The Story of the Giro d'Italia: A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Volume 2: 1971-2011

by McGann, Carol

  Then, with less than seven kilometers remaining, Alberto Contador attacked in the big ring with Scarponi for company. Seeing the intensity of the acceleration, Nibali wisely decided to ride to the top at his own speed. Contador set a pace that was too hot for Scarponi who realized that in trying to hold the Spaniard’s wheel he had gone too deep, forcing him to return to the chasing group.

  Contador caught Rujano and as Contador flew by, the little Venezuelan managed to grab his wheel. Contador was in no mood to pull the reborn climber along, but it took several blistering attacks before he could shake his stubborn follower, and then, just barely.

  Contador crossed the line alone with Rujano only 3 seconds back. The rest of the hopefuls? Garzelli, Nibali, Roman Kreuziger and Scarponi were about a minute back. It was a masterful display that left the others open-mouthed in admiration and wondering if there was any way to overcome a rider with this strength.

  After stage nine, the General Classification stood thus: 1. Alberto Contador

  2. Kanstantsin Sivtsov @ 59 seconds

  3. Christophe Le Mével @ 1 minute 19 seconds

  4. Vincenzo Nibali @ 1 minute 21 seconds

  5. Michele Scarponi @ 1 minute 28 seconds

  During the rest day, the Giro transferred to Termoli for three stages up the Adriatic coast before the high mountains. Contador wanted someone else to take the maglia rosa, someone with a good team who could relieve his squad of policing the peloton and enduring the presentation ceremonies after each stage when they preferred being in the hotel resting. Yet who could be expected to dutifully croak when the air got thin and hand the lead back to the Spaniard? Christophe Le Mével looked to be in just such a hunt in the eleventh stage, but teams hungry for a stage win caught the fleeing Frenchman just as the stage’s finish line was in sight. Mark Cavendish took two of the three Adriatic stages and then, with the Dolomites looming, headed for the airport along with five other sprinters.

  Stage thirteen had four major passes with a finish atop Austria’s Grossglockner. The big men held their fire until the Grossglockner started to hurt. Euskaltel had hopes that Igor Anton might do well and drove the peloton hard. Anton gave it a go, as did Rujano and the relentless Scarponi, and nearly all had to yield to Contador. Only Rujano could hold his wheel. Contador worked with him to the summit and then let Rujano take the stage, because despite his ambitions, at this point Rujano was no Classification threat.

  Stage fourteen, or to be exact, the descent off the penultimate climb, Monte Crostis, spelled trouble. As it came closer to Giro time and the riders personally examined the route, many began to question the safety of the narrow road with its steep and dangerous-looking dropoffs. Safety nets were installed, but the team managers were not appeased given that only motorcycles and not team follow cars were going to be allowed on the road, despite this being the same scheme employed on the Zoncolan. At nine in the evening before the day of the stage, the UCI ruled that the Crostis had to be eliminated. Not because it was unsafe, but because the follow cars would not be with the riders for 37 kilometers, and that endangered the sporting fairness of the race. This infuriated Zomegnan who found it strange to change from safety to sporting fairness as the reason to eliminate the mountain. He continued to insist the original route was safe, fair and spectacular.

  Photo of Contador

  The Tualis was hurriedly added in replacement, but as the riders were well into the stage it was learned that a crowd of angry tifosi were gathering on the Tualis to protest the Crostis’ elimination. In an abundance of caution, that climb was also eliminated. That still left the Zoncolan (which also barred follow cars, but allowed service motorcycles) to separate the men from the boys.

  On the Zoncolan’s final kilometers Anton escaped while the cool and collected Contador was content to sit on now second-place Nibali until the right moment. And then Contador lit up the hill (riding a special bike with 36 x 32 gearing), finishing a half-minute behind Anton. The tifosi thought Contador and his Saxo team boss Riis were among those who had requested the Crostis be eliminated and booed the Spaniard as he finished the stage.

