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PORTO RECANATI, Italy, May 20, 2010 (AFP) – Italy’s Filippo Pozzato won Thursday’s 12th stage of the Tour of Italy with Australian Riche Porte holding on to the leader’s pink jersey.

Pozzato, the first Italian to pick up a stage win since the start in Amsterdam, prevailed in a sprint for the line after the 206km run from French duo Thomas Voeckler and Jerome Pineau

This trio headed a group of 10 riders who had detached themselves from the main bunch a dozen kilometres from Porto Recanati.

Tempers flared in the final push when Spain’s Carlos Sastre and Australian world champion Cadel Evans had angry words with a rival rider.

The peloton crossed the line 10 seconds adrift of the leaders with half a wheel splitting the first two home.

“It’s a dream to win on the Giro whilst in possession of the Italian world champion’s jersey,” said Katusha team rider Pozatto.

“This season has been difficult,” the 28-year-old who won the Milan-SanRemo classic in 2006, added.

“I went for this victory with my heart, I needed this success.”

Porte, of the Team Saxo Bank, said he was having to pinch himself.

“For me it really is unbelievable to wear this precious Maglia Rosa,” he said. “Not even in my remotest dreams I had imagined something so great.

“I sometimes get lost in thought and I can hardly believe what’s happening to me.”

Friday’s 13th stage takes the riders on a run from Porto Recanati to Casenatico, the hometown of 1998 Giro winner Marco Pantani who died in 2004.

STAGE RESULTS
1. Filippo Pozzato (ITA/KAT) 5hr 15min 50sec
2. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/BTL) at 0:00s
3. Jerome Pineau (FRA/QST) 0:00.
4. Stefano Garzelli (ITA/ASA) 0:00.
5. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 0:00.
6. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 0:00.
7. Marco Pinotti (ITA/THR) 0:00.
8. Michele Scarponi (ITA/AND) 0:00.
9. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 0:00.
10. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 0:00.
11. Robbie McEwen (AUS/KAT) 0:10.
12. Manuel Belletti (ITA/CSF) 0:10.
13. Andre Greipel (GER/THR) 0:10.
14. Leonardo Duque (COL/COF) 0:10.
15. William Bonnet (FRA/BTL) 0:10.
16. Greg Henderson (NZL/SKY) 0:10.
17. Sebastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 0:10.
18. Michiel Elijzen (NED/OLO) 0:10.
19. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 0:10.
20. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 0:10.
Selected
25. Richie Porte (AUS/SAX) 0:10.
29. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 0:10.
52. Carlos Sastre (ESP/CTT) 0:10.
58. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 0:10.
60. Svein Tuft (CAN/GRM) 0:21.
71. Michael Barry (CAN/SKY) 0:24.
107. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 0:36.
169. Cameron Meyer (AUS/GRM) 10:52.

Overall
1. Richie Porte (AUS/SAX) 50hr 46min 16sec
2. David Arroyo (ESP/GCE) at 1:42.
3. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/LIQ) 1:56.
4. Xavier Tondo (ESP/CTT) 3:54.
5. Valerio Agnoli (ITA/LIQ) 4:41.
6. Alexander Efimkin (RUS/ALM) 5:16.
7. Linus Gerdemann (GER/MRM) 5:34.
8. Carlos Sastre (ESP/CTT) 7:09.
9. Laurent Didier (LUX/SAX) 7:24.
10. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 8:14.
11. Jan Bakelants (BEL/OLO) 8:35.
12. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 9:48.
13. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 11:10.
14. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 11:18.
15. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 11:39.
16. Marco Pinotti (ITA/THR) 12:05.
17. Francis de Greef (BEL/OLO) 12:21.
18. Stefano Garzelli (ITA/ASA) 12:32.
19. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/KAT) 12:32.
20. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 12:53.
21. Michele Scarponi (ITA/AND) 12:54.
Selected
28. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 19:14.
35. Michael Barry (CAN/SKY) 33:43.
39. Filippo Pozzato (ITA/KAT) 37:40.
144. Svein Tuft (CAN/GRM) 1h54:36.
169. Jack Bobridge (AUS/GRM) 2h34:07.

Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) would like to hit the repeat button and do the entire first week of the 2010 Giro d’Italia all over again.

