A demanding attack on the final climb up to Macugnaga paid off for Paolo Tiralongo on Friday with his first-ever stage victory at the Giro d'Italia.
The Astana cyclist was caught and passed in the final fight for the finish by Alberto Contador, but Tiralongo grabbed the overall leader's slipstream then passed Contador at the finish.
The fact that Tiralongo and Contador are former Astana teammates may have had something to do with the Italian winning the race. Also, Contador was probably happy enough with the 2nd-place 12-second time bonus and small gap he put between himself and main rivals Michele Scarponi (Lampre) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas).
Two days left
Contador has a firm grasp on the maglia rosa with just two days of bike racing remaining — another summit finish on Saturday and the individual time trial in Milan on Sunday.
The 130-mile bike race from Bergamo to Macugnaga was marked by several breakaways.
A 19-man group failed to get away early, but a later group of three achieved a 9-minute gap until a chase group launched from the peloton on the midway Category 1 climb.
Mountain points
Stefano Garzelli (Acqua and Sapone) and some teammates were in the chase on the ascent, Garzelli attacked and beat everyone to the summit in order to hold onto his mountain leader's jersey for another day.
The 6-man break started up the final 16-mile climb together. Two attacked and gained a small gap, but were caught with about 8 miles remaining. Team Katusha's Danilo DiLuca set the pace at the head of the field for a few miles, then Tiralongo launched his solo attack with 4 miles remaining.
He gained a 10 to 15-second lead, then Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) attacked with less than 2 miles remaining. With 1 mile to go, Contador jumped out of the saddle and blasted up the hill, passing Rodriguez and eventually reaching Tiralongo.
Crash
Rainy weather in the day caused a half dozen or so riders to crash on the slight roads. Among them were Americans Craig Lewis (HTC-Columbia) and Thomas Peterson (Garmin). Lewis had to abandon the race and was taken to the hospital with a broken left leg.
Top 5 overall
1. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank)
2. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) – 5:18
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) – 5:52
4. John Gadret (AG2R) – 7:53
5. Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HighRoad) – 9:58
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