Mark Cavendish holds on over a surging Davide Appollonio to take the last sprint opportunity at the 2011 Giro d?Italia. Alberto Contador finishes comfortably with the peloton to hold onto the maglia rosa for another day.
Mark Cavendish flashes a "2" for his second stage win at the 2011 Giro d'Italia. (Image ? 2011 Cor Vos/Bike World News)
It was another sunny day in Italy as 186 riders rolled out of the hilltop town of Castelfidardo to race a flat 184km to Ravenna. Temperatures were expected to reach 26 degrees during the day which is likely to be the last chance for the sprinters to make their mark. Mark Cavendish came into the Giro looking for five sprint wins and has only notched one, so we were looking for the Manxman to be firing on all cylinders today.
Just 6km into the day, four riders made a break for it.?Michal Golas (Vacansoleil), Davide Ricci Bitti (Farnese Vini), Stef Clement (Rabobank) and Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel) fairly quickly pull out to a 4 minute lead over the peloton. With these very flat roads, it?s safe to say that a breakaway today was no more than a folly. The peloton will give them some rope, however.?Pole Golas is the highest placed rider in the GC from this group ? but at 52:24 down in 93rd position, he?s hardly a threat to leaders.
It was no surprise to see that Mark Cavendish?s HTC-Highroad team was controlling the front of the peloton.?The average speed of the race for the first hour was 39.6 km/h but that rose to 43 km/h with the chase of the break. Earlier in the day, Cavendish told Eurosport,??It?s going to be a long day today for the guys. We?ll stick to the plan, holding out line at the end before Mark Renshaw takes me 200m from the finish. It hasn?t been a bad Giro for us. We won the ITT. Marco Pinotti wore the pink jersey, so did I. I?ve won a stage and hopefully I?ll win another.?
By the 125km mark, the leaders were holding onto just under a three minute gap over the peloton.
Any attack from the peloton at this point would likely be shut down, so it?s just a matter of the gruppo chasing down the fugitives and making a catch sometime before the finish. By 60km remaining, the gap was down to 2?10?. We?ve said before that days like these are a rest day on the bike, and that?s probably true today for all but Golas, Ricci Bitti, Clement and Minguez.
Ricci Bitti took the intermediate sprint in Cesenatico?ahead of Golas and Clement.
Wednesday?s winner John Gadret went down in a crash with about 6 other riders, but he was able to get back up and be brought pack to the pack by four Ag2R teammates.
HTC continued to control the front of the peloton as the four leaders had just 1:20 with about 25km to go. The peloton were on the outskirts of Ravenna. They will head down to the coast, see the sea one last time, then head back inland to the finish.
Cavendish had been expecting to drop out of the Giro to participate in the new Berlin ProRace taking place on May 22nd, but recently informed organizers that he would not be racing. Whether that means that he?ll stay in the Giro until the end or if he just needs a break is unknown.
17km to go and riders were starting to jockey for a position on the front. The gap had dropped to under a minute and the leaders were taking their last chance to get fresh bottles before the team cars got pulled back.
The end was near for the leaders. With 15km remaining, their gap had dropped to a precipitous 20 seconds. We?re reminded that the last man to win in Ravenna was Alessandro Petacchi back in 2005. It?s safe to say that he?d be looking for a repeat today.
The catch came just inside the 13km mark and the real racing began. Looking at the stage map, there are a couple of tight corners in the final kilometers, everyone will have to be vigilant getting into the town center. HTC was controlling the right side of the road, while Liquigas was taking the left flank. Acqua & Sapone were in there as well, while Alessandro Petacchi was still holding back a little, sitting on Cavendish?s wheel.
Omega Pharma-Lotto and Movistar, for Ventoso, have also made their way up. The sprinters knew that this was their last chance for glory.?Sky?s Peter Kennaugh was up there too for Davide Appollonio and Colnago had some men there for local lad Manuel Belletti.
5km to go and HTC continued to hold the front of the peloton with Pinotti on point. Petacchi is still hanging on Cav?s wheel, perhaps waiting for his leadout man Danilo Hondo to take him around.
The peloton begins to negotiate the final bends as they pass the 3km mark. Cavendish is sitting in fourth position, but Ale-Jet continues to dog him. There?s a crash a little back in the peloton that takes down Sacha Modolo of the Colnago team.
Renshaw starts to go with Cavendish on his wheel. Petacchi is right there, with Ciolek and Belliti on too. Cavendish looks a little nervous, peering over his should to see where Petacchi is and he goes for it. Cavendish got the win while Davide Appollonio snuck around for second and Petacchi grabbed third.
Brief Results:
1. Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad)
2. Davide Appollonio (Team Sky)
3. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD)
General Classification After Stage 11:
1. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard)
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Source: http://www.bikeworldnews.com/2011/05/19/2011-giro-ditalia-stage-12-results/
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