The 2008 Tour de France champion came into this year’s Giro with high ambitions for all-out victory, but after a week of crashes, punctures and simple bad luck, his GC chances have all but evaporated.

Sastre’s bad luck continued Monday, when he punctured with less than 25km to go and lost contact with the front GC contenders, ceding 1:49 on the day when he could ill afford to give up more ground. He sank to 22nd overall at 9:59 back.

“All the time I’ve lost so far has nothing to do with my physical condition,” Sastre said tersely after Monday’s rain-drenched stage.

Cervélo didn’t bring a sprinter to the Giro so they could have all eight men riding for Sastre. With a brutal second half of the Giro, this year’s corsa rosa seemed tailor-made for Sastre’s climbing legs and grand tour experience.

Despite racing just eight days from the end of last year’s Tour coming into this year’s Giro, Sastre said he’s in fighting shape. Things started off well enough in Amsterdam, when he only lost 25 seconds to the specialists in the opening time trial.

But Sastre crashed hard the next day, whacking his back when he hit the deck with 7km to go and lost 37 seconds to the front group. Sastre avoided crashing the next day to Middelburg, but got caught up behind another crash and lost 46 seconds.

Once back in Italy, Cervélo put down a great TTT, tying for fifth. The next day saw Sastre feeling better from his Holland spill and things were looking up.

Disaster struck on the epic muddy run to Montalcino, when Sastre hit the deck in the same crash that wiped out maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso (both Liquigas). Sastre later bonked in the closing 10km and lost more than 5 minutes.

Despite the setbacks, Cervélo sport director Alex Sans says there’s still an outside shot Sastre could rise to the occasion in the brutally hard final week.

“Logically, if you look at the times on GC, we have to be realistic,” Sans said. “But we have to remember that this is a very hard Giro. Normally, the third week is very hard, but it will be even more difficult due to the grueling first week we’ve had. It’s been very long, very hard, very fast, with a lot of stress and rain. I think that’s going to cause a lot of damage in the third week.”

Sastre’s been known to pull a surprise or two in his career, but coming back from a nearly a 10-minute deficit could be a mountain too far, even with the Mortirolo, Monte Zoncolan and the Gavia looming in the final week.

Cyclist Franco Pellizotti has met with the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor and asked for a two-week extension to gather defense materials after failing the UCI's biological passport program. CONI anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri granted Pellizotti 15 days to collect materials relating to his blood profile.

With six stages completed (a time trial, three flat stages, a team time trial and Friday’s first semi-mountain stage), the 93rd Giro d’Italia has already produced more drama than anyone expected. It has also produced more crashes than anyone expected, which, unfortunately, have greatly affected the race for the maglia rosa.

Remarkably, only two riders were forced to quit in the “crash derby” in the Dutch stages. BMC Racing’s Martin Kohler fell and broke his collarbone on stage 2, while Garmin-Transitions’ Christian Vande Velde did the some thing on stage 3. But the many crashes — more than half the 198 starters were involved in pileups in the Dutch stages — caused an unprecedented number of riders to lose (major) time, including several pre-race favorites.

So, prior to this weekend’s two stages — a tricky one over the white roads of Tuscany on Saturday, and the first mountaintop finish on Sunday, where all the favorites will need to be at their best, either to consolidate their positions or attempt to get back time already lost — here’s the contenders’ scorecard.

Cadel Evans (currently 16th , 1:59 back)
The world champion took an excellent third place in the opening time trial, and earned the maglia rosa on stage 2 after leader Brad Wiggins was caught up in a crash 7km from the finish and lost 37 seconds. Ironically, Evans lost the jersey in similar fashion on stage 3, but the circumstances were different.

The Aussie was blocked by the crash that involved Wiggins and the rest of his Sky team, and Evans’s chain derailed when someone bumped him from behind. The then race leader had no teammates around him, and he had to chase solo to catch the second group on the road (that also contained Carlos Sastre). Up in the front group, according to reports, when Alexander Vinokourov heard about his rivals’ troubles he told his Astana teammates to crank up the pace. The result was Evans losing 47 seconds and the pink jersey — to Vinokourov.

