On a stage dominated by breakaways, a cyclist who sat in the peloton all day won Stage 11 on Wednesday at the Giro d'Italia.
John Gadret (AG2R) attacked from the driving peloton less than a mile from the finish in Castelfidardo. He bridged up to Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and easily passed the surviving member of a 11-man breakaway.
Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank), who had earlier said he wasn't interested in protecting the maglia rosa for every remaining stage of the Giro, still wore the overall leader's jersey at the end of the day with a 59-second lead.
Jagged route
The Giro d'Italia peloton bumped along the jagged profile of Stage 11 from Tortoreto to Castelfidardo. The 142km (88-mile) route followed the narrow roads through the mountains within sight of the Adriatic Sea.
With the race route marked by four Category 4 climbs, there appeared to be very little level terrain.
Acknowledging that Stage 11 was a great opportunity for a breakaway victory, David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo) joined several breaks during the early part of the race, but was brought back each time.
New leader?
The 11-man breakaway that finally did get away after about 36 miles contained Christophe Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo), a cyclist placed in 3rd overall.
Ordinarily the team protecting the maglia rosa wouldn't let such a highly placed cyclist escape. After taking the lead on Mount Etna stage Sunday, Contador said he wasn't interested in having his Saxo Bank teammates defend the jersey the remainder of the bike race.
It sounds like Contador is confident that if he loses the maglia rosa, he can win it back any time.
Attack
On the final climb of the day, Moreno attacked to win the mountain points then stayed ahead of the others in the breakaway. Le Mevel had difficulty getting that group to work together as Moreno pedaled up the road.
Ingatas Konovalovas (Movistar) bridged up to Moreno, and the pair worked together until nearly the finish.
By then, the peloton had been driving and caught up to the breakaway group in the final mile. Konovalovas couldn't keep the pace on a thigh-busting 10% climb, and Moreno scampered ahead on his own with the peloton closing.
That's when Gadret attacked and passed Moreno about 400 yards from the finish line.
In spite of being the “virtual leader” on the road during much of the stage, Le Mevel dropped back to 4th place overall at the end of the day.
Top overall
1. Alberto Contador (Saxo)
2. Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC Highroad) – 59 seconds
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) – 1:21
4. Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo) – 1:28
5. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) – 1:28
6. David Arroyo (Movistar) – 1:37
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