A total of 25 riders remain within five minutes of the Maglia Rosa, with seven of those being less than two minutes away, but the identity of the new race leader led some to feel that the race might already be over. Since 2007, Alberto Contador has taken three Tours de France, one Giro and one Vuelta, and has not been beaten in a Grand Tour. He was clearly strongest on today’s first big mountain stage to Mount Etna, and holds a 59 seconds lead over his closest rival, Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC Highroad).
However his Saxo Bank-SunGard team manager Bjarne Riis refuses to say that the final victory is a done deal. “Obviously he was strongest today. I want to see some Grinta from the other guys, they have to believe in it and continue for themselves and for the race,” he told reporters at the finish. “Anything can happen, there is still a long way and the toughest is yet to come.”
Contador surged clear seven kilometres from the line and was joined soon afterwards by Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD). However the pace was too hot for the Italian, who cracked and would finish one minute and seven seconds back. Riis was asked if Contador’s move – which was a long way out on a climb buffeted by strong winds – was done with the aim of winning the stage, or taking time on his rivals.
“I think both,” he responded. “He has a comfortable lead, I like that. I think that’s good. It is always nice to win.”
Riis told VeloNation that the wind was a concern; they were unsure as to how things would go when their team leader kicked clear. The only thing to do was to try it and see how things developed. “When you first try to make a gap, you don’t know what would happen. You just have to look ahead and go,” he said.
Next up is the race’s first rest day, with the action then resuming on Tuesday with a flat 159 kilometre stage from Termoli to Teramo. The following stage to Castelfidardo ends with a ramp up to the finish line, while stage 12 is completely flat. The next proper mountain stage is not until next Friday, when the Giro heads to Grossglockner.
Contador will have a chance to bolster his lead there, but before then his Saxo Bank SunGard team-mates will have a lot of work on their hands. A full two weeks remain before the end of the race and so they will have many kilometres on the front if the Spaniard is to maintain his Maglia Rosa until then.
Riis was asked if he was satisfied with the squad’s contribution today. “We had Hernandez and Navarro; we had Vladimir Gustov following for a long time, so he was very well covered,” he answered. “I was happy with the team. The most important thing was to stay as long as possible next to Alberto. When he went away, Hernandez was [still] next to him and the job was done.”