Because of the time lost there, Evans’s BMC team started the fourth of the 22 teams in Wednesday’s team time trial (and with only eight riders, not nine). That first batch of teams had the worst of the wind conditions: during the opening 10km, they had to battle a fierce crosswind that switched to a tailwind for the later starters. All teams had to ride on wet roads and contend with short, heavy (sometimes violent) rain showers.

Critics have said that Evans was let down by his team, but what they have not recognized (besides the changing wind conditions) is that BMC Racing was the fastest of all 11 opening teams, including six UCI ProTour squads. This assessment was confirmed by intermediate times that showed BMC lost one minute to Team Sky in the first 18km, but conceded just eight seconds to the British squad over the final 15km. (Sky came in second after riding through a far worse downpour than the winning Liquigas team, which started half an hour later.)

So the 1:21 that BMC eventually conceded Liquigas would likely have been half that amount — probably more in line with Sastre’s Cervélo TestTeam, which took sixth place on the day, 38 seconds down.

In the climbing stages to come, Evans will have the support of Mauro Santambrogio, who was a last-minute replacement for the injured Steve Morabito. It was worrisome that Santambrogio was the only BMC rider to remain with Evans in the 88-strong front group on Friday after the Cat. 2 Passo del Cucco and Cat. 3 Foce di Ortonovo in the final 30km before the Marina di Carrara finish; but maybe reputed climbers Jeff Louder and Florian Stalder can come around before the more vital mountain stages begin.

Ivan Basso (second, 13 seconds back)
The top Italian contender was only 37th in the Amsterdam time trial, conceding 21 seconds to Evans in 8.4km, and losing 13 seconds to younger teammate Vincenzo Nibali. Since then, Basso has finished with the front group on all the road stages and helped Liquigas win the team time trial (see above).

Basso and co-team leader Nibali had three Liquigas riders with them in the front group on Friday’s climbing stage, which is comforting for the future days in the mountains.

Vincenzo Nibali (race leader)
Basso’s future at this Giro is intimately tied to that of his Liquigas teammate Nibali, who has the maglia rosa (and not Basso) thanks to his superior opening time trial (he was 11th in Amsterdam).

Nibali may have been at his parents’ home in Messina, Sicily, when he got the call to replace the disgraced Franco Pellizotti (whose biological passport indicated EPO use last year), but he wasn’t on vacation. Nibali was about to fly out to the Tour of California, for which he was fully prepared after riding the Tour de Romandie and the Ardennes classics following a two-week altitude training camp in Tenerife with Basso and other teammates.

When Basso was asked about his teammate in pink, who was seventh overall at the 2009 Tour de France, the 2006 Giro champion said, “I don’t see why he can’t keep the maglia rosa all the way to Verona. After all, who knows his true limits?”

Carlos Sastre (20th, 2:13 back)
The Spanish climber was 42nd in the opening TT, two seconds slower than Basso and 23 seconds behind Evans. But Sastre was caught behind crashes on both of the Dutch road stages, losing 37 seconds on the first and 47 second on the second one. Afterward, he said, “My team did the maximum to help me limit the time gaps and not lose the Giro here.”

Sastre’s Cervélo team did well in the TTT, finishing sixth, on the same seconds as Astana. And on Friday’s hilly stage he had three Cervélo teammates with him at the finish.

Alexander Vinokourov (fourth, 33 seconds back)
Vinokourov knows he may struggle on the steeper climbs that await the Giro in its third week, and that’s why he has done everything to gain time in the opening week. He did an excellent opening TT, fourth fastest, just three seconds behind Evans, and he instructed his team to split up the race in the crosswinds of stage 3.

Controversially, he is said to have taken advantage of the troubles experienced by Evans and Sastre toward the end of that stage. He claimed not to have known that Evans was chasing alone after being delayed by a crash, but Vinokourov’s Italian teammate Enrico Gasparotto apparently told the press that they heard of Evans’s predicament with 10km to go and that his team leader “shouted at us to pick up the pace.”

Vinokourov took the pink jersey after that stage, and he was hopeful his Astana team would help him keep it in the TTT; and that’s why he gesticulated in frustration and anger when he had only the minimum four teammates with him at the end — and the last of those men (whose time counted as the team’s time) was gapped.

Astana suffered an important loss Friday when climber Paolo Tiralongo crashed on a slick descent and was forced to quit – he’ll be missed by Vinokourov in the upcoming mountain stages. But the team leader still had five teammates with him at the end of the day.

The remaining pre-race favorites haven’t fared as well, while some others have ridden into contention. This is where they stand:

Vladimir Karpets (fifth, 39 seconds back)
The big Katusha rider from Russia has finished top 10 at the Giro (in 2005) but he doesn’t have the climbing legs to go with the best in the final week.

Richie Porte (sixth, 45 seconds back)
This confident Australian rookie has so far been Saxo Bank’s surprise weapon, but it’s a big step up from riding amateur distances last year to the heavy demands of this Giro

David Millar (seventh, 45 seconds back)
Losing Vande Velde early put Millar into the Garmin team’s leadership role, but the mountains of the Giro are much steeper and higher than the ones he conquered in Corsica when he placed second at the Critérium International in March.

Linus Gerdemann (ninth, 1:04 back)
The enigmatic German rider and his Milram team have ridden below the radar to date, but Gerdemann always rides strongly in Italy and he has won a mountain stage of the Tour, so let’s wait and see….

Marco Pinotti (17th, 2:01 back)
The seriousness of the HTC-Columbia rider’s credentials were shown Friday when he got into an early eight-man breakaway that was quickly squashed by the Liguigas team.

Michele Scarponi (21st, 2:35 back)
He has been outstanding on the climbing stages of the early-season Tirreno-Adriatico the past two years, but his Androni-Diquigiovanni team has yet to show it can support a shot at the maglia rosa.

Stefano Garzelli (23rd, 2:49 back)
The 2000 Giro winner is one of the dark horses this year, but his Acqua & Sapone team has been disappointing so far; maybe a stage win on Sunday would put some pep in their riding.

Damiano Cunego (26th, 3:45 back)
The 2004 winner has said he’s only shooting for stage wins, although his struggling Lampre-Farnese team would love him to play a major role in the GC stakes; but the time he lost in the Netherlands will be hard to make up.

Brad Wiggins (31st, 4:36 back)
His Amsterdam TT win was a great start for Team Sky in its first grand tour; now he’s out of the GC picture because of crashes, perhaps Wiggo can win a mountain stage. Wouldn’t that be something!

Domenico Pozzovivo (81st, 12:17 back)
Colnago-CSF’s Pozzovivo is one of the best climbers in the race, but so far he’s spent more time picking himself up off the deck than anything else. He could still surprise a few people once the longer, higher, steeper climbs begin in the final week.

Gilberto Simoni (138th, 22:10 back)
This is his last Giro at 39 years old, and he’s not going to repeat his overall victories of 2001 and 2003, but it would be great to see him take one of the Dolomite stages.

THE SECOND WEEK’S STAGES

Saturday May 15, Stage 7: Carrara—Montalcino (220km)
With rain in the forecast, this difficult 220km stage 7 through Tuscany (shortened slightly due to road work near the halfway mark) will be even messier than predicted — mud rather than dust on the strade bianche, the unpaved white roads made famous by the Montepaschi Eroica race. The stage marks the 10th anniversary of Italian legend Gino Bartali’s death with a course that visits many of the places where he trained and raced from his home in Florence. After a first couple of hours racing down the Tyrrhenian coast, the peloton will head inland through Pisa and climb to Volterra before a hilly finale that takes in two 10km-long stretches of strade bianche. The second of these sectors is almost entirely uphill and ends only 8km from the finish in Montalcino — where Filippo Pozzato of Katusha will be a stage win favorite.

Sunday May 16, Stage 8: Chianciano—Monte Terminillo (189km)
Although the first 170km of this stage has plenty of significant uphills and steep descents, all the focus will be on the Giro’s first mountaintop finish at Monte Terminillo in the Abruzzese Apennines of central Italy. The finish line will be at 1,672 meters (5,485 feet) elevation, not at the mountain’s 2,216-meter (7,270-foot) summit as has been erroneously reported. Even so, the 15km, 8-percent climb is extremely tough. Commenting on the Terminillo, Basso said, “You have to watch out for that stage; it’s the first summit finish but it could well be decisive!”

Monday May 17, Stage 9: Frosinone—Cava de’ Tirreni (187km)
After a weekend of challenging stages, the peloton will be happy to return to the plains, and this rolling 187km stage 9 south of Rome will give both the breakaways and sprinters a chance of success.

