Tirreno-Adriatico: Nibali climbs to stage five win

Horner maintains overall lead, Kreuziger inches closer

After being frustrated by yesterday’s finish when team-mate Peter Sagan swept around him into Chieti with Roman Kreuziger attached, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) came good one day later, with a victory on the summit finish of Prati di Tivo in stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Italian star attacked an elite group of favourites with four kilometers to race, and hit out with such speed that no one initially tried to match it. Seeming content to watch each other, race leader Chris Horner (Radioshack-Nissan) and Roman Kreuziger (Astana) let Nibali go, and he had soon achieved a 25-second gap over the group.

With a 34-second deficit heading into the stage, Nibali was looking at the possibility of pulling on the leader’s jersey, given the 10-second bonus he would accrue at the finish, and depending on Horner’s finishing place as well.

But accelerations by Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox), as well as determined riding by Horner and Kreuziger in the final two kilometers had brought Nibali back to within 16 seconds by the time they crossed the line.

Nibali celebrates a second win in a row for his Liquigas-Cannondale team, but is still faced with a 12-second deficit to Horner. Kreuziger remains in second, but picks up two seconds with his time bonus, and sits five seconds behind the American.

“I wanted to blow up everything, even to answer the charges of yesterday,” Nibali said at the finish. “I anticipated a good time [to attack] and I went without hesitation. I still believe I can win Tirreno and I’ll try to gain time, even in tomorrow’s stage.”

The cool, sunny day began with riders facing 198 kilometers from Martinsicuro to the summit finish of Prati di Tivo. Fifteen kilometers in, a group of three escaped off the front. Kristof Goddaert (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Belisol) would build a maximum lead of 10 minutes, 25 seconds before the serious climbing hit.

The stage’s penultimate climb, and the first big ascent of two on a rolling day, saw the detachment of Goddaert. The Piano de Roseto was never overly steep, but the 20-kilometer climb sent the gap between the break and the peloton tumbling down, and it was three and a half minutes as the bunch began the long descent toward the base of the Prati di Tivo.

Under the impetus of Liquigas-Cannondale and Astana, the gap to Martinez and Debusschere continued to close. Sagan was coming through on his promise to the media yesterday to work for Nibali, and he took several turns at the front in his red points jersey. Kreuziger also had several workers at his disposal. The first to be used was Enrico Gasparotto, and he led the shrunken peloton toward the final climb as Martinez and Debusschere shared the work up front.

The gap was 90 seconds with 14 kilometers to race, and as the leading duo hit the lower slopes of the Prati di Tivo, the superior climbing Martinez quickly left his Belgian counterpart behind. Though the Basque rider climbed smoothly, the bunch was quickly closing behind.

The big guns battle it out:

With 11 kilometers left, and before the climb became too difficult, Martinez had just 11 seconds. Omega Pharma-Quick Step put a rider on the front and it became ‘gruppo compacto,’ with team boss Peter Velits looking sharp amongst the leaders.

The pace slowed a bit with around 15 men in the leading group, and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) kicked off a series of accelerations off the front. His probing move was short lived, but it sprung Paolo Tiralongo, another Astana lieutenant, who initially covered the move, but then moved into the lead alone as Rodriguez dropped back.

With seven kilometers to go, most of the team leaders were present and accounted for except for one. Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) had slipped back long ago, and would eventually cross the line more than 10 minutes in arrears.

Jose Herrada (Movistar) played his card in an effort to catch Tiralongo, and Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) gave chase. Gianluca Brambilla (Colnago-CSF Inox) also attached with Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2R-La Mondiale), but as Gusev moved forward alone, only Nocentini could go with him.

With six to go, the pace in the bunch began to increase, shelling several riders from the group, including Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone). Nocentini had moved ahead alone and had nearly caught Tiralongo, but an acceleration by Horner brought everything back together into an elite group of ten, including Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), Pozzovivo, and Christophe Riblon (Ag2R-La Mondiale).

Tiralongo went to the front in service of Kreuziger as Hoogerland reattached to the group.

Perhaps sensing a stalling out in the bunch, Nibali picked the proper time to attack, and not a single rider in the bunch made an immediate attempt to chase. Indeed Nibali quickly built a 15-second buffer as Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Riblon rejoined the bunch, which was being led by a hesitant Horner and Kreuziger.

