Wearing the maglia rosa for the past week, Spain's David Arroyo handed over the leader's jersey to former champion Ivan Basso, left, after the Italian's relentless attacks on the final two climbs at the Giro d'Italia on Friday.
The Liquigas duo of Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, with hanger-on Michele Scarponi, joined up to power over the dreaded Mortirolo summit with about 24 miles left in the race as Arroyo and all the other major contenders fell back. Then Arroyo caught up with most of his rivals on the treacherous downhill, but the Basso group created a larger gap on the final climb to Aprica.
While Scarponi won Stage 19 (he had stayed on the Liquigas wheels the final 20 miles), Basso appears poised to win the overall championship on Sunday. Friday marked the first time he has donned the leader's jersey since he won the Giro in 2006. What followed was a couple of years of investigations and suspensions for doping.
Re-shuffle
In the final analysis, Arroyo dropped back one place to 2nd overall, Nibali rose to 3rd (from 6th after Stage 18), Scarponi jumped to 4th (starting at 8th) and Cadel Evans dropped to 5th (losing nearly a minute to the overall leader). Richie Porte (Saxo Bank), who had led the race for two stages last week, dropped from 2nd to 7th overall.
The 120-mile stage from Brescia to Aprica featured four climbs, the critical ones being the Mortirolo and the Aprica.
The Liquigas team road at the front of the peloton all day, weeding out the weaker cyclists on the first two climbs. By the time they hit the Mortirolo, Arroyo was one of the first leaders to drop back. Carlos Sastre, Alexandre Vinokourov and, surprisingly, Evans soon followed suit.
Arroyo reached the summit at 1:55 behind the Basso group, but gained a minute on the downhill, picking up Sastre, Vino, Evans and John Gadret along the way.
But Basso's group stretched the lead on the final climb to Aprica, putting a 3-minute gap on those chasers that included Arroyo.
Stage 20
It has been a great week for Arroyo, who entered the race as a domestique for Caisse d'Epargne. His goal now is to retain a podium position after Sunday's finish in Verona.
The bike racers still face a 120-mile mountain stage before that final individual time trial on Sunday.
Saturday's Stage 20 features three major ascents — the Forcola di Livigno, Passo di Foscagno, Passo di Gavia (the highest summit in the race), and the finish at Passo del Tonale.
Coverage of Stage 20 on Universal Sports broadcast stations is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. (ET) on Saturday.
Leaders after Stage 19
1. Ivan Basso (Liquigas)
2. David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) – 51 seconds behind
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) – 2:30 behind
4. Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli) – 2:49 behind
5. Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) – 4:00 behind
6 Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) – 5:32 behind
7. Richie Porte (Saxo) – 6:00 behind
8. Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) – 6:02 behind
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