Giro Stg 13: Legendary Name, New Generation, Great Win!

A monster day out in the Dolomites for the Giro d’Ialia survivors, and the overall picture changes once again. With time gaps like we saw today in the first ten placings, it was like the good old days of how mountain stages used to be.

The victory went to a famous name – Ivan Parra, nephew of the legendary Colombian climber (and crasher) Fabio, hung on to record his best career win over 5 categorised climbs including the Passo di Sella and the Passo di Gardena.

Parra was one member of a big group of riders which got away in the first 40kms, after a hectic round of attacking. He was joined by Tadej Valjavec, Ruben Lobato and Aitor Gonzalez first of all, and then a host of others.

CSC let them go, and rode with virtually all their men on the front, especially after Simoni and Cunego attacked – together! With Damiano out of the GC picture, Gibo is now in sole charge of Lampre so it looked like an ideal move. Dave Zabriskie was doing a lot of work to hold the Lampre duo and keep Basso in touch, but Ivan didn’t look as fluid today on the climbs.

Things started to shred in the big leading group on the final ascent of St Ulrich, with Parra attacking and his tiny team mate Rujano sitting back to let the others chase. Parra hammered up the climb, using the big chainring early on, which was mighty impressive.

As Parra continued to build his lead, Simoni attacked simultaneously from the gruppo maglia rosa, which was about 4 minutes down at this point – instantly Basso was in trouble.

Savoldelli jumped onto Simoni’s wheel as Basso went backwards, and then ‘Il Falco’ swooped past the Lampre man and away.

Up front, Parra went over the final summit and dropped down the final descent to take the win, with erstwhile companions Garate, Rujano and Caucchioli trundling over the line behind him. At the same time, Savoldelli was extending his gap to Basso.

Basso pulled back a little before the line, but he had a less than 100% day. A very impressive ride from Di Luca again, who finished with Simoni, just a little behind Savoldelli.

Il Falco is the new maglia rosa, but it remains to be seen if he has a team around him that can defend his lead, and how much today has taken out of Lampre and CSC.

Giro d’Italia Stage 13 Result Mezzocorona – Ortisei, 218 km

1 Ivan Parra (Col) Selle Italia-Colombia 6hrs 31’ 35”
2 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir + 23”
3 Jose’ Rujano Guillen (Ven) Selle Italia-Colombia same
4 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Credit Agricole + 27”
5 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Phonak Hearing Systems + 1’ 45”
6 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team + 2’ 55”
7 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Wurth Team + 3’ 03”
8 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Domina Vacanze + 3’ 48”
9 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team + 4’ 00”
10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita + 4’ 06”

Overall After Stage 13

1 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 60hrs 31’ 12”
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC + 50”
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi + 53”
4 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita + 2’ 16”
5 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir + 2’ 39”
6 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Credit Agricole + 3’ 25”
7 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze
8 Jose’ Rujano Guillen (Ven) Selle Italia-Colombia same
9 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Fassa Bortolo + 4’54”
10 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi same