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Stage 10 – ‘Exceptional’ Wegelius
The only British (if you don’t count Anglo-Italian Dario Cioni) rider in the race rode a fantastic team effort in a 100+km long breakaway. He was with Lquigas-Bianchi team mate Franco Pellizotti and a host of other non-GC threatening riders and the hard hilly stage ended with Wegelius marking the loose cannons in the break and at one point hammering down on Axel Merckx (Phonak) who had escaped from the break and made a small gap. Once reeled in Pellizotti won the sprint, but Wegelius was certainly noticed by the Italian press and credited by his team mate who said:
“I have to share victory with my team mate Charly Wegelius, we didn’t have any riders in the early breakaway and so we attacked together to catch them. There were a lot of attacks in the final part of the stage but Charly sacrificed his chances to help me. He was exceptional.”
Stage 11 – Jan’s Back!
As the Giro heads towards the mountains again this weekend and after a well earned rest day, a certain German sent some alarm bells out to the Tour de France challengers with an amazing show of power time trialling. With the pressure on Ivan Basso (CSC) and the German’s T-Mobile team mate Serguei Gonchar, Jan Ullrich could afford to ‘take it easy’ and do what he does best, as he said afterwards:
“I’m amazed that I posted the best time, I didn’t fire on all cylinders at first, but when I heard that I was among the best, I gave it a hundred percent.”
Obviously Jan is too far back to worry Basso and co for the Maglia Rosa, but they’ll certainly be thinking about him come the first weekend in July, he’ll need to show in the mountains over the next few days (Flat today but Saturday is a stinker) and proove that his knee is healed and he’s ready for the TdF. Charly Wegelius impressed in the TT too, he’s certainly riding a good tour and he always says he’s best in the high mountains, so he should climb up the GC soon too. It’s all hotting up in Italy!
Results Stage 10 – Tuesday, May 16 – Termoli to Peschici – 187 km
1. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 4.39.47 (40.745 km/h)
2. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears
3. Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 0.02
4. Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R Prevoyance
5. Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank 0.03
6. Jose Luis Carrasco Gamiz (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears
7. Marco Pinotti (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.05
8. Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner
9. Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Rabobank 0.08
10. Joan Horrach Rippoll (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears
19. Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas @1.44
Results Stage 11 – Thursday May 18 – Pontedera to Pontedera ITT – 50 km
1. Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 58.48 (51.02 km/h)
2. Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 0.28
3. Marco Pinotti (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 1.01
4. Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) T-Mobile Team 1.09
5. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.19
6. José E. Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 1.42
7. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 2.12
8. Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Française des Jeux 2.22
9. Dario David Cioni (Ita) Liquigas 2.24
10. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.27
72. Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas 5.40
General classification after stage 11
1. Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 40.28.56
2. José E. Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 2.48
3. Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) T-Mobile Team 3.24
4. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.26
5. Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 5.38
6. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 6.37
7. Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems 6.54
8. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
9. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 7.13
10. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas 7.33
44. Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 18.46
77. Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas 38.52
