Sky’s Italian rider Salvatore Pucccio pulled on the pink jersey at the end of the second stage of the Giro d’Italia, a Team Time Trial as specialists Garmin never got to grips with the tricky parcours and Sir Brad got his Giro campaign off to a great start.
Pucci is 23 and doesn’t have much of a pro palmares – but he’s a worker for Sky, not a winner.
But if you check back his amateur palmares you’ll find an U23 Ronde Van Vlaanderen in there – so there’s little doubt about his quality.
According to Wikipedia, Ischia is German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fave holiday spot – we knew it wouldn’t be Greece – Truman Capote and Henrik Ibsen spent time on the island and parts of the movie, ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ were shot here.
It measures approximately 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has about 34 kilometres (21 miles) of coastline and a surface area of 46.3 square kilometres (17.9 sq. miles) and the TTT uses just about all of the main road on the island.
It’s almost entirely mountainous; the highest peak being Mount Epomeo at 788 m and the population is around 60,000 people.
The island may be beautiful but some of the hardware the teams were riding wasn’t.
It was Stephen Roche who said that the advent of the ‘velo plongeant’ – low profile bike – in the late 70’s spelled the end of beautiful, sleek, slim time trial bikes.
Wiggin’s Pinarello Bolide may come up with all the correct coefficients in the wind tunnel – but it’s anything but bonnie.
The Graal was not a thing of beauty and the Bolide is even uglier – but ends justify means in the world of ‘marginal gains.’
On the subject of which, the Sky ribbed skinsuits would be interesting things to handle and chat to their designer about – but they’ll be ‘top secret’ no doubt.
But is that the best their designers could come up with for Cataldo’s Italian TT champion skinsuit; ‘come on, we’ll stick an Italian flag on the front!’
Mega aero bikes, futuristic skinsuits – so why have Uran’s locks flowing in the breeze?
Back when Fignon lost the 1989 Tour to Lemond in the final time test, one of the US aero gurus of the time worked out that it was his hair which cost him the race – if his ponytail had been tucked neatly inside an aero helmet the reduction of drag and watts saved would have been enough to give him the seconds he needed.
I must mention that to Sir David, next time I bump into him…
Watching riders drop off the string reminded me of how spectacular it is when a rider blows in a TTT.
Dave and I followed CSC – with Cancellara and Zabriskie – in the Giro TTT in Sardinia back in 2007; when riders cracked they went backwards past us so fast that it was difficult to get a picture of them.
In a TTT at the highest level, some of the riders will be right on the edge of their capabilities – when the grade kicks up, there’s no more heart rate left and once you’re out in the wind, it’s over.
It was a surprise to see Sky finish with just five riders and also a surprise to see Lampre just one second off the Sky pace at the time check – a fact which the commentary team at Eurosport missed.
But they didn’t miss that Movistar went through two seconds faster than Sky – remember that the Spaniards won the Vuelta TTT in fine style, last year.
Spain’s other Pro Tour squad, Euskaltel messed it up badly, with their fifth man way off the back – Sanchez’s slim chances of a podium now even slimmer.
Lampre lost time on the second half of the course, having to sit up and wait for their fifth man on one of the drags – a one second deficit at the time check became 22 by the line.
Movistar – despite the screamed exhortations of their DS – also let it slip in the second half, finishing seven seconds down on Sky.
And despite us hearing about all the time Nibali was going to lose to Sir Brad in the time trials, the man from Messina will not be too disappointed that his Astana boys dropped just 14 seconds.
Adam Blythe ‘popped’ out of BMC – but with Phinney driving, that’s no shame.
The Shack didn’t trouble the time keeper as QuickStep’s time at the check meant that Cav would be just one (short) day in the pink.
Garmin’s ride was a surprise, seventh when they crossed the line – they won it last year and the TTT is their specialty. JV won’t be fun at dinner, tonight.
And as with Sanchez, Evan’s slim chances of a podium received a body blow when the watch stopped for BMC at 37 seconds down on Sky.
GreenEDGE disappointed too, 28 seconds back for another squad with a name as TTT experts – that’ll be another quiet dinner table.
And as the intermediate time check indicated, the maglia rosa slipped from Cav’s shoulders – with QuickStep way off the pace.
Not a good day to be asking Cav for quotes, I’m thinking.