Tuesday May 18, Stage 10: Avellino—Bitonto (230km)
The sprinters will get a second bite of the cherry on a second rolling stage, this one across the foot of the Italian peninsula to Bitonto, near the Adriatic city of Bari. The forecast of cool, showery weather favors the sprinters.

Wednesday May 19, Stage 11: Lucera—L’Aquila (262km)
With temperatures still on the cool side, this marathon stage of 262km — likely to be the longest time-wise since the 2000 Giro when Axel Merckx won a 265km stage to Prato in 10 minutes short of eight hours! — will give everyone painful memories as they reach this Giro’s halfway point. The finish town of L’Aquila was near the epicenter of the 5.8-level earthquake in April 2009 that killed more than 300 people, left 65,000 homeless and caused an estimated $16 billion in damage. Seven or more hours in the saddle over a course featuring three difficult climbs in the Apennines almost guarantees that a breakaway will succeed.

Thursday May 20, Stage 12: Citta Sant’Angelo—Porto Recanati (205km)
This transitional stage travels north up the flat Adriatic coast for 100km before heading inland for a loop that ends with a lap and a half of a hilly 24km circuit at Porto Recanati. This stage should be a last one for the sprinters before this Giro starts getting really tough.

Friday May 21, Stage 13:Porto Recanati—Cesenatico (223km)
The whole race and its entourage will be pleased that for the first time in two weeks a stage will start at the same place as the previous one finished. And the good vibrations should continue for a good four hours up the coast through Rimini before stage 13 takes in two steep climbs and then descends for the final 35km into Cesenatico — hometown of the late Marco Pantani. A stage for the aggressors.

You can follow John at twitter.com/johnwilcockson.

As the peloton of 198 riders crowded around the start line in Amsterdam there was an air of nervousness and excitement.

Crowds of people leaned over the steel barriers craning to see the peloton, Bradley Wiggins’ maglia rosa, and the under-dressed fashion models who pranced around the start line waiting to send us off.

As we stood on the cobbled street, anticipating the drop of the starter’s flag, some riders fidgeted, others slung their heads low on their bars and stared down at their front wheel, while others chatted inanely to avert their focus for a moment before the race began. The ambiance was as electric as that at the start of Paris-Roubaix.

First stages of grand tours are inevitably chaotic as every racer holds on to a thread of hope. Legs are fresh and every rider has a dream and a goal. As the race wears on those dreams evolve as some find a level of performance they hadn’t imagined while others come short of their goals and abandon their dreams.

With each passing stage, the nervousness in the group dissipates as the race progresses and riders find their place in the hierarchy. The race will become too hard to pretend or hide as the speed and course create a natural selection.

To professional cyclists Northern Europe is windy, flat, wet, and dangerous. The riders who thrive in the conditions are considered the hard men of cycling, as they seem to fear little but massive mountains. The Giro d’Italia is known for the scenery, nice weather, pleasant breezes, steep mountains, and coastal roads.

Riders who raced the Giro a decade ago speak of calm starts, where the peloton cruised along at leisurely speed, nobody attacking and everybody chatting. As the television audience tuned in the show began, and they attacked the last hour of racing with vigour.

Somehow, the descriptions of the race seem to mirror the Italian culture where people enjoy relaxing but also explode with passionate gusto at the right moment. With the globalization of the peloton the Italian way of racing has vanished and, like in every other race we ride, the peloton strikes the course from the first kilometer and doesn’t seem to relent until the finish. Having the Giro begin in Amsterdam was like mixing opera with Ska.

At the start in the Netherlands we all knew the racing would be physically and technically intense. From start to finish, we raced over dikes, roads barely wide enough for an SUV, and through tiny villages, which became a maze marked by traffic islands, poles, and roundabouts. There were few moments where we could relax or even take our eyes off the road ahead to glance over at the masses of people who lines the courses from start to finish. The Dutch, like the Italians, love cycling. In the Netherlands, like in Italy, the Giro brought a party of pink to each small town.

Our race began with a bang as my teammate Bradley stormed out of the gates in Amsterdam to convincingly win the first stage. Hearing him talk about the effort after the race provoked goose bumps on my neck. He was either going to win or crash. His focus and lucidity under pressure ensured he wouldn’t fail. He left everything on the eight-kilometer course and virtually collapsed at the finish.

