Giro d’Italia – Stage 3 Results

The peloton takes a jaunt across northeastern Italy today, 198 km from Grado on the Adriatic coast, heading inland to Valdobbiadene.

The day opens with the news that Alejandro Valverde has been suspended for two years by the Italian National Olympic Committee. Looks like (for now) that the ban will only be effective in Italy. It’s not clear if the UCI will accept the ruling and make it effective worldwide. Valverde did not attend the hearing, and instead was represented by his lawyers.

Nothing exciting today until a group of five manage an escape at km 48. The fugitives are Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua e Sapone), Yuriy Krivstov (AG2R), Mauro Facci (Quick Step), Michael Ignatiev (Katusha) and Björn Schröder of Milram. They quickly pull out to a seven minute lead, but it doesn’t stick and drops over the next kilometers. LPR, Columbia, Saxo Bank and Astana all taking their turns at the front of the peloton. With 75 km to go, the gap is down to five minutes.

Palumbo takes the only intermediate sprint at km 128.2 as the gap is down to 4’35.

Now, with 63km to, the gap is down to 2’45″.

Christian Vande Velde down in a crash near the 60 km mark. He’s holding his back and looking to be in pain. LPR and Katusha have taken over the head of the peloton. The gap drops to 2’18″. The gruppo looks to really be working now. They may want to catch the escapees before the day’s first rated climb at the 42 km mark.

We learn that CVV attempts to get back on his bike, but quickly stops and ends up retiring from the race. He’ll be heading to the hospital for an x-ray of his lower back.

The climb is the Combai, a Cat. 3 climb that comes at 156.7km . While it’s only 391 meters high, the gradient goes up to 13% somewhere in there. The gap is down to 1’08″ with Ivan Basso and the Liquigas team leading the chase.

The escapees have been working together up to now, but they break apart as the battle for the mountain points looms on the horizon. Quick Step’s Mauro Facci has the spring in his legs to take the points. He’ll wear the green mountains jersey tomorrow.

The leaders descend through some vineyards as they head into the final circuits in Valdobbiadene. Palumbo attacks his break companions and tries to go it alone, but soon he and the rest of the break gets swallowed up by the peloton.  With 31 km to go, Liquigas still leads the peloton, possibly looking to move their leader Ivan Basso into place for the final sprint.

LPR takes the lead now, as the peloton heads towards the first crossing of the finish line. Once they cross, they have 20 km left to race.

Basso is sitting near the front, looking comfortable, and Cavendish is primed and ready as well.

With about 15km to go, there’s a crash in the peloton and a group of 13 manage to stay off of the front. Leipheimer is in there, along with Jens Voigt and Luca Mazzanti. Cavendish got caught behind the crash, so it’s unlikely that he’ll be a factor. Petacchi, however, made it through.

The gap was 23 seconds and seemed to be dropping quickly, but the lead bunch was not going gently into that good night. Cavendish was not able to get back on.

With 3 km to go, Marzio Brughezin (Lampre) attacks, but sees Giovanni Visconti (ISD) blows by him not much later. With just 1 km to go, he looks like he had it wrapped up, but it’s an uphill finish.

Visconti gets caught, then Petacchi goes for and takes the win. Cavendish finishes 1’30 back and loses the pink jersey.

Brief Results:

1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
3 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre-NGC
4 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step
5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-NGC
6 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Silence-Lotto

General Classification:
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Columbia-Highroad
4 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Columbia-Highroad
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini
7 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana
8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana

Tags: Ag2r, Alejandro Valverde, Alessandro Petacchi, astana, bike, christian vande velde, columbia, Dario Cataldo, garmin slipstream, Giro d'Italia, Italian National Olympic Committee, Italy, Ivan Basso, katusha, Liquigas, lpr, Milram, Quick Step, stage 3, Tyler Farrar