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Giro Day 12 News and Notes

May 21st, 2009 by Al Fresco No Comment

We had to take a day off from the daily digest yesterday, but we’re back with all of your cycling news from the Giro and beyond. Let’s get started!

Giro d’ Italia Stage 12:

Denis Menchov won the 12th stage, an individual time trial of 60.6 km from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore and is the new pink jersey holder. Menchov has twice won the Vuelta (2005 & 2007). His final time was 1 hour, 34 minutes and 29 seconds at an average speed of 38.482
Menchov dedicated his win to teammate Pedro Horillo. Horillo is seeing “continuous and gradual” improvement and no longer needs breathing assistance during the day.

The 13th stage is from Lido di Camaiore to Florence. There are 176 kilometers, but they should not present a major difficulty to the riders. Look for a sprint shootout between Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Cavendish, now at 2 wins each.
American Chris Horner dropped out of the race yesterday. He crashed early in the stage and tore muscles on the back of his leg below the knee. He’s headed home to Oregon to consult with doctors and recuperate.
Christian Vande Velde, who crashed out of the Giro d’Italia during stage three, continues to undergo medical evaluation and as anticipated, additional imaging studies have revealed the extent of his injuries. Conclusive results show that he sustained a total of six fractures, including three vertebrae fractures (spinous processes), a pelvic fracture and two rib fractures. Vande Velde says that he is feeling better every day and will continue to undergo treatment at his home in Girona.
Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara would have been expected to make some gains in today’s time trial, but instead, the news came that he dropped out of the race. He’s headed to the Alps to do some training for the Tour de France.
Ricardo Ricco is using some of his “time off” to help out with race commentary for Eurosport. He will be able to return to racing on March 18, 2010.
There are rumors that Alessandro Petacchi, currently competing at the Giro for LPR, would transfer to the Silence-Lotto team in order to participate in the Tour de France.

Other Results:

Taylor Phinney notched the first win for the Livestrong U23 team, winning the prologue at the Flèche du Sud (Arrow of the South).
Theo Bos won the second stage of the Olympia’s Tour and strengthened his lead in the general classification. As far as we know, Barloworld’s Daryl Impey is still at home recovering from their crash at the Tour of Turkey.
Julian Sanchez of Contentpolis-COPE won the queen stage of the Tour of Catalonia. Alejandro Valverde holds onto the lead
Nicholas Walker (Australia Cinelli-Down Under) won the 155km fourth stage of the FDB Insurance Ras from Killorglin – Scariff. Simon Richardson holds onto the lead.

Other News:

Retired cycling strongman and former USA Cycling national team rider Steve Larson passed away on Tuesday evening following his collapse during a running workout. A cycling icon, Larsen contested world championships across the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike and cyclo-cross. It was originally thought that he died of a heart attack, but there has been new information that is pointing at a viral infection that may have affected his breathing.
Graeme Obree is going to take another crack at the world hour record. He’s set a date of late 2009 to make the attempt. As he did with his previous hour records, Obree has built his own bike for this try.
With the later date for the event, look for more mountaintop finishes in the Sierras for the Amgen Tour of California.
Saxo Bank confirmed for the Tour of Missouri, joining Garmin-Slipstream, Astana (or whatever they may be called then), Columbia-Highroad, Quick Step, Liquigas, Cervelo TestTeam, BMC Racing and Jelly Belly.