Giro d'Italia Cycling News for May 14, 2005

Edited by Jeff Jones & Anthony Tan

Stage 6 wrap-up

Silver Train derails, while McEwen sails to second win

Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) back in the limelight
Photo ©: Roberto Bettini

Today in Marina di Grosseto, Alessandro Petacchi only had his team-mates to blame, as a touch of wheels derailed the Fassa Bortolo Silver Train when they were going full steam ahead. And although unhurt, it was a sorry-looking sprinter from La Spezia crossing the line, who must have heard his nemesis Robbie McEwen (Davitamon) sailed home to his second stage win, rubbing salt in the wound.

At the start of today's stage in Viterbo, the 31 year-old Australian complained of strained hamstring from yesterday's difficult finale, but said he was still going to 'get amongst it', which is exactly what he did. First trying to set up his team-mate and friend Henk Vogels for the win, who came within a hair's breadth of winning, McEwen made it look all too easy when he knew Vogels was going to be caught just before the line.

Just after McEwen crossed the line, one of the first things he said was, "Did Henk get second, did Henk get second? I wanted him to win but they were catching him too quick. I was hoping he could stay away and win. He put in a big burst."

After the podium ceremony, Cyclingnews' John Trevorrow spoke to McEwen again, and he was glowing. "It's really great. I really wanted for Henk to win. I could even see the other Aussies stalling because no-one wanted to hit the front so early. When it came towards the 1100m mark before the corners I decided to let Henk go. I was in second wheel, so I just let the gap go. Henk looked back and he was clever enough to see what happened. He took the corners well, and he'd already been on the front for a while.

"Stuey [O'Grady] was behind me, he didn't want to close it because it would have ruined his sprint, everybody sort of swung across the road and he got a good gap. I thought 'he's going to get it, he's going to get it'. Then the Panaria guy went after him but he wasn't going to catch him, then Brett Lancaster got on the front for Grillo and that really brought the bunch up. I was sitting on the wheels, waiting, then the guy from Gerolsteiner went at about 400 metres. I was in his wheel, and I could feel the others starting to sprint behind me, and I knew I had to go. I was just trying to sprint to Henk at a speed that maybe he could stay away, but I could feel the others coming.

"It's a shame for him, it was a fantastic ride. But when you sprint, you've gotta go full on. The others followed me and he ended up fifth."

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Nearly for Vogels

Henk Vogels missed out on his present from McEwen, but was still very happy with the team's victory. Vogels explained the final kilometres to Cyclingnews' John Trevorrow: "I got caught behind the crash with Petacchi, but we had Christophe Brandt in fifth position and I said 'just get me up the front'. We were doing about 50 km/h after the crash, Christophe took me directly to the front, and dropped me off with 2 km to go. Then I just wound it up at the front to 60km/h, and Robbie just let the gap go around the a couple of corners. I had 100m lead and I saw 1100m to go. I dropped it in the 11, stood up and went full gas. I saw the Panaria guy right up my arse but he wasn't going to catch me before the finish. I think Robbie knew the peloton was coming fast so he just had to go. Cooke and Kirsipuu were very itchy, and [Robbie] felt that if they were going to get me, then he had better win it.

"We were the ones on fire. We were the winners on the day. It shows that we are the team to be reckoned with, it's a great result.

"It shows you how it works out, because I had a lot of gas left. If I had have just been leading out, I accelerated so well I could have taken [Robbie] to 200 meters to go. It could have been my solo win or Robbie's second bunch sprint. Even though Robbie won today, I'd just like to thank my wife for getting me back on a bike, back in a grand tour and mixing it with the big boys. Because of what I've been through in the last few years, to come back and really been in the mix was enjoyable and thanks to her."

The wheels fall off Fassa again

Despite looking like they had it all under control with 3 km to go in today's sixth stage, Giancarlo Ferretti's Fassa Bortolo men once again imploded as Matteo Tosatto took them around a right hand bend via the scenic route. When Tosatto overcooked the corner with six teammates - including Petacchi - in tow, it was all over for the silver train; another good opportunity to win a stage gone. The Giro is already seven stages old and neither Petacchi nor his purpose-built team have succeeded in getting their wheels across the line first.

