Biking Bis - Bicycle Touring and More

Basso wins 2010 Giro d'Italia

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 30 May 2010 09:06:45 -0700

Italy's Ivan Basso won his second Giro d'Italia on Sunday, easily holding his rivals at bay in the final individual time trial in Verona.

David Arroyo, the career domestique for Caisse d'Epargne finished in 2nd place overall, and Basso teammate Vincenzo Nibali finished in 3rd. Michele Scarponi and Cadel Evans rounded out the top 5.

Gustav Larsson, a Swedish member of Team Saxo Bank, won the stage that ended in an ancient coliseum.

Basso, 32, previously won the Giro in 2006, then finished in 4th place in 2009. In between, his cycling career was interrupted by a two-year doping suspension ...

Attack on final climb fails to unhinge leaders at Giro

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:48:14 -0700

Evans attacks

Cadel Evans attacked on Saturday's final climb in an attempt to threaten the overall supremacy of Ivan Basso as the Giro d'Italia comes to a close.

The Australian's bid failed to close much of the 4-minute gap to the overall leader. However, the 5th-place cyclist reduced time differences with his rivals so he might gain a podium position as the race ends Sunday with a 9-mile individual time trial in Verona.

Swiss cyclist Johann Tschoop, with no such designs in the General Classification, won the 110-mile stage from Bormio to Passa del Tonale that featured five climbs, including the massive Passo do Gavia ...

Mountains spell doom for Giro d'Italia leader

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:22:20 -0700

Wearing the maglia rosa for the past week, Spain's David Arroyo handed over the leader's jersey to former champion Ivan Basso, left, after the Italian's relentless attacks on the final two climbs at the Giro d'Italia on Friday.

The Liquigas duo of Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, with hanger-on Michele Scarponi, joined up to power over the dreaded Mortirolo summit with about 24 miles left in the race as Arroyo and all the other major contenders fell back. Then Arroyo caught up with most of his rivals on the treacherous downhill, but the Basso group created a larger gap on the final climb to Aprica.

While Scarponi won Stage 19, Basso appears poised to win the overall championship on Sunday. Friday marked the first time he has donned the leader's jersey since he won the Giro in 2006. What followed was a couple of years of investigations and suspensions for doping ....

Long day in saddle for Giro cyclists; little change among leaders

Gene Bisbee — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:08:48 -0700

French cyclist Damien Monier attacked his breakaway compatriots on the final climb to win Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.

His first ever win after 8 years as a pro came more than 10 minutes ahead of the battlers for the overall leaders' jersey crossed the finish line in Pejo Terme at the end of the 107- bike race from Brunico.

The chasing group contained all the leaders, including the maglia rosa David Arroyo, Ivan Basso (2nd), Richie Porte (3rd), and Cadel Evans (4th).

Basso's Liquigas team took control of that group toward the end of the state to prevent any attacks from getting away ...

Giro rivals crawl uphill back into contention

Gene Bisbee — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:07:59 -0700

Former Giro d'Italia champion Stefano Garzelli proved he's still a powerful climber as he won the unrelenting 8-mile individual time-trial to the summit of Plan de Corones on Tuesday.

Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov were among those gaining seconds in their battle to win the leader's jersey as the Giro kicked off its last week with the steep climb. David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) held onto to his lead, although he saw it drop by about a minute to some of his rivals.

The challenge continues on Wednesday with another mountaintop finish on Stage 17 after a mid-race climb up and over Passo delle Palade ....

Monte Zolcolan takes its toll; but Giro leader hangs on

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 23 May 2010 09:52:07 -0700

Italy's Ivan Basso surged up the steepest climb at this year's Giro d'Italia to win Stage 15 atop Monte Zolcolan on Sunday and leap-frog eight other cyclists into 3rd place.

Overall leader David Arroyo survived in the maglia rosa, although his days at the front appear numbered. Tuesday marks the beginning of the Giro's final hellish week highlighted by two high mountain stages and an individual time trial.

Basso, a 32-year-old Liquigas rider, slipped away from the leader's group along with Australia's Cadel Evans and Italy's Michele Scarponi. Basso and Evans dropped Scarponi, then paced each other for a few miles of the climb up Monte Zolcolan, an awesome 6-mile finish that rises 4,000 feet at an average 11% slope.

Along the way, the pair passed the final three members of a six-man breakaway that at one time had more than a 9-minute gap on the peloton.

With about 2 miles to go on the climb, Basso steadily began pulling away from Evans .....

Big names at Giro d'Italia rising through the ranks

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:07:34 -0700

The early favorites of the Giro d'Italia, such as Saturday's Stage 14 winner Vincenzo Nibali, started nibbling away at the huge leads gained by members of a breakaway earlier in the week.

Nibali and Ivan Basso (both of Liquigas), Cadel Evans (BMC), Michele Scarponi (Androni) all cut at least a minute-and-a-half off their deficits on the 127-mile race from Ferrara to Asolo. Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) finished closely behind them.

All but Scarponi and Basso are back into the top 10, but they still have huge time gaps to make up ...

Gearing up for tough weekend at Giro d'Italia

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:30:29 -0700

Team Saxo Bank's Richie Porte will wear the maglia rosa into the mountains of the Giro d'Italia as he protected the overall lead in Friday's Stage 13.

Manuel Belletti (Colnago) won the 138-mile race from Porto Recanti to Cesenatico in front of yet another breakaway at the Giro. His victory also marked the second day in a row that at Italian won the stage in his home country.

Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) broke the jinx in Stage 12 on Thursday to become the first Italian to win a Giro stage this year.

The peloton begins a grueling and decisive segment of the Giro starting on Saturday ....

Chaotic Stage 11 reshuffles overall standings at Giro d'Italia

Gene Bisbee — Wed, 19 May 2010 07:30:00 -0700

A large breakaway, epic distance, multiple climbs and inclement weather all conspired to completely restructure the general classification of the Giro d'Italia as it reached its half-way point on Wednesday.

The turmoil elevated Tasmanian cyclist Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) 6 places to the 1st overall, while rival leaders Alexandre Vinokourov and Cadel Evans completely dropped out of the Top 10 after trailing the day's winners by some 12:30.

Beginning the day 2:26 behind Vinokourov, Porte is now about 10 minutes ahead of him in the overall rankings.

A prime example of the turbulance among the leaders is former Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre of the Cervelo team. He rose to 8th place overall ...

Another win at Giro d'Italia for Tyler Farrar

Gene Bisbee — Tue, 18 May 2010 09:28:01 -0700

US sprinter Tyler Farrar paired up with Garmin-Transitions teammate Julian Dean to win Stage 10 at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday.

It was the Wenatchee, Washington, cyclist's second stage win at this year's Giro and his fourth so far this year. He currently holds the points leader's red jersey.

The overall leaders remained unchanged, with Alexandre Vinokourov holding onto first place, 1:12 ahead of Cadel Evans.

The Garmin-Transition team shared time at the front of the peloton during the 143-mile race from Avellino to Bitonto to ensure that a successful breakaway didn't spoil what was expected to be a sprint finish. The three cyclists who led most of the bike race were reeled in about 10 miles from the finish.

HTC-Columbia didn't seem able ...