When Alberto Contador is on form, he is the best Grand Tour rider. He showed in Stage Nine that he is in very good form indeed.
Contador’s rivals, Lampre’s Michele Scarponi and Liquigas’s Vincenzo Nibali, had nothing for the flying Saxo Bank rider. Nibali didn’t even react when Contador attacked, 6.7 km from the end. Scarponi tried to stay on the Spaniard’s wheel, but cracked and fell off in a kilometer or so.
Only José Rujano of Androni Giaocattoli could match Contador’s pace even briefly; the young Venezuelan stuck bravely through two attacks, but when Contador decided, 1.8 km from the end, that it was time to drop Rujano, Contador simply rode away.
When Contador is on form he can climb seemingly without effort. While the best climbers in the world labored after him, Contador stood lightly on the pedals, spinning with ease as the though the climb had just started.
Contador started the stage fifth in GC, 13 seconds behind, thanks to his late attack in Stage Eight. He now leads the field by 59 seconds, and is 1:20 ahead of Vincenzo Nibali, 1:28 ahead of Michele Scarponi.
Contador has thrown down the gauntlet. One question now is can, or will, Saxo Bank defend the pink jersey for the next 12 stages? Another question is, who can match the flying Spaniard when he is on his game?
Many mountaintop finishes remain, and the final stage is an individual time trial, where Alberto Contador would usually do well. Any rider who wants to stand on top of the podium at the end of the Giro needs to beat Contador decisively on the terrain which suits the Saxo Bank rider best.
Break Can’t Stay Away, Contador Can
Stage Nine started with several breakaway attempts before nine riders finally succeeded, sixty kilometers into the stage. Yaroslav Popovych (Radioshack,) Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini,) Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto,) Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas,) Lastras Garcia (Movistar,) Filippo Savini (Colnago-CSF,) Mathias Frank (BMC,) and Mikael Cherel (AG2R) opened a gap of five minutes
The first Cat 1 climb of the day, up the north face of Mount Etna, offered no difficulties, and the break maintained a gap of four minutes through the descent and into the final climb, up the other side of Etna. The pace was not particularly high; it seemed as if the favorites might be content to rest through the stage, saving their energies for the difficult stages to come.
Race leader Pieter Weening cracked 10 kilometers from the top, leaving the pink jersey up for grabs, but none of the top teams seemed to want that responsibility this early in the Giro.
The break started to disintegrate as Mathias Frank and then Jan Bakelants attacked. Bakelants opened a small gap halfway up the climb, as the peloton came with two minutes of catching the attackers. José Rujano made a move as stragglers from the break started to fall back to the peloton, but no one paid attention to the young Androni rider.
The race seemed down to whether one of the attackers could survive, and it didn’t seem likely. None of the GC contenders made a move, or seemed ready to. With seven kilometers to go, Bakelants’ lead was fifty seconds, and the peloton seemed content to let him wear himself out.
Suddenly, with 6.7 km to go, Contador attacked. When Michele Scarponi tired to follow, Contador kept accelerating. Scarponi couldn’t stay with him, but José Rujano latched on to Contador’s wheel when he went by.
Rujano didn’t take a turn setting the pace, but just to match Contador on a climb showed that the young Venezuelan has talent. Rujano managed to stick with Contador for five kilometers before the Spanish champion decided to shake him off, which he promptly and easily did.
Vincenzo Nibali launched a late attack, trying to gain ground in the final kilometer, but he was unable to sustain it. Though not steep, the long climb, and the heat coming off of Etna (the volcano had erupted a few days before and was still spewing ash) might have tired some riders, or perhaps none of them found it worthwhile to challenge this early in the Giro.
In any case, Alberto Contador has dispelled any rumors that he might not be in top shape for the Giro. Every other team will need to plan how to cope with this cycling force.
Stage Ten
Monday is a rest day. Tuesday’s Stage Ten is short (159 km) and fairly flat, with the final 25 kilometers rising—the sprinters won’t like that. Neither would any breakaway riders.
Still Lampre mistimed its charge in Stage Seven, letting Weening win. The peloton could misjudge the effects of the slope and the energy some riders might have after a rest; a breakaway, sufficiently large and determined, might survive, so long as it didn’t contain any GC threats.
Stage Eleven is all hills, with four Cat 4 climbs and anther climbing finish. None of the top GC riders will want to exhaust themselves Tuesday before Wednesday’s stage, adding the chance that a breakaway might survive; the sprinters’ teams might not be that interested.
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