ur kidding right ? A text version of the race ?! It doesn't tell half the story of that stage.... doesn't show the water sharing by Lampre and Liqigas teamcars... doesn't show Il Falco waving in frustration at his teamcar for lack of support, doesn't show Il Falco waving at the riders following him for not helping...... you've seen nothing until you've seen the full coverage.
If there is anyone on this forum from Italy who can point me to the Italian DVD website I would be grateful..... would like to get the full version rather than than the Paul and Phil [censored] child........ I have the EuroSport cut on my Sky+ box but want it DVD.....
lwedge said:We will never be satisfied. When we have visual sometimes it lacks commentary. If we have commentary only, then we never feel confident we are getting enough information.
Di Luca cramped but fought hard all the way to the end of the stage as described in the last few minutes of Cyclingnews.com play by play below...
Enjoy.
At 4:30, the leaders (Di Luca, Simoni, Rujano) are back on asphalt for the descent. Di Luca, who has been driving the break, takes the King of the Mountains points, but that's not what he's riding for -- he's trying to get back on the podium, after a disappointing ride on Thursday. Rujano has (and had even before today) the King of the Mountains competition sewn up.
Gap at the summit: 2:19.
On the descent, Savoldelli has picked up Gonchar and Van Huffel, and dropped the gap to 2:05, but CyclingNews points out the time bonuses at today's stage finish: 20, 12 and 8 seconds for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Crediting Simoni with 3rd on the day, he would still take the race lead if it ends as it is now.Di Luca is cramping on the flats between the descent and the final climb, having a lot of trouble, trying to get hydrated. Savoldelli is about 40 seconds behind Valjavec and Garate, who are together.
Now Di Luca is dropped, and Simoni and Rujano are starting up the day's final climb, leading by 1:50. If Simoni took the stage win bonus, it would be enough, assuming Savoldelli wasn't third, but it's going to be extremely close.
Savoldelli has picked up Garate and Valjavec, and sits at 1:45. He's got a pretty good group now, with Gonchar, Garate, Valjavec, and Ardila. Di Luca is 10 seconds back of Rujano and Simoni, and that's got to hurt Simoni: Di Luca was doing a lot of the work on the last climb.
Savoldelli continues to close down Simoni: it's 1:30 now, with Di Luca between, nearly 20 seconds behind Simoni.
Simoni has been riding Rujano's wheel, and won't come around when Rujano tries to get him to take a pull, so Rujano has dropped him! He's got 5 seconds on Simoni, with Di Luca another 30 seconds back, and Savoldelli's group still closing, 1:24 behind Rujano (and 1:09 to Simoni).
Rujano started the day 3 minutes back of Savoldelli, so if he could finish with 2:40 and the day's bonus, he could take the race lead. On the other hand, Savoldelli's group is closing on Di Luca, who is just totally out of gas, so Savoldelli could take 3rd on the day. Even if Savoldelli holds the race lead, Rujano could move into 2nd overall, if he finishes with 47 seconds on Simoni.
Rujano takes the stage! Now it's all down to the gaps. Rujano also takes a 20 second time bonus.
Simoni 2nd, at 26 seconds (+12 second bonus).
Di Luca holds out for 3rd, at 1:34, with an 8-second time bonus.
Here comes Savoldelli, at 1:54 -- Savoldelli holds the maglia rosa, Simoni holds on to 2nd.
Live coverage:
Cyclingnews.com