Giro d'Italia: Contador climbs into maglia rosa on summit finish to Abetone

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The first mountain finish of the Giro d'Italia to Abetone in the Apennines sparked a battle royal for the pink jersey with Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Fabio Aru (Astana) and Richie Porte (Team Sky) going on the attack in the final five kilometres of the climb to the ski resort.

Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida) won the stage alone after being in the long break of the day, taking the first win of his professional career just a few days after his 23rd birthday. He distanced Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) who just managed to hang on for second place at 1:31.

After responding to Contador’s initial attack, Aru won the sprint for third place to take a four-second time bonus but Contador pulled on the leader’s pink jersey after finishing in the same time. Porte was fifth on the stage in their slipstream. Aru is now two seconds behind Contador, and pulled on the white best young rider jersey, with Porte third overall at 20 seconds. Simon Clarke finished four minutes back, ending Orica-GreenEdge’s control of the pink jersey.

Contador last pulled on the pink jersey in 2011 but those results were cancelled when he tested positive for Clenbuterol and lost his subsequent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He won the pink jersey in 2008, when he took his second of six Grand Tour victories.

“I didn’t think I’d get the pink jersey so early, the goal is to get it in Milan at the finish. This is just a taste of what is to come,” Contador said.

“Of course I’m really happy to have it because everybody knows how much I like the Giro d’Italia and how important this jersey is to me. We might not try too hard to keep it but it will be up to the others to take it away from me. The good thing of today is that we’ve distanced Uran and that my legs felt good.”

Polanc was overjoyed to win the stage alone and give himself a special birthday present.

“The first victory is always special and I’m really happy that it came at the Giro d’Italia. It’s a great present for my birthday,” he said.

“I was 23 on the day I travelled to the Giro, on Wednesday. I just want to thank the team who gave me this chance and all my family and friends who have helped me. They help me in the bad times and in the good times like this.”

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How it happened

The 152km stage again started in the sun with riders clearly enjoying the early summer during the opening stages of the Giro d’Italia.

The peloton stayed together for the opening 16km, with not much of a fight to get in the break.

After 16km five riders went clear and the peloton was happy to let them go. Axel Domont (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Serghei Tvetcov (Androni Giocattoli), Silvan Dillier (BMC), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) and Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida) were in the move, with Matteo Montaguti (Nippo Vini Fantini) belatedly trying to go across.

Compared to the two stages in the Ligurian hills, the peloton and the leading teams were happy to let them go, perhaps preferring to save their legs for the final climb to the finish at Abetone –the first of seven mountain finishes in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

The break quickly opened a gap on the lethargic peloton and their lead touched four minutes after 35km of racing. The peloton and race leader Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) were not worried about losing the pink jersey because Polanc was the best-placed overall at over 10 minutes back.

The break and the peloton continued to ride steady on the long category three climb of Foce Carpinelli, with the gap reaching nine minutes. Malaguti failed to reduce his gap to the break on the long descent into the Garfagnana valley and so finally sat up to wait for the field. Orica-GreenEdge accepted the responsibility of race leadership and led the peloton.

Domont took the mountain points and Tvetcov secured the sprint points in Barga after 97km of the stage. The Romanian rider almost crashed on the descent, totally miss-judging a corner. He was lucky he could head down a dirt road and quickly get going again. He needed some quick taping from his team car to repair a shoe but continued in the break.

The valley road to Abetone began with 36km to go in Bagni di Lucca, with the official climb starting at 17km to go. The five attackers continued to work together and began the climb with 5:33 on the peloton.

Behind, Orica-GreenEdge was riding to protect Johan Esteban Chaves.

Chavanel was the first to attack from the breakaway with 13km to go to push up the speed in the hope of staying away. The ever-aggressive Frenchman was quickly joined by Domont, Dillier and Polanc. Only Tvetcov was cast aside.

After other attacks, Polanc got away alone and began his personal ride to victory. Behind the Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana teams gathered on the front alongside Orica-GreenEdge, with the two super teams of this year’s Giro d’Italia squaring up for a fight.

Diego Rosa (Astana) was the first to attack with eight kilometres to go but Ivan Basso (Tinkoff-Saxo) chased him down. Then Mikel Landa (Astana) jumped away and joined Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani CSF), who had also made a move but they were gradually pulled back by Tinkoff-Saxo, who had three riders to work for Contador.

Aru and Porte sat just behind Contador but Porte had just Leopold Konig with him in the front group after his other teammates were quickly left behind with five kilometres left to race. Clarke also lost contact at this point. He fought to hang on but finished the stage four minutes down on Contador.

As Clarke was dropped, Contador attacked hard, on the steepest part of the climb. He danced on the pedals but also pushed a big gear. Behind, only Aru and Porte could react with any decision and the two gradually got up to his wheel. The fight for overall victory suddenly seemed reduced to three riders.

Uran, Hesjedal and the rest had to fight to limit their losses.

Contador, Aru and Porte should have worked together to distance their rivals but instead they watched each other and then Porte attacked, jumping into the slipstream of a motorbike. When he was pulled back, Aru had a go but he was also caught. His Astana teammate Mikel Landa managed to cross the gap from behind after a long chase and immediately hit the front to do the work. He ended the chances of the chase group to close the gap, despite Movistar leading the chase and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) trying to attack.

Aru, Contador and Porte finished 1:31 minutes behind Polanc, in the same time as Chavanel. It was a good day for all of them, however, Uran lost a further 28 seconds. Hesjedal lost a little less but has also slipped out of overall contention.

After just five stages of racing, the battle for pink jersey is a battle between just Contador, Aru and Porte.

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