The invaluable Tiralongo buried himself yet again, this time pulling the group in pursuit of Nibali, but the gap had reached 21 seconds with two kilometers to race before the exhausted Italian was forced to drop back. Hoogerland attacked and this time Horner was quick to cover, and with a later move by Pozzovivo, the gap to Nibali started moving back into the favour of the chasing group.

Under one kilometer to go, Horner and Kreuziger were working together and driving hard for the line. Nibali worked past the line before celebrating his triumph, but his pursuers had chopped ten seconds off his winning margin. Horner had saved his leaders jersey with Kreuziger maintaining second.

Tomorrow’s stage goes 181 kilometers to Offida before a final decisive 9.3-kilometer time trial on Tuesday.

1, Chris Horner (RadioShack – Nissan) 24:48:39
2, Roman Kreuziger (Astana Pro Team) 00:05
3, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas – Cannondale) 00:12
4, Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 00:45
5, Michele Scarponi (Lampre – ISD) 00:47
6, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 00:48
7, Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Katusha Team) 01:00
8, Christophe Riblon (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 01:10
9, Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 01:17
10, Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 01:23
11, Wout Poels (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 01:24
12, Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone) 01:25
13, Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team)
14, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha Team) 01:41
15, Peter Velits (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 02:03
16, Jon Izagirre Insausti (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 02:26
17, Daniel Moreno Fernandéz (Katusha Team) 02:29
18, Francesco Failli (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 02:32
19, Jose Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team) 03:18
20, Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank Cycling Team) 03:43
21, Matteo Montaguti (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 03:49
22, Gianluca Brambilla (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 04:15
23, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Colombia – Coldeportes) 05:58
24, Nicki Sørensen (Team Saxo Bank) 06:18
25, Benat Intxausti (Movistar Team) 06:20
26, Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 07:29
27, Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana Pro Team) 08:16
28, Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 08:46
29, Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas – Cannondale) 09:07
30, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto – Belisol Team) 09:15
31, Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar Team) 09:54
32, Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) 10:04
33, Jérome Pineau (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 10:17
34, Massimo Codol (Acqua & Sapone) 10:52
35, Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Movistar Team) 11:09
36, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) 11:17
37, Branislau Samoilau (Movistar Team) 11:57
38, Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team) 12:04
39, Serge Pauwels (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 12:05
40, Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank Cycling Team) 12:11
41, Johan Vansummeren (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 12:28
42, Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 12:29
43, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre – ISD) 12:46
44, Ian Stannard (Sky Procycling) 13:10
45, George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team) 13:45
46, Steve Houanard (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 14:05
47, Joan Horrach Rippoll (Katusha Team) 14:13
48, Carlos Alberto Betancurt Gomez (Acqua & Sapone) 14:19
49, Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 14:50
50, Mathew Hayman (Sky Procycling) 14:58
51, Bram Tankink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 15:09
52, Arthur Vichot (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 15:24
53, Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 15:53
54, Bruno Manuel Silva Pires (Team Saxo Bank) 16:21
55, Peter Sagan (Liquigas – Cannondale) 17:05
56, Filippo Savini (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 17:34
57, Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 17:49
58, Luca Ascani (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 18:23
59, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) 18:24
60, Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (Movistar Team) 18:42
61, Thibaut Pinot (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 18:55
62, Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank Cycling Team) 19:15
63, Kristjan Koren (Liquigas – Cannondale) 20:02
64, Kristof Goddaert (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 20:20
65, Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 20:36
66, Enrico Gasparotto (Astana Pro Team) 21:04
67, Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto – Belisol Team) 21:08
68, Frederik Willems (Lotto – Belisol Team) 21:09
69, Dominique Rollin (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 22:11
70, Gregory Rast (RadioShack – Nissan) 22:15
71, Simone Stortoni (Lampre – ISD) 22:18
72, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack – Nissan) 22:24
73, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team) 22:30
74, Matteo Tosatto (Team Saxo Bank) 22:59
75, Fabio Taborre (Acqua & Sapone) 23:00
76, Daniel Oss (Liquigas – Cannondale) 23:27
77, Enrico Battaglin (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 23:41
78, Paul Martens (Rabobank Cycling Team) 23:54
79, Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 23:57
80, Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar Team) 24:04
81, Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team) 24:48
82, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team) 25:15
83, Oscar Gatto (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 25:33
84, Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) 26:04
85, Hayden Roulston (RadioShack – Nissan) 26:09
86, Sebastian Langeveld (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 26:17
87, Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) 26:19
88, David Millar (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 26:38
89, Rafal Majka (Team Saxo Bank) 26:42
90, Johan Esteban Cháves Rubio (Colombia – Coldeportes) 26:43
91, Mads Christensen (Team Saxo Bank) 26:48
92, Luca Paolini (Katusha Team) 26:57
93, Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 27:04
94, Luca Mazzanti (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia)
95, Federico Canuti (Liquigas – Cannondale) 27:06
96, Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas – Cannondale) 27:12
97, Arnaud Gerard (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 27:29
98, Michael Schar (BMC Racing Team) 27:46
99, Mikel Landa Meana (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 27:51
100, Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack – Nissan) 27:52
101, David Tanner (Team Saxo Bank) 27:54
102, Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Colombia – Coldeportes) 28:01
103, Lars Boom (Rabobank Cycling Team) 28:11
104, Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Team Saxo Bank) 28:27
105, Matti Breschel (Rabobank Cycling Team) 28:28
106, Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 28:36
107, Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 28:43
108, Fabian Wegmann (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 29:06
109, Adriano Malori (Lampre – ISD) 29:13
110, Benoit Vaugrenard (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 29:18
111, Angelo Pagani (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 29:52
112, Oscar Gomez Freire (Katusha Team) 30:02
113, Lloyd Mondory (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 30:58
114, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) 31:35
115, Gert Dockx (Lotto – Belisol Team) 31:53
116, Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 31:56
117, William Bonnet (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 32:31
118, Stuart O’ Grady (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 32:33
119, Tony Gallopin (RadioShack – Nissan) 32:45
120, Sébastien Hinault (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 33:06
121, Vladimir Miholjevic (Acqua & Sapone) 33:17
122, Borut Bozic (Astana Pro Team) 34:56
123, Manuele Boaro (Team Saxo Bank) 35:17
124, Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team) 35:54
125, Francesco Ginanni (Acqua & Sapone) 36:35
126, Andrew Talansky (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 36:39
127, Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 37:25
128, Sacha Modolo (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 37:37
129, Manuel Belletti (Ag2R – La Mondiale) 38:03
130, Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia – Coldeportes) 38:07
131, Danilo Hondo (Lampre – ISD) 38:09
132, Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel – Euskadi) 38:48
133, Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas – Cannondale) 39:10
134, Robert Hunter (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 39:47
135, Daniele Bennati (RadioShack – Nissan)
136, Jens Debusschere (Lotto – Belisol Team)
137, Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 40:18
138, Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Colombia – Coldeportes) 40:33
139, Victor Hugo Pena (Colombia – Coldeportes) 40:57
140, Matthew Goss (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 41:14
141, Diego Caccia (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 41:17
142, John Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Colombia – Coldeportes) 41:21
143, Gabriel Rasch (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 41:24
144, Alessandro Spezialetti (Lampre – ISD) 44:12
145, Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 44:41
146, Anthony Roux (Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat) 45:08
147, Kevin Hulsmans (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) 45:10
148, Davide Vigano (Lampre – ISD) 45:11
149, Bernhard Eisel (Sky Procycling) 45:25
150, Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 45:53
151, Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing Team) 46:10
152, Vicente Reynes Mimo (Lotto – Belisol Team) 47:05
153, Tyler Farrar (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 48:11
154, Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) 48:12
155, Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) 48:22
156, Danilo Napolitano (Acqua & Sapone) 48:31
157, Tomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 48:33
158, Andre Greipel (Lotto – Belisol Team) 48:55
159, Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack – Nissan) 49:02
160, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto – Belisol Team) 49:04
161, Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team) 49:21
162, Jeremy Hunt (Sky Procycling) 51:38
163, Christopher Sutton (Sky Procycling) 51:58
164, Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 53:54
165, Marco Coledan (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 54:13
166, Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Colombia – Coldeportes) 55:55
167, Jens Mouris (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 58:04
168, Svein Tuft (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 59:08
169, Alex Rasmussen (Team Garmin – Barracuda) 59:48
170, Baden Cooke (GreenEdge Cycling Team) 1:00:00