After a harrowing first week that delivered surprises aplenty, the second week of the Tour of Italy was slated to break the race wide open. Those little jabs that were thrown in the first week were slated to become haymakers as the GC contenders stop with the shadow boxing and come out swinging. But some of those GC men were on the back foot and already staggered: defending champion and bib number 1 Hesjedal had two bad days in the ITT and the following mountain stage, conceding nearly 4 minutes and dropping him into 11th place overall. Bradley Wiggins survived the trials and tribulations of the first week, with a good ITT and surviving the following mountain stage without giving up significant ground. But with Vincenzo Nibali resplendent in pink, who would be the one to break his stranglehold of the race?
Stages
The second week's buffet of stages ran the gamut from mountaintop finishes (3) to sprint stages (2) to medium mountain stages (technically 2, but one was indeed an uphill finish.) The weather also ran the gamut from warm and sunny to frigid, rainy and even snowy at points. The question remained, however: who would excel in the rough conditions and who would suffer?
Stage 10: Cordenons – Montasio 167 km
The first mountaintop finish of the Giro would surely be a good one, and it was where some teams had to re-evaluate their GC options. Team Sky in particular came out swinging with the intention of gaining ground of the ever strengthening Nibali. As usual, the break went clear only to be reeled in by the efforts of Sky. Although the “freight train” methodology that Sky employed didn't have the desired effect of reducing Nibali to a groveling mass, it did succeed in shelling Hesjedal over the first climb of the day, causing him to slip out of the top 10. As the final climb on the brutally steel Altopiano ground on, Rigoberto Uran attacked at 8km to go, setting things up for Wiggins. However, Nibali didn't bite, and with the help of teammate Valerio Agnoli steadily closed the gap. Continued attacks out of the Nibali group saw the gap continue to drop, just like the pink jersey's chain. After a breathless moment, Nibali managed to shift it back onto the rings and sprint through the group to take the 3rd place bonus seconds. Wiggins managed to concede another minute to his rivals and Uran climbed into 4th place, only a second off his designated leader.
Hmm…were things about the change at Sky?
Stage 11: Tarvisio – Vajont (Erto e Casso) 182 km
A medium mountain stage after the brutal Altopiano saw the GC favorites take a day off, with no attacks forthcoming. Without the GC fireworks on a mountaintop finish (not nearly as brutal as the previous day's) a break was allowed to take the glory for the day. Garmin Sharp managed to make up for the faltering Hesjedal by putting Ramunas Navardauskas into the break. A series of well timed and sharp attacks saw him come to the line first, giving him the biggest win of his career. The GC remained unchanged.
Stage 12: Longarone – Treviso 134 km
The shortest stage of the Giro was again marred by rain and cold weather. British fans had a mixed day: Mark Cavendish racked up his 100th professional victory (the third of the 2013 Giro) but the rain and cold weather saw Wiggins distanced on the final descent. When all was said and done, he was unable to hold the wheel of his domestiques and finished 3 minutes down on his countryman and former team mate. This dropped him out of GC contention and again raised questions about the leadership of Sky shifting to Uran, who finished with the pink jersey group.
After the stage, Team Sky released a report detailing the cold and chest infection that Wiggins was struggling with, and that poor health caused his poor performance. His continued participation was left in doubt after the rainy, short sprint day.
Stage 13: Busseto – Cherasco 254 km
Another flat stage, another win for Cavendish. With that win he increased his lead in the points competition and tallied his fourth stage of this year's Giro. But perhaps more noteworthy were the non-starts of both Wiggins and Hesjedal. Both teams released statements commenting that their riders were headed home for tests and to recover and get healthy. Hey Brad, are you going for the Tour this year? Going to upset your teammate Froome (a la Armstrong/Contador in 2009?)
Stage 14: Cervere – Bardonecchia 168 km
After two days of flat, fast racing the race returned to the mountains (and to abysmal weather in the Alps). The summit finish on the Bardonecchia was supposed to shatter the peloton after it was softened up by the ascent to Sestriere. Alas, it was not to be, with snow and ice forcing Michele Acquarone and the rest of the organizers to reroute the race. Mauro Santambrogio proved that his move from BMC (mostly to take the opportunity to race for himself at Vini-Fantini) was a good one. Nibali jumped away with about 1.5km to go, taking his fellow countryman with him. As we watched, the two had obviously made an agreement on the road, with Santambrogio pulling the pink jersey to the line. In return, Nibali gifted the stage win and 20 second time bonus, content to soak up 12 seconds plus an additional 30+ seconds on Evans and Uran. Santambrogio moved up to 4th place, 1 second off the podium, setting up a showdown for the coming finish up the Galibier.
Stage 15: Cesana Torinese – Col du Galibier 149 km
With snow enveloping the summit of the Galibier, the race finish was moved to the Memorial Marco Pantani about 4km further down the mountain. This didn't alter the brutality of the stage, with average temperatures only a few degrees above freezing for most of the day. The peloton was content to protest and ride a relatively easy tempo up the day's first climb where a break escaped to grab GPM (moutains classification points). The GC riders were content to let the break go, and Movistar's Giovanni Visconti took an emotional solo win in the falling snow atop the Galabier. The GC favorites played cat and mouse, with a few jabs being thrown by Nibali. Evans and Uran easily countered those moves, keeping the GC picture the same for another day. The big fight was between Carlos Betancur (AG2R) and Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) for the Maglia Blanco, the white jersey of the best placed young rider. Bentancur pipped Majka at the line for second (Majka faded in the final meters to finish fourth) to take the white jersey going into the rest day.
Looking Ahead
The final week of the Giro is another mixed bag: medium mountains, flat stages, an uphill TT and a pair of brutal mountaintop finishes atop the Val Martello and Tre Cime di Lavaredo before the race finishes in Brescia. Nibali has yet to have a truly bad day in the Giro, but the chances for his rivals to take the Maglia Rosa off his back are dwindling. Breaks could be the name of the game in the next few days, and if Cavendish can get through the next few days he should be able to add to his tally of 4 stages (and could sew up the points classification in the process).
It's shaping up to be an amazing week.
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