Steven Kruijswijk of the Rabobank team saw an opportunity today to make the break of the day and jumped on it. He formed part of an 11-man move that contained third place overall, Christophe Le Mével. The Frenchman was in clear pursuit of the maglia rosa and Kruijswijk decided Le Mével was a good companion on the way from Tortoreto Lido to Castelfidardo. The break profited from the fact that overall leader Alberto Contador was not worried about Le Mével's GC chances. The Spaniard was even ready to give up the lead, albeit temporarily.
Despite the hard work to stay ahead until about three kilometers from the finish, Kruijswijk enjoyed the racing. "It was a fantastically nice stage," he said on rabosport.nl. "I sat in a great group to be away. Strong, good men, who all wanted to do their fair share of the work." The only disappointment was that the 11 didn't survive until the finish line. "It is a real pity that we didn't get the gap to make it."
In the end the break disintegrated, with Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar) the last to be caught, inside the final kilometer. Kruijswijk was pulled back by the bunch at the beginning of the final climb. In those last three kilometers he lost around a minute and a half, but is still in a respectable 20th place in the overall. "The time loss is not important," Kruijswijk said. "My goal in the Giro is to win a stage, and after today that is still my aim."
Rabobank was active throughout the earlier parts of the race, but all moves were neutralized. Sports Director Nico Verhoeven was still happy. "Bram Tankink, Stef Clement and Pieter Weening tried it multiple times and Steven Kruijswijk also was in an earlier attack. But no break had a large enough gap." Once the course became harder, things changed. "On a tough section, 11 men rode away," Verhoeven said. It was initially nine men, but Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) and Tiago Machado (RadioShack) quickly spotted the move and joined.
With Le Mével in the group, Contador's Saxo Bank team controlled the peloton's pace. Saxo Bank never let the gap go much past a couple of minutes. Le Mével was third in GC. "But Steven also stood high in the overall," Verhoeven emphasized. Before stage 11, Kruijswijk was 16th, trailing Contador by 2'56.
Verhoeven believed the move was the right decision. "It could have been successful and then you can make up time. In that case it would be brilliant. Now, Steven doesn't win anything, but that doesn't make it a stupid move. It is still sports. Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Verhoeven said. "This was a typical stage where you can get your chance, which you don't want to let slip away."
Verhoeven also felt the composition was right to give it a shot. "If such a strong group rides away, it is always good to be part of it. Steven showed he has good legs."
The whole stage, 144 kilometers, was raced very hard. Verhoeven explained that as a non-climber you even had to watch the time cuts. "Everybody came in within the limit," he said, happy that his Rabobank racers made it through.
Thursday is one more shot for the sprinters, with Rabobank not banking on a bunch sprint. "Tomorrow we will get another chance, so we will try to be in the break," said Verhoeven.