Bike World News

Welcome back to Bike World News’ coverage of the Giro d’Italia! We hope to be back at full coverage for the remainder of the race.

The day started out looking like a club ride until around 15 minutes into the race when Thomas Voeckler (Bouyges Telecom – BBox) made a bid for glory. He rode alone for only a little while until ten to fifteen other riders bridged up to him. Marzoli (Acqua & Sapone), Palumbo (Acqua & Sapone), Cardenas (Barloworld), Voeckler (Bbox), Visconti (ISD), and Bono (Lampre) all were riding at the front.

The leaders never enjoyed more than a 3 minute lead, though with a relatively short stage (82km) today, they could make it work.

The climbing started early, and it was another hot day. As jerseys came unzipped, we started to cover our eyes to cut down on the glare from the pasty white chests of the cyclists.

Rabobank, LPR and Cervelo, who all had opportunities today, made their presence known at the front of the peloton.

Ruggero Marzoli and Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua & Sapone – Caffe Mokambo), Félix Cardenas (Barloworld), Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom), Giovanni Visconti (ISD), Matteo Bono (Lampre – N.G.C.), Riccardo Chiarini (LPR Brakes – Farnese Vini), Mauro Facci (Quick Step), Gonzalo Rabunal and Delio Ferandez (Xacobeo Galicia) were all in the lead group, but Voeckler seemed to make it known that he wanted a victory today, attacking the break to make his intentions known.

Some of the leaders started to fall back into the peloton as the crux of the stage started to hit.

While Carlos Sastre wanted to make something happen today, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) stayed, literally, within an arms reach of him.

More of the lead group started to fall back to the peloton as the lead came down to 30 seconds. Meanwhile, the maglia rosa group starts to chase and is joined by Stefano Garzelli.

Lance Armstrong (Astana) is part of a second chasing group with Carlos Sastre that sits 54 seconds back from the leaders. Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli) is with them as well.

Franco Pellizotti was comfortably in the lead with 5 km to go. He had 42 seconds over the maglia rosa group with only a bit to go. Right now, Di Luca and Menchov were just looking to minimize the damage. Menchov watched Di Luca closely as he could use his local knowledge of the climb to his advantage.

Pellizotti takes the win and it’s now a battle for second between Menchov and Di Luca.

Brief Results:

1 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas                      2.21.06
2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo    0.42
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini           0.43
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank                             0.47
5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas                                0.57

General Classification:

1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini
3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team

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• Giro d’Italia – Stage 5 Results (1)
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• Giro D’Italia – Day 10 News and Notes (0)
• Giro d’Italia Stage 20 Results (0)