"I am their captain," said a disappointed and frustrated Petacchi afterwards. "I hope my teammates were not hurt when they crashed in front of me. I rode into the dirt, but I stayed upright. The circuit was nasty and the corner very tight. I'm really sorry, because I wanted to win here in Tuscany, near my home. I feel good myself, and I hope to succeed on other occasions, even in Ravenna."

EE update: Down the Orange Line from Italy

By Martin Hardie

Euskaltel's David Lopez (L), down, but not out
Photo ©: Sirotti

The Giro continues to be melancholy for Euskaltel-Euskadi. Alberto Lopez de Munian, who crashed out of the race on Stage 2, is on the road to recovery, although he is still not well enough to be flown home to the Basque Country.

The hope is that by the end of the coming week, he will be well enough to be flown from Italy to a hospital in his hometown of Vitoria-Gasteiz. There, he will continue to receive treatment on his punctured lung and various broken bones. Head honcho, Miguel Madariaga, tells us that there is still some worry about the state of his lung. His collarbone, says Madariaga, will "require exhaustive tests to ascertain the extent of the damage and it will be a few days until we know how Alberto's situation will evolve". The good news, is that the worst seems to be over.

The team received a further shock on Thursday when David Lopez, who had been on the attack on that day and that before, came down in the last 10 kilometres of the stage. David seemed to try and get himself up and back on his bike, but immediately found himself incapable of doing so.

Team director Gorka Gerrakagoitia stood helplessly beside him, probably wondering how long it would be before the whole team was down and out of the race. With the appearance of the ambulance and stretcher, it seemed inevitable that Euskadi team were going to find themselves two down and counting as the Giro heads towards its business end. But Lopez showed some grit and with the aid of the team's hardest working stalwart, Unai Etxebarria, he limped to the finish 11 minutes down.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Francaise des Jeux prepared to challenge

After Baden Cooke's near miss in stage 4, La Francaise des Jeux has decided that it will ride a more aggressive race. In today's sixth stage, the boys in white could be seen on the front, keeping Cooke out of trouble on the finishing circuits. It didn't quite pay off this time, with Cooke finishing 16th, but better than his 190th position in stage 5.

"I had good legs up there and the boys did an awesome job," Cooke told Cyclingnews' John Trevorrow after the stage. "It's not bad when you can race Fassa on the front with a couple of neo-pros. The boys were on the front for 10 km and that was saving my legs and I had good legs for the finish. When Robbie let Henk go, it was a pretty good move and you wouldn't have thought he could take it all the way from the corner, and as it turned out, he nearly did.

"Brett Lancaster came past and I got on his wheel. That was perfect. He stopped pedaling, and I sort of jumped a bit, I hesitated, then I realised I can't do that. But then, two people had already passed me, and got their handlebars past mine. There was nothing I could do. I kept trying to sprint into gaps that weren't there. I felt good, it was just an error of judgment. There's nothing worse than having good legs and not being able to sprint."

Cooke's injuries from his finish line crash in stage 4 have improved markedly after the arrival of his personal physiotherapist yesterday. "Ben drove for nine hours from Monaco yesterday and gave me a two and a half hour rub last night. It straightened out all the problems, and today I felt 100 percent better. Yesterday, everything was out of whack, my neck was sore, I had a spare bike that didn't fit. Today I had the right bike and I felt good."

There is still ongoing tension between Cooke and Paolo Bettini's Quick.Step team, combined with the fact that Fassa Bortolo hasn't managed to win a stage. "The Italians aren't real happy," said Cooke of the ambience in the peloton. "It's like they've had things their way for so long and it's their race, and we're out there racing so hard and they're taking offense at it, with Bettini whinging and carrying on about what's happened and the Quick.Step guys are at me at random. Zanini tried to push me off the wheel today and Bettini said 'just let him go'. 'Nah, stuff him,' said Zanini.