As we said, a great start for Brad and Sky, but by the time we get to the Dolomites it’ll all seem so long ago…
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Result - Giro d'Italia 2013 - Stage 2: Ischia - Forio (TTT), 17.4km
Stage Result
2 Movistar Team 0:00:09
3 Astana Pro Team 0:00:14
4 Katusha 0:00:19
5 Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:00:22
6 Lampre-Merida
7 Garmin-Sharp 0:00:25
8 Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:00:28
9 Orica-GreenEdge
10 Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:34
11 Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:35
12 BMC Racing Team 0:00:37
13 Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:00:41
14 RadioShack Leopard 0:00:43
15 Team Saxo-Tinkoff
16 Androni Giocattoli 0:00:46
17 Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:48
18 Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:50
19 FDJ 0:00:55
20 Colombia 0:00:56
21 Lotto Belisol 0:01:00
22 Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:01
23 Team Argos-Shimano 0:01:13
General Classification after Stage 2
2 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
3 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
4 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Sky Procycling
5 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
6 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:09
7 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
8 José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
10 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team
11 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:00:14
12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
13 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
14 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
15 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
16 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team
17 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha 0:00:19
18 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha
19 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha
20 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha
21 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha
22 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:00:22
23 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
24 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
25 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
26 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
27 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
28 Fabio Taborre (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
29 Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
30 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida
31 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida
32 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:23
33 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:25
34 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
35 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp
36 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
37 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
38 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
39 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:28
40 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
41 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
42 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge
43 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
44 Christian Meier (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
45 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
46 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
47 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
48 Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
49 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge
50 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:34
51 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
52 Willem Wauters (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
53 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
54 Grega Bole (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
55 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:35
56 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
57 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
58 Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
59 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:37
60 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
61 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
62 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team
63 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
64 Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team
65 Danilo Hondo (Ger) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:39
66 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:00:41
67 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
68 Stefano Locatelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
69 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
70 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
71 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:43
72 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
73 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard
74 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
75 George Bennett (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
76 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
77 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard
78 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
79 Hayden Roulston (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
80 Mads Christensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
81 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
82 Diego Rosa (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:46
83 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
84 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
85 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
86 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
87 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:48
88 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
89 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
90 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
91 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
92 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:50
93 Davide Appollonio (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
94 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
95 Ben Gastauer (Lux) Ag2R La Mondiale
96 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
97 Sylvain Georges (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
98 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ 0:00:55
99 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ
100 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
101 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
102 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ
103 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia 0:00:56
104 Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Colombia
105 Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia
106 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) Colombia
107 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia
108 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia
109 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia
110 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol 0:01:00
111 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol
112 Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol
113 Francis De Greef (Bel) Lotto Belisol
114 Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) Lotto Belisol
115 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:01
116 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
117 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
118 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
119 Ricardo Mestre (Por) Euskaltel-Euskadi
120 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:02
121 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:01:04
122 Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Katusha
123 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:01:06
124 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ 0:01:08
125 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:01:13
126 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Sky Procycling
127 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano
128 Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano
129 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Argos-Shimano
130 Danny Pate (USA) Sky Procycling
131 Ioannis Tamouridis (Gre) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:20
132 Robert Vrecer (Slo) Euskaltel-Euskadi
133 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:22
134 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
135 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Movistar Team
136 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:01:24
137 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:27
138 Bruno Pires (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:01:36
139 Leigh Howard (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:01:40
140 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha 0:01:43
141 Alessandro Proni (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:01:45
142 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
143 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
144 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:52
145 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
146 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol 0:01:53
147 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano
148 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:01:57
149 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-Merida
150 Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Sharp 0:02:01
151 Nelson Filipe Santos Simoes Oliveira (Por) RadioShack Leopard 0:02:05
152 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:02:09
153 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
154 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:14
155 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Astana Pro Team
156 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
157 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:02:27
158 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
159 Jens Mouris (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge
160 Marco Canola (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:28
161 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:02:29
162 Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:31
163 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:36
164 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
165 Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
166 Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
167 Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
168 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:37
169 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:02:39
170 Julien Berard (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:02:43
171 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
172 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
173 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:02:46
174 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:48
175 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Colombia 0:02:50
176 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Sharp 0:02:54
177 Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC Racing Team 0:02:58
178 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
179 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:03:05
180 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:03:12
181 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:03:21
182 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:03:22
183 Rafael Andriato (Bra) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:03:27
184 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Katusha
185 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
186 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:03:31
187 Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ 0:03:33
188 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp 0:03:38
189 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha 0:03:42
190 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ 0:03:47
191 Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling 0:03:51
192 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano
193 Ji Cheng (Chn) Team Argos-Shimano
194 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:03:53
195 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Argos-Shimano
196 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:03:56
197 Brian Bulgac (Ned) Lotto Belisol 0:04:03
198 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:04:18
199 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:04:34
200 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) RadioShack Leopard 0:05:01
201 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ 0:05:02
202 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:05:27
203 Stef Clement (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:05:35
204 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:05:37
205 Jack Bobridge (Aus) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:06:09
206 Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Col) Colombia 0:06:22
207 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:08:23