  The General Classification stood thus: 1. Alberto Contador

  2. Vincenzo Nibali @ 3 minutes 20 seconds

  3. Igor Anton @ 3 minutes 21 seconds

  4. Michele Scarponi @ 4 minutes 6 seconds

  5. John Gadret @ 5 minutes 23 seconds

  Before the second rest day there was another big day in the mountains, this time with the Piancavallo, Cibiana, Giau, Marmolada and Gardeccia passes. Looking to replicate his 2009 King of the Mountains win, Stefano Garzelli took off from the day’s break on the Giau with Mikel Nieve chasing. Garzelli scooped up the double KOM points that the Giau’s status as the Cima Coppi conferred, and then pressed on to the Marmolada with a very determined Nieve in hot pursuit.

  Back in the remnants of the pack, Contador attacked and found himself with the race’s best riders at the start of the descent of the Giau. Nibali—arguably the peloton’s best descender since Savoldelli—left the maglia rosa group behind and by the time he was on Marmolada, was within 45 seconds of Garzelli. On the Marmolada, Nibali was caught and then again dropped, but yet again regained contact after performing an insane descent, made more dangerous with rain.

  Garzelli’s dream of winning the tappone was shattered when Nieve went by him on the climb to Gardeccia and continued on for the stage win. Garzelli was consoled by his near unassailable lead in the climbers’ competition. Riding with economy and tactical finesse, Contador waited until the stage’s final kilometers before attacking the remnants of his chasing group. He pushed himself hard, but at the stage’s end he could only gain 6 seconds on Scarponi. Later Contador said the Gardeccia stage was the hardest day of racing in his life.

  With a much-needed rest day next, the General Classification stood thus: 1. Alberto Contador

  2. Michele Scarponi @ 4 minutes 20 seconds

  3. Vincenzo Nibali @ 5 minutes 11 seconds

  4. John Gadret @ 6 minutes 8 seconds

  5. Mikel Nieve @ 7 minutes 3 seconds

  The first stage of the final week was a 13-kilometer cronoscalata to the Nevegal ski station. Contador raced up the narrow defile between the hordes of fans and increased his lead over Scarponi to nearly five minutes. With Contador’s superb form making it unlikely that the others could take the lead, attention was now focused on the fight for second place with Scarponi sitting on a 47-second lead over Nibali.

  Contador was riding confidently, not bothering to fight for small scraps of time. At stage nineteen’s Macugnaga hilltop finish, Contador was racing for the line a few seconds ahead of Nibali when he caught Paolo Tiralongo, who had gone on a flyer. The two spoke a few words and then Contador pulled Tiralongo before easing to let his former Astana gregario take the stage win. It was an act of both stunning bravado as well as generosity to a rider who had labored in previous seasons to help the Spaniard.

  Before the final stage, a 26-kilometer Milan time trial (truncated because of a shortage of police), Contador was sitting on a fat five and a half minute lead, prompting him to announce that he would ride the stage carefully and avoid any chance of crashing. Nibali expressed displeasure over the stage shortening, noting this was his last chance to wrest second place from Scarponi. In any case, Scarponi did well enough to keep his second place, and Contador’s easy ride secured his second Giro and sixth Grand Tour victory. The old Spanish national anthem from the days of Franco was accidently played, irritating the Spanish Sports Council enough to file a formal complaint. Some people just don’t know how to win.

  Contador joined Miguel Induráin as the only Spaniards to win two Giri until February 6, 2012. On that day the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the UCI, which had appealed the Spanish Cycling Federation’s decision to clear Contador of the doping charge. Contador was suspended for two years, dating back to the positive in t
he 2010 Tour. Among other races, he was stripped of his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro championships. Michele Scarponi became the winner of the 2011 Giro d’Italia.

  There was a chorus of complaints from the riders that the long, difficult stages and eight summit finishes made the race too hard, with some of them arguing, as 1923 Tour winner Henri Pélissier did nearly a century ago, that overly long stages make for slow and dull racing. The riders also complained that in looking to visit as many of Italy’s twenty regions as possible, there were too many long and tiring transfers. Zomegnan was apologetic about the transfers but was fierce in his defense of the route’s difficulty, arguing there was lots of high-speed racing. At 38.758 kilometers per hour, the 2011 Giro was fully in line with the speeds of the previous decade’s Giri and the racing was as exciting as it could be, given Contador’s dominating form.

