With a brilliant bit of riding which caught the entire peloton off guard, Vacansoleil’s Thomas De Gendt won Stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia, and very nearly won the leader’s jersey, setting up a tight battle for the overall victory in Sunday’s Stage 21 time trialThe 25-year-old Belgian rider attacked just short of the crest of the Mortirolo climb, opened a five-minute gap on the descent and the gradual slopes up to the final climb of the day, and pushed on alone up the Passo della Stelvio, elevating himself from eighth to fourth in the General Classification and giving himself a great shot at winning overall in the individual time trial.
“I’m very happy to win on a legendary mountain climb like the Passo dello Stelvio,” De Gendt told velonation.com. “All the big names in cycling have won here too. I hope it’s a good sign for me. I think I’ve got a future in the Grand Tours.
“When I went on the attack my first thought was to make sure I had a bit of a gap at the start of the climb, to keep my eighth place overall,” he continued. “When I had three minutes and Cunego was a minute behind I started think of the stage victory. But it’s easy to lose five minutes on a climb like this and everything had to fall into place.
“I never thought of taking the pink jersey because I knew the others would go very fast in the finale. I’m happy with fourth or a place on the podium.”
De Gendt surprised everyone; while the GC favorites were watching out for Garmin-Barracuda’s Ryder Hesjedal, De Gendt, also an excellent time trialer, snuck away from the field. No one covered his attack because no one saw him as a threat; by the time he was flirting with taking over as virtual race leader, the GC favorites were locked into their strategies and could only hope the Vacansoleil rider wore himself out before he finished.
A Stage Designed to Upset GC
Stage 20 was a long hard climbing stage. 219 kilometers long and climbing five mountain passes, the route was perfectly designed for riders to attack and others to crack, upsetting the General Classification.
The stage started with a 14-rider break: Roman Kreuziger (Astana,) Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Barracuda,) Damiano Caruso (Liquigas,) Tom Slagter and Stef Clement (Rabobank,) Andrey Amador and Branislaw Samoilau (Movistar,) Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini,) Oliver Zaugg (RadioShack,) Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM,) Mathias Frank (BMC,) Matteo Bono (Lampre,) Alberto Losada (Katusha,) and Jose Serpa (Androni.)
The breakaway had five minutes on the peloton after crossing the first three climbs—the Cat 2 Passo Tonale (10.1km long, 6.1k% average gradient, 8% max,) the Cat 3 Aprica (15.9km, 3.1% average, 9% max) and the Cat 3 Teglio (5.9km, 8% average, 15% max.)
The gap was down to three minutes when the break started the first real obstacle, the Cat 1 Mortirolo climb. This was a serious obstacle—11.4 km long with an average gradient of 10.5% average, with ramps up to 22%.
RadioShack’s Oliver Zaugg attacked the break one kilometer into the climb, soon joined by Movistar’s Matteo Carrara. Damiano Caruso, Christian Vande Velde and José Serpa took off after this pair.
Next: Rodriguez Attacks
Rodriguez Attacks
Back in the peloton, Lampre set the pace until, four kilometers into the climb, race leader Joaquim Rodriguez of katusha attacked unexpectedly. Lampre’s Michele Scarponi and Garmin’s Ryder Hesjedal responded; Sky’s Rigoberto Uran and Segio Henao managed to catch up, with Liquigas’s Ivan Basso struggling hard not o get left behind.
Rodriguez attacked again, and again Scarponi, Hesjedal, and Henao. Eventually the other GC contenders, Basso, Pozzovivo, Tiralongo, and several other riders managed to join the four leaders.
Up ahead, Zaugg attacked again, now with Caruso, Amador, Vande Velde and Serpa in pursuit, as riders fell off the back of the break.
Zaugg crossed the summit 3:10 ahead of the peloton, with 57 kilometers and another huge climb yet ahead of him. As he did, Movistar’s Thomas De Gendt attacked the peloton. De Gendt briefly rode with teammate Matteo Carrara, who was slipping back from the break, then headed on alone.
On the descent, De Gendt teamed up with Damiano Cunego and Alberto Losado to Pursue the leading group, while several riders attacked the peloton. Astana’s Tanel Kangert, Euskatel’s Mikel Nieve and Izagirre, BMC’s Mathias Frank and Johann Tschopp, and Omega’s Dario Cataldo all took a shot; only Euskaltel’s Nieve and Izagirre made their attacks stick.
This pair caught the group chasing Zaugg; so Nieve, Izagirre, De Gendt, Kangert, Amador and Cunego were all working together to reel in the RadioShack rider. They succeeded 30 kilometers from the finish line
Garmin took over the head of the peloton 25 kilometers out, with Peter Stetina and Christian Vande Velde (who had dropped back from the break to help his team leader) pulling a steady pace. No other team was willing to work; Liquigas didn’t want to overwork Basso, who had already fallen back on the Mortirolo and rejoined; Katusha had no one left to work for Rodriguez.
Garmin had to push on, to protect Hesjedal’s position; the Canadian rider needed an advantage over De gendt heading into the Stage 21 time trial. Garmin couldn’t set too high a pace, though because Hesjedal was looking strained.
Passo dello Stelvio
The leaders hit the Cat 1 Passo Stelvio (22.4 km at 6.9 percent, 12 percent max) with four minutes on the peloton. De Gendt, who started the day 5:04 down, was nearly the virtual race leader and certainly a threat for the overall win.
The lead group disintegrated slowly as the climb progressed. Only four were left—De Gendt, Amador, Cunego, and Nieve—when 17 km from the finish, De Gendt made his next move. Nieve covered it; Cunego lost some distance but struggled on, while Amador slipped back.
It took Cunego four kilometers to fight his way back to Nieve and De Gendt, but he made it—only to have De Gendt attack again, this time dropping both pursuers. With ten kilometers left, the Belgian rider had five minutes on the pink jersey and nearly owned it himself.
Vande Velde still pulled the peloton for Hesjedal, with Caruso working for Ivan Basso. With seven kilometers left, only Rigoberto Uran, Sergio Henao, Joaquim Rodriguez, Domenico Pozzovivo, Hubert Dupont, John Gadret, and Michele Scarponi were still in the peloton. Gadret attacked 6.7 km from the line; Uran and Henao covered the move, but the acceleration cracked Vande Velde, leaving Hesjedal alone.
Gadret tried again 4.5 km from the finish. Once he was caught Ryder Hesjedal bit the bullet and picked up the pace. He was faced with the choice of riding a safe pace and letting De Gendt gain too much time, or risk cracking and take up the chase. He chose the latter.
De Gendt’s lead, which had swelled to 5:30, began dropping as the Movistar rider’s legs tired, and Hesjedal accelerated. The rest of the peloton suffered as well; Uran and Basso both slipped off the back with two kilometers left. Only Henao, Scarponi, and Rodriguez could match the Garmin rider’s pace, and Henao dropped back to help his teammate Uran.
Scarponi waited until 100 meters from the finish line to make his attack. Neither Hesjedal or Rodriguez responded; it looked like the Lampre rider might take time out of both rivals.
