Giro d'Italia Stage 19 - All suffer as the mountains really take their toll

Today’s stage: Slow, painful, mountain craziness. A war of attrition with three category 1 climbs and a summit finish at Alpe di Pampeago.

Who won today’s stage? Roman Krueziger (Astana) attacked on the category 2 Passo Lavaze between the two passages of the Pampeago climbs and then held on for dear life as the GC contenders nearly closed him down on the final climb of the Pampeago.

What matters in the GC race? Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) finished second on the stage and closed his deficit to Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) down to 17”. Considering all of the top climbers are likely to lose time to Hesjedal in the time trial, the Canadian may have won himself the Giro today. Further down, Ivan Basso (Liquigas) burned his entire team and then burned himself up, losing 35” to Hesjedal and falling to 4^th place overall, 1’45” behind Rodriguez.

What matters in other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Mark Cavendish is still in the lead, assuming he finishes within the time cut (he is still on the course as I write). Nonetheless, unless he somehow pulls a major result in the time trial or Rodriguez explodes tomorrow, Rodriguez will win this category as the difference is only 13 points.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago) scored a handful of points today to close the defecit to 21 points against Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini). If Pirazzi wants to contest this, he should get himself in the break tomorrow while Rabottini can basically seal this up if he goes in the break.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) finished with the top GC men and easily retained his lead over teammate Sergio Henao in this category. Only a meltdown would keep Sky from winning this category with one of the two men as only Ginaluca Brambilla (Colnago) is within 15 minutes of Uran (4’57” back).

Biggest surprise: Krueziger had legs again. After his explosion the other day losing 12 minutes, Krueziger rode like he was trying to save his career (which he very well might have been doing). It was still a shock when he was able to hold off the leaders and take the stage victory and it also saved the Giro for his team considering teammate Paulo Tiralongo lost 17 minutes today.

Biggest Disappointment: Liquigas’ tactical failure, all race long. All race long, Liquigas had set the pace even though they weren’t the leaders of the Giro. All race long, Liquigas’ domestiques burned themselves up in service of Ivan Basso. It all came to a head today. Liquigas burned everybody up way too quickly because of the tired legs. Sylvester Szymd, Liquigas super climber domestique, even blew early, unable to contribute on either pass of the Pampeago. The rest were gone by early through the second ascent. Then Basso himself, who everybody was working for, failed to even hold the wheel of Hesjedal and Scarponi first, then Rodriguez, Pozzovivo and Uran. It was a stunning failure of the entire team, one that botched this race badly in 2010 but got away with it anyway and again last season (though Nibali couldn’t have beaten Contador under any circumstance, especially on that course).

Other iteams of note: Though he had been sick, the extent of Benat Intxausti’s (Movistar) capitulation today was impressive. He had been 6^th overall, but finished with the final grupetto and lost over 40 minutes today… It was a good thing the descent off the category 1 Passo Manghen was not set up to be decisive because had it been there would have been major safety issues. The road is tight, narrow and technical and riders would have been in real danger if there was any incentive to take risks on the descent… There were a few riders that abandoned today. Most notable was Androni Giacattoli leader Jose Rujano who lost a ton of time on Wednesday and was struggling again today.

What is coming tomorrow? Even more mountain pain. The names Motirolo and Stelvio are feared by every cyclist. Put them together and stage is truly a monster. Especially with the stage finish atop the Stelvio at the highest point ever for a Grand Tour stage finish, this will be difficult for everyone.