  2011 Giro d’Italia General Classification before Contador’s disqualification: 1. Alberto Contador (Saxo) 84 hours 5 minutes 14 seconds

  2. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) @ 6 minutes 10 seconds

  3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) @ 6 minutes 56 seconds

  4. John Gadret (Ag2r) @ 10 minutes 4 seconds

  5. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) @ 11 minutes 5 seconds

  Final 2011 Giro d’Italia General Classification after Contador’s disqualification: 1. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) 84 hours 11 minutes 24 seconds

  2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) @ 46 seconds

  3. John Gadret (Ag2r) @ 3 minutes 54 seconds

  4. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) @ 4 minutes 55 seconds

  5. Roman Kreuziger (Astana) @ 5 minutes 18 seconds

  Climbers’ Competition: 1. Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone): 67 points

  2. Alberto Contador (Saxo): 58

  2. José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli): 43

  3. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel): 39

  Points Competition: 1. Alberto Contador (Saxo): 202 points

  1. Michele Scarponi (Lampre): 122

  2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas): 121

  3. José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli): 107

  Zomegnan didn’t survive the carping about his 2011 route. Before the Giro was over rumors were flying that he would be replaced and in July his ouster was confirmed. While Zomegnan’s autocratic ways allowed for plenty of justifiable criticism, the combination of his artful management and the internationalized field brought by the Pro Tour resulted in the Giro’s becoming a truly great race. The long piano days of slow riding with an insane final hour of racing are gone. In 2010, no one who rode the Giro finished in the Tour’s top ten. In 2011, Alberto Contador was so exhausted from the Giro, he could only manage fifth place in the Tour.

  Michele Acquarone, the new race director for RCS Sport, said he would avoid Zomegnan’s confrontational style, but also showed the Giro was not going to be watered down when it was revealed that 2012’s penultimate day would include the Tonale, Aprica, Teglio, Mortirolo and Stelvio ascents. Already the riders were complaining. The polemiche have started. There’s nothing like the Giro.

  Glossary

  All fields have their own jargon, and bicycle racing is no exception.

  @: In English language race results, an asperand (or “at” sign) is used to denote the amount of time or number of points behind the winner. In the example below, Fausto Coppi won the race, taking 9 hours 19 minutes 55 seconds to complete the course. Gino Bartali was well behind him and crossed the finish line 11 minutes 52 seconds later. Martini was still further behind, finishing 19 minutes 14 seconds after Coppi. Cottur was with Martini but slightly behind him. The “s.t.” means that he was given the same time as Martini. If a rider finishes close enough to a racer who is in front of him so there is no real gap, he will be given the same time as the first rider of that group. French or Spanish results will use often use “m.t.” to denote same time. If no time is given, same time is assumed.

  1. Fausto Coppi: 9 hours 19 minutes 55 seconds

  2. Gino Bartali @ 11 minutes 52 seconds

  3. Alfredo Martini @ 19 minutes 14 seconds

  4. Giordano Cottur s.t.

  a: In Italian race results “a” is the same as @.

  Abandon: To quit a race.

  Abbuono: Italian for time bonus. See Bonification.

  Ammiraglia: Italian for a team follow car.

  Arcobaleno: Italian for rainbow. See Rainbow Jersey.

  Arrivo: Italian for the finish line.

  Arrivo in salita: Italian for hilltop finish.

  Attack: Generally a sudden acceleration in an attempt to break free of the peloton. On flat roads it is usually done by riding up along the side of the pack so that by the time the attacker passes the peloton’s front rider, he is traveling too fast for the pack to easily react. In the mountains it is usually enough to accelerate from the front.

  Autobus: French. See Grupetto and Time Limit.

  Azzurri: Italian for the Men in Blue: the Italian national team wears blue jerseys.

