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| Wilko Kelderman in Florence |
Put a hill 20 to go. It's like a ramp, a skateborad one. It's good to launch an attack and Carlos Betancur knows that. Put Moncenisio at the start of a stage and the break-away will believe they are makeing it finally, Wilko Kelderman did. Put a fast descent and a fast finish after some climbs and you can attack ten times in a row. Tanel Kangert is not afraid.
Much more happened in this incredible stage but I want to talk about these three rampant riders, these three attacking guys fighting for White with power and feith.
Breaking away you hardly win. Attacking on a hill 2o to go it's hard to succeed. And few finisseurs are able to win dashing in front of a chasing group, especially when in this group there are almost all the GC main contenders. In spite of that Kelderman didn't give up and kept fighting till the last, when that vips chasing group caught him 20 to go. In spite of that Betancur set a classy attack atop the last climb and rocked the technical descent with a classy descender like Samy Sanchez. The Pink Jersey moved to chase them down. In spite of that and with reason Kangert attacked many and many times: on the climb, on the descent, on the flat, till the last km. He didn't win only because controlling Niemiec at his right failed to see Intxasti at his left.
Three talented young riders and an experienced winner: Intxausti dedicated his victory to Xavi Tond. "For a whole year I couldn't sleep after his death." Xavi. The only rider who offered doping went to the police. He survived few months. RIP. He was a good guy, one of the best in the peloton. Strong and generous. Intxasti too is a good guy and in this season absolutely strong.
What about the GC? I didn't imagine such a 'easy' stage could affect it so much. Waiting for full results, Santambrogio and Kiserlovski lost a lot of time on the last climb where they got dropped by the GC group, Gesink was there but got a mechanic at the true last minute. Uran didn't look brilliant, lost the decisive move but managed to come back and finish in the Nibali's group. Evan instead is in a very good shape and confirm to be the first contender for Nibali. Scarponi is embarrassing good. Maybe he's going to retire like Denis Menchov half a way to Brescia :P Probably GC and jerseys will stay like that till the end of this Giro. Cavendish is still in red - and Tanti Auguri! it's his birthday :) - Pirazzi is still in Blue. Betancur is still in White. Evans could grab that Red, Majka could grab that White. Many points are still waiting for the Blue jersey and many could get it as a consequence of their try to get the Pink one in the next mountain stages... The last week of the race is going to be thrilling.
RESULTS
Source http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=116937
STAGE
........
GC
| 1 | (1) | NIBALI Vincenzo | Astana Pro Team | 67:55:36 |
| 2 | (2) | EVANS Cadel | BMC Racing Team | 1:26 |
| 3 | (3) | URAN Rigoberto | Sky Procycling | 2:46 |
| 4 | (5) | SCARPONI Michele | Lampre - Merida | 3:53 |
| 5 | (6) | NIEMIEC Przemyslaw | Lampre - Merida | 4:13 |
| 6 | (4) | SANTAMBROGIO Mauro | Vini Fantini | 4:57 |
| 7 | (7) | BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto | AG2R La Mondiale | 5:15 |
| 8 | (8) | MAJKA Rafal | Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 5:20 |
| 9 | (10) | INTXAUSTI Benat | Movistar Team | 5:47 |
| 10 | (9) | POZZOVIVO Domenico | AG2R La Mondiale | 7:34 |
| 11 | (14) | KANGERT Tanel | Astana Pro Team | 7:43 |
| 12 | (13) | GESINK Robert | Blanco Pro Cycling Team | 7:47 |
| 13 | (15) | PELLIZOTTI Franco | Androni - Venezuela | 8:15 |
| 14 | (11) | KISERLOVSKI Robert | RadioShack - Leopard | 8:19 |
| 15 | (17) | SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 8:36 |
| 16 | (12) | TROFIMOV Yuri | Katusha Team | 9:02 |
| 17 | (16) | HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis | Sky Procycling | 10:26 |
| 18 | (19) | KELDERMAN Wilco | Blanco Pro Cycling Team | 15:04 |
| 19 | (21) | PETROV Evgeni | Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 18:26 |
| 20 | (22) | ATAPUMA HURTADO John Darwin | Team Colombia | 20:42 |














