John Gadret wins 11th stage at Giro d’Italia, as Alberto Contador preserves his lead

CASTELFIDARDO, Italy (VN) – Oh the agony.

While many said that the hilly 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia had “breakaway written all over it,” the heartbreaking ending wasn’t necessarily in the cards for the final survivor of the big break that highlighted the 144-kilometer ride from Tortoreto Lido to Castelfidardo.

Ag2r’s John Gadret emerged the winner of the day, but only after Daniel Moreno (Katusha), the last survivor of an 11-man break was caught less than 300 meters from the line.

Meanwhile, even though he had suggested that he might be willing to let go of the leader’s jersey for a few days, Saxo Bank’s Alberto Contador stayed secure in the main field, preserving his lead, despite a potential threat from Garmin-Cervélo’s Christophe Le Mevel.

Short and hilly

The ride from Tortoreto Lido to Castelfidardo, along the northern Adriatic coast, was a hilly affair, much hillier than the four rated category 4 climbs might suggest. Indeed, at least twice that number would warrant categorization on any other stage and although short, stage 11 also featured an unending series of short rollers from start to finish.
With little to no flat terrain in the stage, there were only four rated climbs highlighted on the profile:

• The Category 4 Monte-Ripaberarda a 13.7km ascent that topped out at 48,9km, averaging 3 percent, but reaching 12 percent at points.
• The Cat. 4 Monte Vidon Combatte, a 2.6km climb at 73k, averaging 8.6 percent with a maximum grade of 13 percent;
• The Cat. 4 Rapagnano, 5.1km, at 91k, averaging 8 percent, with a maximum of 10 percent.
• The Cat. 4: Morrovalle, a 4.2km climb, at 115.9km, averaging 4 percent, with a maximum of 12 percent.

As many had observed, the day was not one that favored the sprinters in the peloton, but a stage that offered opportunities to those willing to gamble on an escape. That, however, didn’t mean that any group would simply slide off the front at kilometer zero.

With the prospect of a stage win, the attacks came quickly, an attentive peloton ensured that no escapee would get too much distance on the field. It wasn’t until the race reached 60km that the day’s break would develop and, interestingly, among the 11 that eventually moved ahead was Le Mevel who has spent the past few days quietly sitting among the top GC riders of the Giro. Le Mevel began the day in third, just 1:19 out of first.

Joining Le Mevel in the break were Carlos Betancourt and Fabio Taborre (Acqua & Sapone), Simoni Stortoni (Colnago), Daniel Moreno (Katusha), Marco Marzano (Lampre), Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas), Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar), Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank), Tiago Machado (RadioShack) and Lars Nordhaug (Sky).

Le Mevel’s presence immediately put Contador’s comment, that he might be willing to cede the jersey for a few days, to the test. Indeed, while the peloton kept the escapees within about two minutes, it wasn’t Contador’s Saxo Bank team doing the bulk of the work. The Saxo Bank team did put riders up front, but the chase effort appeared to be more of a holding action and didn’t do much to dent the break’s advantage. With 45k remaining, Astana, without a representative in the break, moved to the front and set about to chip away at the escapees’ lead.

As the chase picked up and the gap narrowed, Moreno attacked out of the break, stepping up the pace on an unrated climb about 25km from the finish. Agnoli jumped on his wheel but faded before the summit and the Katusha rider crested the climb on his own. Colnago’s Stortoni took up the chase.

With 15km to go, Moreno still remained alone at the front, but the gaps were relatively small: 20 seconds to the break and 1:20 to the peloton. Le Mevel took command of the chase as Stortoni was pulled back and the attacks out of the chase group began in earnest. As Le Mevel showed signs of tiring, Konovalovas launched a strong attack and none were able to respond.

Konovalovas reached Moreno’s back wheel with 9.6km to go and immediately attacked again. It took a big effort on Moreno’s part, but he rejoined the Movistar youngster and the two leaders reached a temporary truce in an effort to stay ahead of the rest of the original break.

300 meters too long?

Behind, attack and counter-attack broke up the group and ensured that a concerted chase wouldn’t get organized. With three kilometers remaining, the two leaders had an advantage of 40 seconds, with the peloton closing in on the group quickly.

With 2.5km remaining, the peloton, under the power of the Lampre team, pulled in all of the day’s escapees, with the exception of the two men off the front. With 2km to go, the two leaders’ advantage was down to 34 seconds. With 1km to go, the gap had been cut to 12.

Glancing over his shoulder with 700 meters to go, Moreno could see the peloton charging up fast … he attacked again, but the uphill effort took its toll. As the peloton closed in, Gadret attacked out of the field, charged ahead and pulled Moreno in with 300 meters to go. The exhausted Spaniard was soon swarmed by the peloton, but Gadret held on with a wide enough margin to give him the opportunity to celebrate the win with arms held high.

Behind him Joaquin Rodriguez charged out of the field for second and Giovanni Visconti holding on for third. Contador stayed close to most of his chief rivals on the hilly finish, coming across the line in fifth, just behind the Colombian climber Jose Serpa. He maintains a 59-second lead over HTC-Highroad’s Kanstantsin Sivtsov while Liquigas’ Vincenzo Nibali has moved up to third. Le Mevel paid for his earlier efforts as he lost nine seconds and dropped to fourth.

Race Note

The stage started with a minute’s silence dedicated to Leopard-Trek’s Wouter Weylandt who died after a crash on the Bocco mountain pass on stage 3, May 9. His team pulled out following a memorial stage on May 10 and Weylandt’s funeral was held on Wednesday in his home town of Ghent.

Gadret said he felt compelled to dedicate the stage win to the young Belgian.

“I want to dedicate this victory to Weylandt. I was thinking all day about his funeral,” said Gadret. “Even though I’m not Belgian I wanted to win for him. Cycling is a big family, since he died I haven’t stopped thinking about his fall. I wanted to do something to pay hommage to him and I’m happy.”

Quick Results

• 1. John Gadret (FRA), Ag2r La Mondiale , 3:33:11
• 2. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (ESP), Team Katusha , s.t.
• 3. Giovanni Visconti (ITA), Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli, s.t.
• 4. Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (COL), Androni Giocattoli, s.t.
• 5. Alberto Contador Velasco (ESP), SaxoBank-Sungard, s.t.

GC

• 1. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain), SaxoBank-Sungard , 40:37:51
• 2. Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Belarus), HTC-Highroad, at 0:59
• 3. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Liquigas-Doimo, at 1:21
• 4. Christophe Le Mevel (France), Garmin-Cervelo, at 1:28
• 5. Michele Scarponi (Italy), Lampre-ISD, at 1:28

Complete Results

FILED UNDER: Giro d'Italia / News / Race Report / Road TAGS: Giro d'Italia