93rd Giro d'Italia

Stage 21 - Verona TT - 15.0 km (9.3 mi)

30 May 2010

And with the final fifteen kilometers around the ancient city of Verona, the 2010 Giro d'Italia came to its stirring conclusion. Wrapping up the festivities with a time trial, the organizers had hoped that the worldwide audience might be treated to a sight like the conclusion of the 1989 Tour de France, where Greg LeMond made up 50 seconds on the final stage to beat Laurent Fignon for the maillot jaune by just eight seconds. Unfortunately, basically all the prizes had already been decided by the end of yesterday's stage.

The winner of the day's stage proved to be Gustav Erik Larsson, the two-time Swedish national time trial champion and silver medalist at both the 2008 Beijing Olympic time trial and the race against the clock at the 2009 UCI World Championships. Taking off 54 riders before Basso pushed off as the final cyclist on course, Larsson blazed through at 20:19 to take the lead from Ignatas Konovalovas. No one ever expected the time to stick, but one after another riders crossed the line and Larsson's time stuck. The closest to his time would prove to be Marco Pinotti, two seconds off the pace. It would prove Larsson's finest hour to date, a huge notch in the cap of the eight-year veteran's career.

Ivan Basso was resplendent in pink, capturing his second Giro crown four years after his first and completing his full-circle journey from rising star to doper pariah to reformed fan favorite. He led the race by 1:15 over second-placed David Arroyo, and gained an additional 36 seconds over the Torricelle and back to win by nearly two minutes. It was nothing like his nearly-ten-minute gap four years before, but it was enough to hold onto the maglia rosa in the Roman amphitheater at the center of Verona as it was presented for the final stage of the 2010 edition. Implicated in the 2006 Operacion Puerto scandal that swept up cycling ahead of the Tour de France that summer, Basso eventually admitted his involvement with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes and served two years away from the sport. Returning this year, he picked up right where he left off -- at the top of his game. Already the talk has turned to how Basso might fare in July when the racing shifts to France and he locks horns with Contador and Armstrong and the rest of the contenders in the peloton who eschewed Italy this year.

Things didn't look up so well for Cadel Evans or Alexander Vinokourov, the two biggest pre-race favorites who ended up faltering. Evans, the reigning world road champion, would finish three and a half minutes behind Basso's winning time in fifth place. Of course, his small solace would come from his victory in the points competition. With a grueling final week that favored mountain goats to the thick-thighed sprinters of the peloton, most of the top riders you'd expect for the points jersey ended up out of the race. That left things open for the Aussie to swoop in and take the maglia rosso passione. So things weren't completely empty in Evans' cupboard. For Vinokourov, who like Basso was looking for redemption after his own doping scandal, the best he could do was muster sixth, over seven minutes back of Basso. The Kazakh will likely be Contador's key lieutentant in July, though, so his performance proves he can at least still be a valuable aide.

Before this year's Giro, Matthew Lloyd's greatest achievement was his 2008 win in the Australian national road race championships. The 27-year-old Omega Pharma-Lotto rider scored one better this time around, riding his way on the penultimate stage in the lead group over the first three climbs of the stage to clamp his hold on the maglia verde of the King of the Mountains. It's funny... just when Cadel Evans finally leaves the Lotto family (Davitamon-Lotto, Silence-Lotto, Predictor-Lotto) to try to find a stronger support team for his grand tour ambitions, a rider like Lloyd steps up and proves that the talent was there all along. It will be interesting to see how Lloyd fares on the steeps of the French Alps and Pyrenees in July.

For Bjarne Riis, the man who led Basso to his first Giro crown with CSC, his newest prodigy proved to be Richie Porte. The Saxo Bank rider was in the maglia bianca of the best young rider when all was said and done in Verona. Having recently won the time trial at the Tour de Romandie, the 25-year-old made certain that three of the four race jerseys landed on the shoulders of Australians. If he continues to improve his climbing form, the time trial specialist could possibly be the man who delivers up a grand tour for the nation. Evans may be the best Australian hope at the moment, but Porte proved in this year's Giro that he is the country's future.

RESULTS - STAGE 21

1. Gustav Erik Larsson (Saxo Bank)     20:19
2. Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia)     +0:02
3. Alexander Vinokourov (Astana)     +0:17
4. Cadel Evans (BMC)     +0:22 
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)     +0:23
6. Ignatas Konovalovas (Cervelo)
7. Bradley Wiggins (Sky)     +0:29
8. Cameron Meyer (Garmin)     +0:32
9. Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli)     +0:35
10. Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank)     +0:37

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Ivan Basso (Liquigas)     87:44:01
2. David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne)   +1:51
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)     +2:37
4. Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli)     +2:50
5. Cadel Evans (BMC)     +3:27
6. Alexander Vinokourov (Astana)     +7:06
7. Richie Porte (Saxo Bank)     +7:22
8. Carlos Sastre (Cervelo)     +9:39
9. Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia)     +14:20
10. Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas)     +14:51

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

1. Cadel Evans (BMC)     150
2. Alexander Vinokourov (Astana)    128
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)     116
4. Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli)     110
5. Ivan Basso (Liquigas)     105
6. Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia)     74
7. Jerome Pineau (Quick Step)     69
8. Filippo Pozzato (Katusha)     67
9. John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale)     64
10. Damiano Cunego (Lampre)    64

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS

1. Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto)     56
2. Ivan Basso (Liquigas)     41
3. Johan Tschopp (Bbox-Bouygues Telecom)     38
4. Cadel Evans (BMC)     35
5. Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli)    25
6. Ludovic Turpin (AG2R La Mondiale)     20
7. Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli)     16
8. Simone Stortini (Colnago)     16
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)     15
10. Chris Sorensen (Saxo Bank)     15

BEST YOUNG RIDER

1. Richie Porte (Saxo Bank)     87:51:23
2. Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas)     +7:29
3. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank)     +12:19
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank)     +30:05
5. Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto)     +42:46
6. Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas)     +1:20:30
7. Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne)     +1:29:44
8. Jan Bakelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto)     +1:30:18
9. Marcel Wyss (Cervelo)     +1:37:33
10. Branislau Samoilau (Quick Step)     +1:38:40

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