The team was committed to defending his jersey. In the wind, we rode together in the front, split the peloton and made every selection until the final 10 km when we came crashing down. On both road stages in Holland, half of the team arrived at the bus scraped, bruised and bleeding but still in good spirits. The music blasted through the bus’ speakers, the boys sang along, we laughed at our bad luck and our focus changed to the future. We had fought a valiant battle, know we have the legs to continue the fight in the coming days and weeks, and realize that good morale will keep us buoyant and firing.

After racing a relentless 220 kilometers the peloton boarded buses for an hour-long drive to the airport where we then stepped onto planes to travel to Italy. Finally, at 11 PM the plane landed in Cuneo. Drummers and trumpeters greeted us and ushered the weary, worn and bandaged peloton into a massive tent where a thousand VIP’s waited for autographs and photographs. Starving after having not eaten since the finish we ate like animals as the VIP’s snapped photos. At 1 AM we boarded a bus with two other teams for the hour-long trip over tiny farm roads to our hotel. At 2:30 AM we were finally tucked into bed. We would be on our TT bikes in 12 hours.

Woeste Greipel Het dreigt typisch zo’n dag te worden van continu achter de feiten aanlopen. De start van de derde etappe, bij de Amsterdamse Zuidas, moet ik vanwege een afspraak elders in de stad overslaan. Het houdt in dat ik pas om 12.29 uur de trein instap om naar Middelburg af te reizen. Ik denk er in een uur of anderhalf wel te zijn, maar het zuiden van Zeeland is toch verder dan het zuiden van Brabant, realiseer ik me nu. Pas tegen drieën arriveer ik in de Zeeuwse hoofdstad. Het duurt even voordat ik me door de roze menigte heb gewerkt. Ik heb geen flauw benul van wat zich in de koers aan het afspelen is als ik de tot een persruimte omgebouwde kerk instap. Daar zijn gelukkig tv's in overvloed die me wat duidelijkheid kunnen verschaffen. Alleen staan ze afgestemd op Rai Uno en niet op de NOS. Met mijn kennis van het Italiaans niet echt een cadeautje. Shots van bovenaf. Hollandse dijken en dorpen en een uit elkaar geslagen peloton. Meerdere groepen. Wie zit waar? Geen idee! Iedere keer als ik het denk te begrijpen gooit Rai Uno er een filmpje tussendoor. De jonge Eddy Merckx in zwart-wit, dan weer AC Milan-voetballer Gennaro Gattuso die voor een wijnrek zit en zegt dat hij beter kan rennen dan fietsen. Nog een kilometer of tien. Valpartij! Wiggins staat met zijn fiets in zijn hand, zijn shirt gescheurd ten hoogte van zijn linkerschouder met op de achtergrond de glinsterende Noordzee. Cadel Evans rijdt in zijn eentje een gat dicht. Niet naar de kop van de koers, blijkt even later,maar naar een achtervolgende groep. Zijn roze trui staat op het spel. Vooraan heeft een man of vijfentwintig zich in al het tumult losgemaakt. Zij denderen op de finish af in Middelburg. Nog vijf kilometer. Ik ga naar buiten, naar het gebied achter de finish waar de renners worden opgevangen door hun verzorgers. Daar wordt iedereen met een persaccreditatie achter een hekje gedirigeerd. Het slot van de etappe kan gevolgd worden op een klein scherm. Een compacte groep sprint voor de dagzege. Rabo-troef Graeme Brown komt ver, maar moet het afleggen tegen Wouter Weylandt van QuickStep. We zien de 25-jarige Belg winnen op tv, maar enkele seconden later komt hij ‘live’ de bocht om en houdt hij precies stil voor het persgebied. Hij slaakt een oerkreet en ziet niet dat achter hem een woeste verschijning is opgedoken. Het is André Greipel. De Duitser van HTC-Columbia haalt uit. Bam! Een flinke stomp op het ranke lichaam van de gelukkige winnaar, gevolgd door gefrustreerd gescheld. Het moge duidelijk zijn: de Duitser vindt dat hij geflikt is. Voordat Weylandt terug kan meppen wordt hij gevonden door zijn moeder, zijn vriendin en een kameraad. Die laatste barst in huilen uit. ‘Ik wist het, ik wist het, ik wist het’, prevelt de vriend in prachtig Vlaams. Woede, frustratie en uitzinnige vreugde op één meter van mijn neus: het loont altijd de moeite om naar de koers te gaan. Weylandt is alweer ontvoerd richting podium, waar hij zich laat huldigen als ritwinnaar en waar Alexandre Vinokourov (vandaag 46 seconden sneller bij de streep dan Evans) het roze krijgt omgehangen. Zo komt er een einde aan de Giro in Nederland. Drie verschillende ritwinnaars, drie verschillende leiders, drie dagen spektakel en chaos. De karavaan gaat richting Oostende om van daaruit naar Italië te vliegen, ik neem de trein naar Amsterdam. Mijn vlucht richting Italië gaat pas morgen. Het is donker als ik terug ben in de hoofdstad. Ik zoek mijn fiets, maar kan ‘m niet vinden. Ik maak een rondje langs de rekken, nog een rondje, nog een rondje, nog een rondje en nog een rondje. Die zien we nooit meer terug. Lopend naar huis dan maar… Ciao! Timo Bruijns Twitter.com/timoditalia

