A large breakaway, epic distance, multiple climbs and inclement weather all conspired to completely restructure the general classification of the Giro d'Italia as it reached its half-way point on Wednesday.
The turmoil elevated Tasmanian cyclist Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) 6 places to the 1st overall, while rival leaders Alexandre Vinokourov and Cadel Evans completely dropped out of the Top 10 after trailing the day's winners by some 12:30.
Beginning the day 2:26 behind Vinokourov, Porte is now about 10 minutes ahead of him in the overall rankings.
Climb in standings
A prime example of the turbulance among the leaders is former Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre of the Cervelo team. He rose to 8th place overall on Wednesday after beginning the day in 22nd. The Spaniard appeared to be completely out of the race on Tuesday after dragging across the finish line in 101st place.
The 162-mile route from Lucera to L'Aquila crossed the Apennines and included four climbs, including one at the finish. It's the long stage of this year's Giro, which ends in Verona on May 30.
The stage winner, Evgeni Petrov of Team Katusha, was a member of the 56-man breakaway that took a flyer about 12 miles into the race and survived with about 40 riders at the finish. At one point, the breakaway had a 17-minute lead over the peloton.
Breakaway roster
Some teams, such as Sky and Cervelo, nearly had as many riders in the breakaway as they did in the peloton. Vinokourov (Astana) and Evans (BMC) had representatives there, but they dropped back later on to assist their team leaders in the peloton. Also caught behind in the peloton were Vincenzo Nibali (3rd, Liquigas), Ivan Basso (4th Liquigas) and Marco Pinotti (5th, HTC-Columbia)
Saxo Bank and Caisse d'Epargne drove the breakaway, which helped to set up Porte for first overall and David Arroyo (Caisse d'Eparge) in second place.
Astana and Liquigas completely let the breakaway get too far ahead and couldn't muster much help to catch up. Evans' BMC team has been decimated by abandonments. Even with Porte in 6th place overall, I'm sure the roster of the breakaway didn't seem threatening early in the stage.
Upcoming stages
Thursday's Stage 12 is a 128-mile ride from Citta Sant'Angelo to Porto Recanti. There are some rollers along the way, but it has been touted as a sprinters' race. The racers will be challenged by a couple of medium climbs on Friday, then Monte Grappa on Saturday and a climbing finish to Monte Zoncolan on Sunday. On Monday, the peloton will rest before the final mountainous week.
Top cyclists after Stage 11
1. Richie Porte (Australia, Saxo Bank)
2. David Arroyo (Spain, Caisse d'Epargne) – 1:42 behind
3. Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia, Liquigas) – 1:56
4. Xavier Tondo (Spain, Cervelo) – 3:54
5. Valerio Agnoli (Italy, Liquigas) – 4:41
6. Alexander Efimkin, (Russia, AG2R) – 5:16
7. Linus Gerdemann (Germany, Milram) – 5:34
8. Carlos Sastre (Spain, Cervelo) – 7:09
9. Laurent Didier (Luxembourg, Saxo Bank) – 7:24
10. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain, Sky) – 8:14
Selected others….
12. Alexandre Vinokourv (Kazahkstan, Astana) – 9:58
13. Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC) – 11:10
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