Giro d'Italia
Thomas Löfkvist and Dario Cioni came home together at the top of the Grossglockner on stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia.
The Team Sky duo emerged from the heavy mist three minutes and 49 seconds down on stage winner Jose Rujano (Androni Giocattoli) and Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) after the duo attacked the lead group and formed an alliance on the final climb.
Löfkvist bravely persevered while battling a chest infection as the general classification contenders splintered on the tough Austrian mountain.
Cioni rode with the Swede up the final climb on a difficult stage that marks the first of three punishing mountain-top finishes in a row.
Another climbing masterclass meant Contador extended his race lead to 3:09 over Nibali with a second unanswered attack in as many summit finishes.
Earlier in the day, Lars-Petter Nordhaug forced his way into a strong 16-man breakaway after 41km that rode well before being swept up on the lower slopes of Grossglockner.
The stage also saw Davide Appollonio abandon the race after gamely taking to the start line following a superb second place finish in Thursday’s sprint.
Testing times
We caught up with Sports Director Sean Yates on his way back to the team hotel after the most difficult day yet in the race.
He said: "Dario did his job well today. Thomas was not feeling as good as we hoped and we had to limit the losses. Dario was there and he helped him out a lot.
"Thomas is affected by the chest infection. He is on antibiotics and so not on the pace, but the Giro is not over.
"The break was always going to find it difficult to stay away but the plan was that if a big group went, we would have someone there, and we did. The boys did well to cover the moves.
"When there are 10 or 15 guys up the road it is nice to have someone there because you never know how far it will go.
"Davide is out of the race. Yesterday he felt good but I don’t really know what the score was today. Russell struggled on and got in inside the time limit. It was really hard for him but he found a little gruppetto. We will see what tomorrow brings."
Team player
After the stage Dario Cioni reflected on a frantic start to the day, and his role in helping Thomas Löfkvist on the notoriously difficult final climb.
He said: "The pace was pretty fast today from the start with some groups going away from the beginning. Pete [Kennaugh] and Lars-Petter covered the moves until eventually a group with Lars-Petter got away.
"Behind Saxo Bank-Sungard were setting the tempo and then Euskaltel decided they wanted a go too, so it never got much of an advantage.
"It was a pretty solid tempo all the way until we hit Grossglockner. Thomas was going up on his tempo and I was just behind so I got back to his group and then set the tempo.
"On the way up we sort of recovered. A few guys that had gone too hard slid back and we tried to do the best we could.
"Thomas told me before that he was a bit so-so but I told him ‘Everyone is so-so, so let’s get stuck in and see what we can do. Let’s try to lose as little as possible and just take it day by day.’
"Tomorrow we will be there again trying to do our best. If I am good enough to stay there with him I will try to help him as much as possible."
User comments (3)
Jan Lavenius says...
Great ride by Cioni, I do hope that Thomas recovers from his illness. Tomorrow is going to be epic, even without the magnificent Monte Crostis.
Posted 22:02 20th May 2011
Magnus L says...
Kämpa Thomas! Vi håller tummarna.....
Posted 20:28 20th May 2011
Thomas Fans says...
Kämpa Thomas. Sitter som klistrad varje dag och följer dig, tror stenhårt på dig fortfarande. Bara du kämpar vidare finns alla möjligheter att få en riktigt fin slutplasering. Kom igen Gotland
Posted 18:42 20th May 2011