Giro d’Italia – De Gendt Conquers The Stelvio, Rodriguez Retains The Pink Jersey

Belgium?s [W:Thomas De Gendt] (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) conquered the Passo dello Stelvio, winning the stage to the summit of the legendary Giro d?Italia climb with a lone attack. De Gendt finished 56 seconds ahead of Italy?s [W:Damiano Cunego] (Lampre-ISD) and 2:50 ahead of Spain?s Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Spain?s [W:Joaquin Rodriguez] (Katusha Team) finished fourth and gained 14 seconds on Canada?s [W:Ryder Hesjedal] (Garmin-Barracuda), extending his overall lead to 31 seconds. The winner of the 2012 Giro d?Italia will be decided in the final 30km time trial in Milan on Sunday. Thirteen riders temporarily stole the limelight on today’s 219 kilometer long an almost violently mountainous 20th stage of Giro d’Italia with a cruel uphill finish to the legendary climb of Passo dello Stelvio where the final battle was on between the overall favorites. And already on the penultimate climb, the leading rider, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) put in a striking uppercut on his opponents in form of a surprise attack and slowly they managed to get back on their feet. The front group was split up and some riders dropped back to the peloton and oliver Zaugg (Radioshack-Nissan) went solo on the steepest part of the climb. On the flat stretch between the two final climb, a chase group bridged the gap to Oliver Zaugg and the group of favorites was caught by another chase group as none of the favorites wanted to pull in the headwind. The favorites were then joined by their teammates and Christian Vandevelde went to the front of the group setting the pace for second overall and the rider likely to take the win on tomorrow’s time trial, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda). Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil) suddenly leaped away from his followers in the front group and eyed an amazing solo stage win on the steep slopes of the Stelvio climb and was thereby a serious contender for the GC while the thrill in the chase group intensified as they moved up the ascent. As the supporting riders were drained of energy, Ryder Hesjedal moved up to set the pace and with two kilometers to go, he tailed off Ivan Basso (Liquigas). On the final kilometer, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre) took off and made a few seconds on Hesjedal while Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil) won the stage in the most beautiful way and entered the GC top. Thomas De Gendt said: ?I?m very happy to win on a legendary mountain climb like the Passo dello Stelvio. All the big names in cycling have won here too. I hope it?s a good sign for me. I think I?ve got a future in the Grand Tours.? ?When I went on the attack my first thought was to make sure I had a bit of a gap at the start of the climb, to keep my eighth place overall. When I had three minutes and Cunego was a minute behind I started think of the stage victory.? But it?s easy to lose five minutes on a climb like this and everything had to fall into place. I never thought of taking the pink jersey because I knew the others would go very fast in the finale. I?m happy with fourth or a place on the podium.? ?I don?t think I?m going to win the [W:Giro d?Italia] but I have a good chance to finish third. I think Ryder Hesjedal will win the Giro d?Italia. He?s not far behind Rodriguez and he?s the best at time trials.? Joaquin Rodriguez said: ?I attacked late on because I wanted to see if Basso and Scarponi could stay with me. I?d have gained the same time if I?d attacked at four kilometres or at 800 metres. I think Hesjedal suffered a lot today and I?m happy with my result. De Gendt did a great ride but suffered too? ?In the Milan time trial I?ve got to fight against myself and limit my losses as much as possible. I really want to win this Giro d?Italia because it?s something I?ve worked hard for.? ?Ryder is the one under all the pressure because he?s got to make up the time.? The final time trial isn?t like the first one. My coach Sebastian Webber has studied the course and he thinks I can do it. I trust him because he?s always been right so far.? “I’m happy with today’s performance, I managed to gain some precious seconds over Hesjedal: but I think he’s still the favourite, because 31” are not such a great gap and he’s better than me in races against the clock. For sure I’ll do my best in order to make this dream come true, also because I think I have no other rivals: the others are quite far, also De Gendt which today was protagonist of a great performance and he’s an ITT specialist is 2’18” behind, which should be enough. I need a miracle: still, everything can happen, especially after such two difficult stages, where both Hesjedal and me spent many energies. That’s the reason why I believe I still have some chances”.

Team Saxo Bank’s riders were far off the front group today and there’s an explanation for that: ?Well, the stage wasn’t exactly tailor-made for our riders. It was a really hard and long day and maybe one of the most demanding in the race history. But I’d like to thank the riders for their commitment and their unbeatable motivation through the whole race. They’ve been seeking every opportunity there was for them. The line-up is picked out specifically to support the Haedo-brothers in the sprint so of course, I didn’t expect them to win the mountain stages as well. But the race isn’t over just yet. Tomorrow, there’s a time trial over 30 kilometers and I hope to see Manuele (Boaro) digging deep for the last time in this race and if he’s in good condition, he can probably aim for a top ten result. It’s remarkable for such a young rider to be able to compete this late in a tough grand tour but I hope he can make a good result tomorrow,? said Team Saxo Bank Italian sports director, Fabrizio Guidi. Rigoberto Ur?n and Sergio Henao both battled hard on the queen stage of the Giro d’Italia to continue their superb Grand Tour showings. The duo finished eighth and ninth on the mythical Passo dello Stelvio after slipping back late on from a group of elite contenders. With the breakaway riders able to build up a sizeable advantage both Ur?n and Henao slipped back on the day, Uran dropping to seventh while Henao was nudged out of the top 10. Both men still remain firmly atop the white jersey standings. Nicolas Portal, Team Sky Sports Director: ?The guys did a good ride to limit their losses at the end after being up front the whole day. Sergio was a bit stronger than Rigoberto on the day. He tried to follow the attack of Scarponi with 3km to go but the effort saw him on the limit. ?In the end we have lost spots on GC but the guys put in a big effort. The time gaps to the main favourites were not too bad in the end for a stage of this magnitude. De Gendt was too strong today. It was a brilliant ride from him so you have to say chapeau. ?Of course it is disappointing to lose the red jersey this close to the end. The team has worked so hard all race and we can be proud of the effort we?ve put in.? 2012 Giro d’Italia Stage 20 Results & General Classification