After the favorites battled on the steep slopes of the Dolomites on Thursday, two emerged as the bicycle racers to beat in the Giro d' Italia.
Discovery Channel Pro Cycing Team's Paolo Savoldelli won the stage atop Zolto Alto by a hair over Ivan Basso, who unmercifully drove the other riders into the ground on the last two major climbs, according to the live report from CyclingNews.
Basso, leader of the CSC team, is a favorite in this year's Giro and a favorite in the July 2-24 Tour de France as well. The Italian wins the overall leader's pink jersey for his efforts.
Savoldelli, also Italian, is now ranked second overall and is 18 seconds behind Basso. The Giro winner in 2002, Savoldelli sat as low as 28th place over the weekend.
Although the race stretched 93 miles from Marostica to Zoldo Alto in northeastern Italy, the serious action started on the climb to Passo Duran (5,280 feet) with 20 miles left in the race. Twenty riders started in the leading group, which Basso reduced to 12 then just 5 crossing the summit more of less together: Jose Rujano Guillen, Basso, Gilberto Simoni, Savoldelli, and Danilo Di Luca (overall leader).
Savoldelli attacked on the descent, but Basso caught up as they made the final climb to Zoldo Alto. They appeared to work together, devastating everyone else in the field, until they made a sprint at the end.
In the end, Basso, Savoldelli, and Simoni (4th) could be considered the winners; Di Luca (3rd, who lost the pink jersey) and Damiano Cunego (last year's Giro winner who finished 6 minutes back today) were among the big losers.
Live reports are available on CyclingNews and VeloNews and the OLNTV website provides a webcast of the live video feed.
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