  Bell Lap: The last lap before the finish, when a bell is traditionally rung.

  Bidon: Water bottle. Now made of plastic, early ones were metal with cork stoppers. Until 1950 they were carried on the handlebars, sometimes in pairs. Around 1950 riders started mounting bottle cages on the downtube. The trend to dispensing with the bar-mount cages started in the early 1960s and by 1970 they were a thing of the past. In the early 1980s, as a result of the sport of triathlon, builders started brazing bosses on the seat tube allowing mechanics to attach a second cage so that riders could again carry two bottles.

  Bonification: Time bonus (actually time subtracted) awarded to a rider. Stage races vary, and the Giro is always tinkering with its rules. Bonifications can be earned several ways: winning or placing in a stage, winning or placing in an intermediate sprint, being among the first riders over a rated climb.

  Bonk: To completely run out of energy, often called hunger knock. Sometimes a rider will forget to eat, or think he has enough food to make it to the finish without stopping to get food. The result can be catastrophic as the rider’s body runs out of glycogen, the stored chemical the muscles burn for energy. Famously, José-Manuel Fuente didn’t eat during the long stage fourteen in the 1974 Giro. He slowed as his body’s ability to produce energy came to a crashing halt. Merckx sped on and took the Pink Jersey from the Spaniard who had shown such terrible judgment. It’s happened to many great riders including Induráin and Armstrong, but not always with such catastrophic results. The French term is une fringale.

  Break: Short for breakaway.

  Breakaway: One or more riders escaping from the front of peloton, usually as the result of a sudden acceleration called an “attack”. Riders will work together sharing the effort of breaking the wind hoping to improve their chances of winning by arriving at the finish in a smaller group. This can also be called a “break”. Some riders do not possess the necessary speed to contest mass sprints and therefore try very hard to escape the clutches of the peloton well before the end of the race. Franco Bitossi was a master of the lone break even though he possessed a fearsome sprint. Sometimes a break will escape and no team will take responsibility to chase it down. See Chapatte’s Law and Fuga di Bidone.

  Bridge: To bridge a gap. To go from one group of cyclists to a break up the road.

  Bunch: When preceded by “the”, usually the peloton. Far less often a group of riders can be “a bunch”.

  Cadence: The speed at which the rider turns the pedals.

  Caravan: The long line of vehicles preceding and following the racers.

  Category: In European stage racing, it is a designation of the difficulty of a mountain climb. This is a subjective judgment of the difficulty of the ascent, based upon its length, gradient and how late in the stage the climb is to be ridden. A medium difficulty climb that comes after several hard ascents will get a highe
r rating because the riders will already be tired. The numbering system starts with “four” for the easiest that still rate being called a climb and then with increasing severity they are three, two, one. In the Giro the hardest climbs are usually rated Category one although it has happened that a climb is so difficult it has been classified as “Special”.

  Chairman Bill McGann: A harmless drudge.

  Chapatte’s Law: Formulated by former racer and Tour commentator Robert Chapatte, it states that in the closing stages of a race a determined peloton will chase down a break and close in at the rate of one minute per ten kilometers traveled. If a break is three minutes up the road the peloton will need to work hard for 30 kilometers to catch it. American television race commentator Paul Sherwen regularly uses Chapatte’s Law to come up with his often accurate predictions of when a break will be caught.

  Cima Coppi: The highest point in the Giro.

  Classic: Any of seven one-day races whose history and prestige will make the career of its winner. They are: Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Gent–Wevelgem, Paris–Roubaix, Flèche Wallonne, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. Only Rik van Looy has won them all. Some writers include a few other races in their list of Classics: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Amstel Gold Race, Rund um den Henniger Turm, San Sebastian Classic, Paris–Brussels and Paris–Tours.

  Classifiche Generali: Italian for General Classification.

  Colle: Italian for a small climb.

  Commissaire: A race official with the authority to impose penalties on the riders for infractions of the rules. A common problem is dangerous or irregular sprinting. The commissaire will usually relegate the offending rider to a lower placing.