Johann Tschopp (Bbox Bouyges Telecom) won the final mountain stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia as the sole survivor of a stage-long breakaway. The Swiss rider crossed the finish line alone, 16 seconds ahead of World champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who had attacked the other overall contenders with 3km to go. Pink jersey Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) beat Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli) in the sprint for third.
The break that Tschopp was part of escaped on the climb of the Forcola di Livigno; included in the group were Carlos Sastre and Marcel Wyss (both Cervélo TestTeam), Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego (both Lampre-Farnese Vini), Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia), David Moncutié (Cofidis), Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago-CSF Inox) and Matthew Lloyd (OmegaPharma-Lotto). Cunego was dropped later on, to be replaced in the group by Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), who had attacked the Liquigas-Doimo led peloton later in the climb.
With Sastre just 5’32” behind race leader Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) the acid-green team made sure that the leash they allowed the breakaway was a short one, with the gap never rising much over 2 minutes.
Lloyd was dressed in the green jersey of the mountains competition leader but he was only keeping it warm for Basso. Keen to take the competition outright at the end of he race tomorrow, the Australian picked up maximum points on the Forcola di Livigno and Passo di Eira. An attack from Pirazzi on the Passo di Foscangno robbed Lloyd of maximum points at the top, but he was caught part way up the long climb to the Passo di Gavia.
Mid way up the climb Simoni and Moncutié escaped the others, getting a 25 second lead, but were recaptured soon afterwards. Sastre was the next to go, followed by Simoni and Tschopp; Simoni attacked again 5km from the summit and only Tschopp could respond. Together they rode to the summit of the climb, between the iconic walls of snow, with the gap behind them and the chasers opening up to 42 seconds.
Two-time winner Simoni, who hails from just outside nearby Trento, has not had the best of races in this his last Giro d’Italia; the 38-year-old started the day in 83rd position, more than two and a half hours behind Basso. For many, the veteran taking the Cima Coppi – the prize awarded at the race’s highest point – would have been a nice way to end his long career; Tschopp though was not so sentimental and outsprinted the local veteran and began the long descent.
Despite heavy cloud the rain had held off, but the road surface was damp with the melting snow. Tschopp didn’t seem to notice this though as he flew down the mountain. Simoni was rather more circumspect and was caught and passed by Vinokourov, along with Simoni's Lampre-Farnese Vini teammate Daniele Righi and Vladimir Karpets (Katusha), who’d both attacked from the peloton.
As he started the climb to the finish, Tschopp had a 1-minute lead over Vinokourov, Karpets and Righi, with Sastre and Pinotti picking up and dropping and exhausted Simoni behind them. The peloton was 1’50” back with Liquigas-Doimo beginning to increase the pace.
At 5km to go Tscopp’s lead had only been reduced to 47 seconds and so Vinokourov attacked the other two chasers. Righi managed to go with him but was not able to contribute to the chase, which frustrated the Kazakh; with only Vinokourov working the lead increased once more to 54 seconds at 3km to go.
With the peloton having absorbed all but Tschopp, Vinokorov and Righi a sudden attack from Evans took everyone by surprise. At exactly 4 minutes behind Basso there was no way the Australian could challenge for the pink jersey, but if he could take time from Scarponi and Basso’s teammate Vincenzo Nibali he might make the podium after tomorrow’s time trial.
Nibali responded but couldn’t sustain his pace, so Scarponi took over and only Basso was able to go with him. Up front Tschopp was beginning to fade with the World champion, clad in the red points jersey, bearing down on him, but he hung on to take a hard fought victory. Evans took second place, and the 12 bonus seconds, with Basso outsprinting Scarponi to take third.
Evans has reduced his deficit to Nibali to 51 seconds, and his deficit to Scarponi to 50. Had Basso allowed Scarponi to get past him and take the 6 bonus seconds the Androni Giocattoli rider would have pushed Nibali off the podium, having now closed to within a single second.
With the first two steps of the podium seemingly taken, the battle in tomorrow’s 15km time trial will be between Nibali, Scarponi and Evans to see who can take the third.
Result stage 20
1. Johann Schopp (Swi) Bbox Bouyges Telecom
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team @ 16s
3. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo @ 25s
4. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
5. David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne @ 41s
6. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo @ 43s
7. John Gadret (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale @ 48s
8. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank @ 50s
9. Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini @ 57s
10. Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Caisse d’Epargne @ 1’02”
Standings after stage 20
1. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
2. David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne @ 1’15”
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo @ 2’56”
4. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli @ 2’57”
5. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team @ 3’47”