"Fassa are also getting upset, and they're obviously rattled. In the past they've just got their train to ride on the front. Now they've got us taking them on, Lotto taking them on, everyone's taking them on. They're panicking. And when they finally get the lead off us, they just drop themselves! I was right behind them and I just managed to dive underneath. Apparently their director is putting a lot of pressure on them, really getting into them, and it's probably not helping them. Petacchi, who rides on confidence a bit, obviously hasn't got any at the moment. Especially now after dropping himself.

"The legs are there anyway. I need one little chance and I'll get a win."

Cooke's teammate Matt Wilson echoed his comments, saying, "We've decided that maybe we should just take it up the front and keep Baden out of trouble. Last time we did that it worked really well. We have a couple of young guys, really strong, who are all beside themselves. They're taking it to Fassa. It's pretty good, a couple of neo-pros taking it up to the Fassa boys, and now they're getting frustrated compared to last year when everyone just say behind Fassa and Petacchi got the best run possible. It's different now, there's a real battle, and they don't know what's going on. I think they're under a lot of pressure."

CSC avoids mishap

With a number of teams losing riders or riders losing skin as a result of the tight finishing circuit in Marina di Grosseto, Team CSC was one that came away unscathed. Said directeur sportif Alain Gallopin: "It was an extremely dangerous stretch, but luckily we avoided getting involved in any of the crashes. It proves yet again, how important it is to have a well organized team.

"You can't always avoid bad luck, but we managed to position Ivan [Basso] well in the peloton, which was all-important today. Tomorrow, we have a tough stage ahead of us, and I anticipate the first serious battle between the overall favourites," he said.

Scarponi survives another day

Liberty Seguros' top man Michele Scarponi survived a crash-filled day at the Giro, and finished in 48th place, in the same time as winner Robbie McEwen. He therefore kept his eighth place on GC, 44 seconds behind leader Paolo Bettini, and is looking forward to Sunday's time trial.

Scarponi's teammate Giampaolo Caruso commented about the danger of the stage: "With four kilometres to go, we almost killed ourselves, there was a lot of danger and the organisation should do something to avoid it, they cannot put these finales in," said Caruso. "For us it was OK and now it is necessary to see how we go tomorrow and in the time trial to analyse the race. At present, Simoni and Cunego look good, but I also see Scarponi is getting better and better. I'm not the only one to say it, the whole peloton is starting to bear him in mind.

"In the first days I was lacking a bit of competition rhythm, but already I feel much better. I expect to be good when the mountains come. My dream is to win a stage," concluded Caruso.

Pre-stage vox-pop

Cyclingnews' John Trevorrow was again our man on the spot at the start of stage 6 in Viterbo, where he cornered a few riders.

Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto)

We spoke to eventual stage winner Robbie McEwen, who was nursing a sore hamstring after yesterday's 223 km marathon. "Yeah I'm OK, but I've got a bit of a twinge in my hamstring so I hope it doesn't hurt too much today," he said. "It was hard yesterday, I just strained the inside hamstring a bit. I had it worked on last night and this morning by the physio. I'll still try and get amongst it though. Sprinters don't get many chances in this Giro."

Henk Vogels (Davitamon-Lotto)

McEwen's leadout man Henk Vogels was in good spirits, despite being a little sore. "I survived yesterday," he said. "It was a bitch of a stage. No-one really wanted to form a gruppetto. But in the team we got third and fourth, so that was really good. The motivation is high, the team's riding really well. We'll see what happens today with a bunch sprint."

Nick Gates (Davitamon-Lotto)

Nick Gates wasn't quite as chirpy as Vogels, after crashing a couple of days ago. "Yeah it's good, but my knee's still a bit sore after that crash," he said. "I had a really bad day yesterday. I couldn't get out of the saddle for 220 km. Luckily there were a lot of climbs where I could sit down and ride up. I got through it ok, I'll see how it goes today."

Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel)

Cyclingnews diarist Tom Danielson is one of the more talented climbers in the Discovery Channel team, but as he said to us, he's using the Giro to gain valuable experience. "I'm feeling good. It's my first grand tour. I've been told to sit back and relax for the first week, try to learn. The smart thing to do is not to go for every second, but stay out of it, try and learn not to waste all my energy in the first week and then have nothing left. It's more important that I'm there at the end for Paolo [Savoldelli], to be strong enough to be there at the finish, and learn from it.

"In the future I'd like to make this (riding grand tours) my job. For now I'm taking my time, learning, and working for Paolo. He's the leader and he's riding very well. I don't really know how I'm going to feel and what the last week is going to be like. I think those stages will suit me really well, I had really good form a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if that's going to go up, or go down, or what. I have to make sure that Paolo gets to the mountains in good condition. Because now there are a lot of good riders that can climb well and it's important that he gets there stress-free."

How about winning a stage? "If the situation presents itself, we'll see, but I'm not even thinking about that. I'm just thinking about doing the tour, finishing strong, just trying to do things right."

Antonio Cruz (Discovery Channel)

One of Discovery's hard workers is Antonio Cruz, the quietly spoken American told us, "Yesterday was a big day, a lot different to the other days, finally a hard day. The bigger teams came out and showed their strength. Today we've just got to get Savoldelli and Danielson to the finish with no trouble."

Ryder Hesjedal (Discovery Channel)

"It was pretty hard actually," said Hesjedal of stage 5. "A lot of guys were fried, we were going all day. The only soft part was the first 10 km. The first climb was pretty hard, the pace was on. Today is a pretty straightforward sprint stage I think. I imagine it'll be pretty active again. We'll just keep Paolo in good position, make sure he doesn't lose any time, and get ready for the time trial in a couple of days."

Michael Barry (Discovery Channel)

"Yesterday was a hard stage. Now I've recovered again. Today might be harder because of the shortness. The time trial is the first marker to get to."

Christian Vandevelde (CSC)

Yesterday? "It was unneeded," he joked. "Ivan [Basso] looked great. I'm feeling pretty good, every day a bit better."

Julian Dean (Credit Agricole)

Unfortunately, kiwi Julian Dean didn't finish the sixth stage after crashing on the finishing circuit. We did speak to him before the start: "Yesterday was pretty hard. I woke up this morning and felt like I'd really ridden a stage of a grand tour. I hope everyone else is feeling the same. Today's pretty much a sprinters stage so we'll take it as it comes. We're looking for Fassa Bortolo to join on our lead out in the last five k, then move ourselves around them and make our move when we can."

Trent Wilson (Colombia-Selle Italia)

We spoke to one of stage 6's first attackers, Trent 'Willo' Wilson from Colombia-Selle Italia. "I've had better days than yesterday," he admitted. "The dreaded day five legs, you know."

Willo explained his plan for the day: "I'll try and get in a few early moves, but I'd like to save the legs." How do you do that? "Try and go in the moves without hitting the wind."

Russell Van Hout (Colombia-Selle Italia)

Willo's teammate Russell Van Hout was also involved in a crash two days ago. "It bothered me yesterday because I had a really bad day," he said. "I was sore from the break, stiff from the crash, and I just want to get through the next couple of days until the time trial. But when you're out there, unfortunately the adrenaline starts flowing and you can't help yourself trying to get in some of those breaks."

Brett Lancaster (Panaria)

And another crash victim was prologue winner Brett Lancaster. We asked, how's the knee? "I could feel it, but that's bike racing. Grillo is pretty motivated for today. He took it easy yesterday.

"I felt alright yesterday, I even did a bit of a job at the end. It's a bit dangerous today with three laps at the end. I'll be up there taking Grillo up - it'll be a bit like the Bay Crits. Tomorrow, finishing in my home town, I really want to have a go at that. There's a 2 km hill, not far out, really steep. The way these guys are going, I probably won't be able to get away, but I'll give it a go."

Rory Sutherland (Rabobank)

Rory Sutherland wasn't sure how he felt after being in the break for 170 km yesterday. "Yeah, I feel OK. I suppose the real test is when I actually start turning the pedals. I got a good night's sleep and I feel great."

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