Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) left no doubts today about who the strongest climber is in this year’s Giro d’Italia. The 2006 winner rode away from the overall contenders during the race’s nineteenth stage to once again wear the coveted maglia rosa of race leader. Basso took advantage of the fast pace set by his strong Liquigas-Doimo team, and once Vincenzo Nibali softened the favorites on the feared climb of the Mortirolo, he took over the reins from his young teammate to finish them off.
Basso’s win on the Monte Zoncolan last Sunday painted a picture of how the rest of the mountain stages might play out, with nobody in the race able to match his pace up the difficult climb. Evans fought back on the time trial up the Plan de Corones, but without a team to help him in the critical mountain stages to come, he knew he would be at significant disadvantage.
Caisse d’Epargne’s David Arroyo started the day in pink, but despite an incredible ride now finds himself with a 51 second deficit to Basso. Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) fought hard to pull himself into contention, but finished in Aprica in a group containing Evans, Carlos Sastre (Cervelo TestTeam) and Arroyo. Saxo Bank’s Richie Porte also put in a great performance and was able to maintain his lead in the Best Young Rider competition.
While Evans, Sastre and Vinokourov are all seemingly too far back to take the overall victory in Verona, Basso must first get through tomorrow’s menu of climbs before any of them will concede defeat. Tomorrow’s stage includes five mountains that total more than 16,000 vertical feet of climbing, which leaves plenty of opportunity for a surprise ending. The penultimate climb of the day is the massive 24.9 kilometer Passo di Gavia, which has an average gradient of 5.6 percent. Then the riders will descend to the base of the Passo del Tonale, which is 11 kilometers in length and averages 5.7 percent.
Evans or Vinokourov will need to pull themselves within 45 seconds of Basso tomorrow in order to have a chance to take the maglia rosa off his shoulders in the final time trial. Nibali has also proven he’s strong, so even if Basso were to have a bad day, his teammate is well-positioned to keep the overall victory on the Italian team.