Two days of Dutch carnage has ripped a hole into the GC at the 2010 Giro d’Italia and struck fear into any rider looking ahead to these same roads across Holland this summer for the Tour de France.

Monday’s long and windy stage to Middelburg saw a repeat of Sunday’s crash derby, but with more serious implications for the battle for the pink jersey when the Giro ends May 30 in Verona.

The Giro is just getting started, but several big-time names lost so much time that the already-thin list of GC candidates was reduced to a half-dozen contenders who’ve survived the harrowing opening three stages across Holland.

Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Transitions) was the top casualty, crashing out of the Giro for the second year in a row with a likely broken collarbone in Monday’s nervous, windy and stressful 210km run from Amsterdam to Middelburg in the Giro’s third stage.

Some GC favorites and their time losses in the first three days:

• Ivan Basso (ITA) Liquigas Doimo 14th at 0:18
• Carlos Sastre  (ESP) Cervélo TestTeam 43rd at 1:40
• Damiano Cunego (ITA) Lampre-Farnese Vini 50th at 2:07
• Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Team Sky 55th at 4:28
• Daniel Moreno Fernandez (ESP) Omega Pharma-Lotto 97th at 8:56
• Gilberto Simoni (ITA) Lampre-Farnese Vini 135th at 9:24
• Marzio Bruseghin (ITA) Caisse D’Epargne 152th at 9:41

(Complete Stage 3 results)

Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) took the third leader’s jersey in as many stages after overnight leader Cadel Evans (BMC) was caught up behind a crash involving Wiggins.

“The goal was to be at the front all day. I had great help from the team today and to take the pink jersey is a big honor,” Vinokourov said briefly before heading to catch a flight to Italy. “To tell the truth, I am not sure how strong I am going in this Giro. I will have a better idea after the team time trial. With the jersey, we will be able to go last, which will be a big advantage.”

Despite a valiant chase, Evans lost 46 seconds and tumbled to 24th at 43 seconds back.

“With 10km to go, I had done everything right, I put myself everywhere (to be safe) and was relaxed and there was no wind,” Evans explained. “Then, I came around a corner and the whole Sky team was on the ground. Guys were falling on top of me. Losing 40-some seconds to my competitors isn’t something I wanted to give up.”

Carlos Sastre (Cervélo), the 2008 Tour champion, who came to the Giro with ambitions for overall victory, was feeling the effects of his crash in Sunday’s stage and couldn’t take pulls when he was gapped behind the same Wiggins crash as Evans.

“I was really feeling some pain in my back and right leg in the final 40km as a consequence of my crash yesterday. Even though I wanted to take pulls, the truth is it was impossible,” Sastre said. “Luckily, I had two teammates with me who pulled to the maximum and helped me not lose even more time. Tomorrow we have a rest day so I hope I can recover from these blows.”

Of course, in racing, one man’s loss is another’s gain.

