wearing his orange aero-helmet and orange shoes with his pink skinsuit. Fashion horror!
17:02 CEST
Di Luca and Menchov are going all out right now -- take no prisoners, give no quarter.
17:02 CEST
Ninth place for Garzelli, not a bad time trial for a mountain man.
17:03 CEST
Di Luca has set a new best time at the first time check! By one second.
17:03 CEST
Well, maybe Di Luca hasn't given up hope entirely. "Anything could happen in the time trial," he said. "The gap is small. It's a special course, very technical, but Menchov has shown he is strong."
17:04 CEST
It is now pouring down rain at the finish line. We hope very much that we don't have any crashes.
17:05 CEST
Leipheimer is coming to the finish -- no stage win for Astana today. He is coming in at 19:35.
17:06 CEST
Menchov five seconds down on Di Luca at the first checkpoint.
Who would have though it?
17:07 CEST
Menchov was not leaving anything to chance, and hoped to ride the time trial course today twice beforehand to check it out.
17:08 CEST
Di Luca is on his road bike, while Menchov is on his time trial bike. Will that make a difference in this weather?
17:09 CEST
Di Luca has lost time at the second time check, coming across 17 seconds down.
Basso crosses the finish line in 19:28.
17:09 CEST
Sastre and Pellizotti are both still underway but the world only has eyes for the man in magenta and the man in pink.
17:10 CEST
Di Luca re-crosses the Tiber river and Menchov approaches the next time check.
17:11 CEST
Menchov has made up a lot of time. He came in at the second time check only three seconds down.
17:12 CEST
Sastre, anybody remember him? He puts in a relatively slow time of 20:08, making him 62nd right now.
17:13 CEST
The second half of the course is less technical and challenging than the first half, so we expect to see Menchov continue to make better time than his Italian rival.
17:14 CEST
Pellizotti heads into the final curves now.
17:14 CEST
Pellizotti ends the stage with a time of 19:21, making him 15th. But he is on the overall podium.
17:15 CEST
Di Luca was 32 seconds down at the third time check.
17:15 CEST
And it is not only raining again, but harder than ever.
17:16 CEST
Di Luca heads into the finish.
17:16 CEST
He goes under the final km banner.
17:18 CEST
Di Luca receives tremendous applause as he crosses the line with a time of 19:27.
17:18 CEST
Menchov may very well set a new best time and win the stage as well as the race!
17:19 CEST
Last KM for Menchov! And he goes down!
17:19 CEST
He quickly gets a new bike and gets back up and going. But how much time did he lose?
17:19 CEST
Di Lucas looks stunned -- what might happen?
17:19 CEST
No stage win is possible now for the Russian. Can he save his GC lead?
17:20 CEST
He does! Menchov takes the title!
17:20 CEST
He crosses the line in 10th place, with a time of 19:06.
17:21 CEST
The usually quiet Russian raises his arms in triumph and shouts out his joy.
17:21 CEST
What drama! What excitement! Much more than we wanted, frankly!
17:23 CEST
That's it folks! The Centennial Giro d'Italia is now one for the history books. The overall title goes to Russian Denis Menchov of Rabobank. Congratulations to him and the rest of the podium and all of the jersey winners. And congratulations to all the riders who started out in Venice and to all of those who made it to the finish line here in Rome.
Thanks for joining us.
Provisional results
1 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Cervelo Test Team 18.42 2 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0.01 3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.07 4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana 0.11 5 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C. 0.16 6 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) ISD 0.18 7 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step 0.20 8 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank 0.21 9 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 0.23 10 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.24 ... 16 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini 0.45 Final General classification 1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 86.03.11 2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini 0.41 3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 1.59 4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 3.46 5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 3.59 6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 5.28 7 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 8.43 8 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad 10.01 9 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale 11.13 10 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C. 11.28
