Chris Anker Sörensen takes a beautiful stage victory on top of the Terminillo in the Giro d'Italia 2010

Added: sunday 16 May 2010 at 17:18:00

< Blog | share on | | | | |

This morning before the start it was not yet sure whether the finish could really take place on the top of the Monte Terminillo. Indeed, fresh snow was still falling and the road thus seemed to be impossible to use for the Giro.

However, around 11.00AM the snow stopped falling and the temperature graduately went up to 6°C which made it possible to use the final climb as planned. Chris Anker Sörensen won the stage.
The summary of the 8th stage of the Tour of Italy 2010: Chianciano Terme > Monte Terminillo
191 riders came to the start just before 12.30 in Chianciano Terme in the presence of Julian Razzoli, who won a gold medal in the slalom during the past Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

During this stage, several riders abandonned: Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-NGC) who had some difficulties to breathe, Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rabobank), Andrea Masciarelli due to the pain after his fall in the 6th stage and his brother Francesco Masciarelli with a problem on his wrist, John Murphy (BMC Racing Team), Sacha Modolo (Colnago - CSF Inox) with problems on his hip and Fabian Wegmann (Team Milram).

Until kilometer 46 the peloton stayed compact, especially thanks to the work of the riders of the Omega Pharma-Lotto team who wanted to allow Matthew Lloyd to take some extra points for the green leader's jersey of the King of the Mountains classification. He managed to do so and took the points ahead of Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R La Mondiale) and Carlos José Ochoa (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni).

In the descent a leading group started to take form and this group finally contained 17 riders: Sébastien Hinault and Anthony Ravard (AG2R La Mondiale), Carlos José Ochoa and Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni), Johann Tschopp and Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne), David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Matthias Brändle (Footon-Servetto), Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank), Christopher Froome and Steve Cummings (Team Sky), Evgeni Petrov (Katusha Team), Chris Anker Sörensen (Team Saxo Bank), Simone Stortoni (Colnago - CSF Inox), José Sarmiento (Acqua & Sapone) and Addy Engels (Quick Step).

In the intermediate sprint in Terni at 60 kilometers from the finish Anthony Ravard crossed the line first, followed by Matthias Brändle and Chris Anker Sörensen. The peloton crossed this line at 2'55" from the leading group.

In the second climb of the day, in Marmore, Sébastien Hinault arrives first on the top and the peloton, led by the Lampre-Farnese Vini team working for Damiano Cunego who would like to win this stage, followed the leading group at 2'40".

At 44 kilometers from the finish, Stortoni, Voeckler and Sörensen try to get away from the leading group and a bit later Sörensen tries again, this time followed by Anthony Ravard. Finally the group stays all together until the new attack by Voeckler who's also taken back, by Steve Cummings. Led by the French rider, who wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France in 2004, the gap on the peloton continued to grow, up to 3'25" at 30 kilometers from the finish.

In the final climb, Chris Anker Sörensen is the first rider who tries to get away, without success, before Steven Kruijswijk's attack leads to a first selection in the leading group. In the peloton Charles Wegelius (Omega Pharma-Lotto) attacks to try to get back on the leading group. Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale) also gives it a try but the riders in the pursuit were all taken back by the peloton.
At 11 kilometers from the finish, in the leading group, it's up to Simone Stortoni to attack. Chris Anker Sörensen finally gets back on him. Petrov follows them a bit behind and Stortoni leaves all the work for Sörensen. The Danish rider does continues alone at 5 kilometers from the finish.

After a first attack by Michele Scarponi, Damiano Cunego takes over at 4 kilometers from the finish. Xavier Tondo attacks at 3 kilometers from the finish when the gap for Sörensen is 1'25". John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) also tries to come back 3 times but without success.

Finally Chris Anker Sörensen manages to stay ahead and wins the stage, ahead of Stortoni and Tondo.

The nineth finish of the Giro d'Italia on top of the Terminillo, most often climbed as an individual time trial, was thus a bit special with the snow, the very low temperatures and the fog which surrounded the finish line.
The classifications
The stage classification for Chianciano Terme > Terminillo
Chris Anker Sörensen kept a 30 seconds gap on Simone Stortoni and 36 seconds on Xavier Tondo. Petrov followed him at 49 seconds and Gadret at 55.

This stage's top 10 is as follows:
1/ Chris-Anker Sörensen (Team Saxo Bank) - 4h50'48" (38,995 km/h)
2/ Simone Stortoni (Colnago - CSF Inox) - +0'30"
3/ Xavier Tondo (Cervélo TestTeam) - +0'36"
4/ Evgeni Petrov (Katusha Team) - +0'49"
5/ John Gadret ([[AG2R La Mondiale] - +0'55"
6/ Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - +0'56"
7/ Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapono) - +0'56"
8/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - +0'56"
9/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - +0'56"
10/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - +0'56"
The general classification
Some minor changes in the general classification where Alexandre Vinokourov keeps the lead:

1/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 29h01'26"
2/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - +1'12"
3/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) - +1'33"
4/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - +1'51"
5/ Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) - +2'17"
6/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - +2'26"
7/ Vladimir Karpets (Katusha Team) - +2'34"
8/ Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) - +2'47"
9/ Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - +3'08"
10/ Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - +3'09"
The classification by points
Tyler Farrar loses his jersey for the classification by points to the World Champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) and falls back to the third place in this classification:

1/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 48 points
2/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 47 points
3/ Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) - 43 points
4/ Graeme Brown (Rabobank) - 40 points
5/ Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) - 39 points
6/ Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) - 36 points
7/ André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) - 32 points
8/ Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 31 points
9/ Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - 30 points
10/ Danilo Hondo (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - 30 points
King of the Mountains classification
By passing the top of the first climb of today's stage first, Matthew Lloyd secures his green jersey of best climber, staying 1 point ahead of today's stage winner, Chris-Anker Sörensen :

1/ Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 16 points
2/ Chris Anker Sörensen (Team Saxo Bank) - 15 points
3/ Paul Voss (Team Milram) - 10 points
4/ Simone Stortoni (Colnago - CSF Inox) - 10 points
5/ Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - 8 points
Best young rider classification
No changes in the best young rider classification:

1/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - 29h03'52"
2/ Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas-Doimo) - +1'59"
3/ Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Doimo) - +2'16"
4/ Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) - +3'39"
5/ Jan Bakelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - +8'49"
The videos of the 8th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010
> Click here to see a resume of the stage Chianciano Terme > Monte Terminillo of the Tour of Italy 2010 inn video

> Click here to see the final kilometer of the Chianciano Terme > Monte Terminillo stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010
by Thomas Vergouwen
Did you like this article? Tell your friends on Facebook by clicking the buttons below!

> no comments | shown 1304x

this article appears in the following categories: Giro d Italia| Giro d'Italia 2010 | share on | | | |