Contador, who rode for Astana before joining Saxo Bank, opted to let his old old teammate Tiralongo cross the finish line just ahead of him.
This was the 33-year-old Italian’s first Grand Tour stage win.
“A good day for me today,” the Astana rider said on Eurosport. “I didn’t get a chance yesterday so I had to go today. I saw the right time to go and I went.
“I want to thanks my teammates. This win is important to me and important for the team.”
Break Escapes Before the Climb
The stage started with 100 km of flat road befoe the first Cat One climb up Mottarone. Another 20 km of basically flat road led to the base of the Cat Three climb to the finish in Macugnaga.
The first escape to survive started 39 km into the 209-km stage, when Lars Bak (HTC,) Jerome Pineau (Quick Step,) and Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini) attacked. This trio opened a twelve-minute lead, mostly because none of the GC contenders cared about them, and any teams hoping for a stage win were saving their energies.
When the breakaway hit the slopes of Mattarone, the gap shrank swiftly as Aqua & Scarponi began raising the pace for their man Stefano Garzzelli, owner of the green King of the Mountain jersey. Garzelli Attacked two km from the summit, and just missed catching the escape, to gain maximum mountain points—his timing was just off.
Mikael Cherel (Ag2R) and Yohan Tschopp (BMC) decided to follow Garzelli. This trio caught the leading trio halfway through the second flat section. The slies, which had been drizzling all day, opened up with a deluge at about this time—bad omen, perhaps, for the leaders.
Katusha decided to try for a stage win for one of its riders, probably Danilo Di Luca or Joaquim Rodriguez, and started pushing the pace, high enough to fracture the peloton once it hit the lower slopes of the final climb.
The escape broke up on the climb also, with only Jerome Pineau and Matteo Rabotinni remaiing out ahead until 13.5 km from the line.
Tiralongo Tries Again
Six km out, Astana’s Paolo Tiralongo, who had tried unsuccessfully to join the winning break in Stage 18, decided to take another shot and attacked. At first, no one responded.
2500 meters from the finish, AG2R’s Hubert Dupont attacked, followed by Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez. Again, none of the leaders responded.
Alberto Contador waited until the final 1500 meters before launching one of his graceful, almost lazy attacks, bringing with him Vincenzo Nibali, Michele Scarponi, and John Gadret. A few moments later, Gadret launched his own attack.
Contador cruised a long for 500 meters, and then raised his pace, dropping everybody. He rode past Gadret and Rodriguez, seeming to be traveling twice their speed. With 500 meters to go he caught Paolo Tiralongo, a teammate from the days Contador had ridden for Astana.
Contador opted not to pass his old teammate—instead the paced each other to the line, and Contador let Tiralongo take the win. The Saxo Bank rider has shown many times that he doesn’t need stage wins—he is in it for the overall.
Just as he let Andy Schleck win Stage 17 in the 2010 Tour de France, and let John Gadret win Stage 13, Alberto Contador let Paolo Tiralongo have a stage win in the 94th Giro d’Italia
And why not? The flying Spaniard slightly increased his lead over the other GC contenders, not that he needed to. With an even tougher mountaintop finish tomorrow and a Time Trial on Sunday, Saxo Bank’s cycling star is all but guaranteed of a another Grand Tour win.
He has already announced plans to enter the Tour de France; might he also ride the Vuelta a España and try to win all three Grands Tours in a single season? What else has left to accomplish? Rides like today’s, just reinforce the fact that when he is on form, Alberto Contador is the strongest fastest cyclist competing today.
2011 Giro d’Italia Stage 19 Results | ||||
1 | Paolo Tiralongo | ITA | Astana | 5:26:27 |
2 | Alberto Contador | ESP | Saxo Bank | 0:00 |
3 | Vincenzo Nibali | ITA | Liquigas | 0:03 |
4 | John Gadret | FRA | Ag2R | 0:06 |
5 | Joaquin Rodriguez | ESP | Katusha | 0:06 |
6 | Steven Kruijswijk | NED | Rabobank | 0:06 |
7 | Michele Scarponi | ITA | Lampre | 0:08 |
8 | Roman Kreuziger | CZE | Astana | 0:21 |
9 | Hubert Dupont | FRA | Ag2R | 0:29 |
10 | Kanstantsin Sivtsov | BLR | HTC-Highroad | 0:34 |
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General Classification after Stage 19 | ||||
1 | Alberto Contador | ESP | Saxo Bank | 77:11:24 |
2 | Michele Scarponi | ITA | Lampre | 5:18 |
3 | Vincenzo Nibali | ITA | Liquigas | 5:52 |
4 | John Gadret | FRA | Ag2R | 7:53 |
5 | Kanstantsin Sivtsov | BLR | HTC-Highroad | 9:58 |
6 | Mikel Nieve | ESP | Euskatel Euskadi | 10:08 |
7 | Roman Kreuziger | CZE | Astana | 10:20 |
8 | Joaquin Rodriguez | ESP | Katusha | 10:43 |
9 | Denis Menchov | RUS | Geox | 10:51 |
10 | José Rujano | VEN | Androni | 11:50 |
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