Joining Vinokourov near the top of the leaderboard is the Liquigas pair of Vicenzo Nibali (4th at 5 seconds back) and Ivan Basso (14th at 18 seconds back). Nibali was called by one journalist “this year’s Alberto Contador,” alluding to Nibali’s last-minute addition to replace Franco Pellizotti.

Giro d’Italia 2000 champion Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) has ridden well to slot into ninth at 15 seconds back while the enigmatic Vladimir Karpets (Katusha) is 12th at 17 seconds back. Another rider quietly in good position is Michele Scarponi (Androni) at 11th at 16 seconds back.

Wednesday’s team time trial should help riders like Evans or Sastre regain some time and could put Millar or Nibali into the pink.

Regardless of their place on GC, riders were keen to return to Italian roads and put Holland in the rear-view mirror. Or at least until July.

[10.05 17:23] The 224 kilometer long stretch between Amsterdam and Middelburg formed today’s third stage of Giro d’Italia and similar to yesterday’s wild ride on the narrow and windy roads of Holland, the trek offered a lot of drama. An endless number of casualties from crashes characterized the stage and Cadel Evans (BMC) lost the overall lead to Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) due to a crash. Today’s sprint was won by Quick Step’s Wouter Weylandts ahead of Graeme Brown (Rabobank)

Team Saxo Bank’s young Aussie comet, Richie Porte once again hurdled through crashing riders and road furniture and is now remarkably on second place overall.

Some of the overall favorites lost so much time that their chance of getting back to the top of the rankings is minimal. Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) lost 7.59 minutes, Bradley Wiggins (Sky) lost 3.59 minutes while Cadel Evans (BMC), Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) lost 46 seconds to Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana).

MILRAM Sprinter together with Linus Gerdemann and Thomas Rohregger at the front in the third stage
Newcomer Paul Voß continues in mountain jersey

Dortmund, 9. May 2010. MILRAM sprinter Robert Förster finished in third place in the third day of the 93rd Giro d’Italia (May 8-30 / UCI HIS). In the hectic sprint finale of a 30-rider strong lead group, he finished behind only Belgian Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) and Australian Graeme Brown (Rabobank) after 209 kilometers from Amsterdam and Middelburg. Linus Gerdemann, captain of the German ProTour team, finished seventh. His Austrian teammate Thomas Rohregger completed Team MILRAM’s excellent performance with a ninth place finish.

„That was a chaotic race with many crashes and lots of wind,“ said Robert Förster after the finish in Middelburg. „Third place is certainly ok. My form is good and there is still room for improvement.“

Christian Henn, who along with Italian Vittorio Algeri is serving as Team MILRAM’s directeur sportif, was very satisfied. „Three riders in the top ten is a super result. We helped shape the race from the front. You could see that the riders had the right attitude. That has a hectic stage with many crashes. Unfortunately our Thomas Fothen went down. Otherwise our results would have been even better.“

„We had the right feel for all the right situations,“ said Linus Gerdemann, who moved up to eighth place overall. „With Robert Förster we had our sprinter up there. We wanted to bring that group to the finish, in order to set up the sprint for Frösi. That worked out very well.“

In the overall rankings, Gerdemann improved to eighth place. Leading now is Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) ahead of Australian Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) and Briton David Millar (Garmin-Transitions). Thomas Rohregger is 17th overall.

MILRAM captain Gerdemann stayed in the thick of things for all of the windy stage. Together with his teammates Thomas Rohregger and Robert Förster, third on the day, he was in the first group and thus avoided the crashes and wind echelons which caught so many others.

For Paul Voß, who on Sunday won the mountain jersey after an exciting down-to-the-last-second fith with Italian Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago – CSF), will continue to wear the green jersey. Neither today’s stage nor the team time trial this coming Wednesday will have any points for the mountain ranking. Voß crossed the finish line before Pirazzi, so that the MILRAM newcomer can also wear the coveted jersey at least until the fifth stage on Thursday.

After three days of racing in the Netherlands, Tuesday is the first rest day of this year’s Giro d’Italia. Wednesday is the fourth stag, a team time trial from Savigliano over 32.5 kilometers to Cuneo.

(rsn) ? Auch der nächste Angriff von André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) auf das Rosa Trikot ist gescheitert. Auf der 3. Etappe des 93. Giro d?Italia über 224 Kilometer von Amsterdam nach ....