2010 Giro d' Italia: Stage 14 - Ferrara - Asolo (Monte Grappa) - 201 km

Wow, epic climb, epic stage. Liquigas were good to their word and absolutely destroyed the bunch on the first half of Monte Grappa, Szmyd doing most of the damage there. Then Wiggins attacked, linking up with Cummings who'd been in the break and dropped back but it seemed a bit half hearted and in the end Wiggins dropped back to the select group that remained. Then Nibali attacked, took Basso, Scarponi and Evans with him. Have to say I'm surprised Scarponi made it across on that one. Anyway, rest of the story is on cyclingnews I'm sure.

Big winner of the day is clearly Liquigas and in my opinion Basso in particular. He got a free ride down the entire descent and along the flat finish thanks to Nibali's attack. Nibali will be dead tomorrow, as will Evans, Scarponi and Vino who where all hammering it in the last 20k as well as on the climb. Sastre probably took the better option when he dropped back to the group behind him on the road containing Wiggins, it'll be interesting to see if that pays off for him tomorrow.
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So, first really nasty mountain has shown that there's all to play for, and Monte Zoncolan tomorrow! Awesome weekend!

Nice win for Nibali and great overall job by Liquigas finishing 1 and 2 on the stage. Nibali had a descent that would make Il Falco proud.

This stage went well for most of the pre-race favorites, all moving up and taking back some time on Arroyo and the others at the front of the leader board. Can't wait for tomorrow!!!

Stage 14 Results
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 4:57:51
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:23
3 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:01:34
6 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) Quick Step 0:02:25
7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
9 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram
10 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team HTC - Columbia
11 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team
12 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
13 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Spa) Cervelo Test Team
14 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team
15 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:02:31
...
24 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 0:04:46

General classification after stage 14
1 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 61:22:54
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:39
3 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:02:12
4 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Liquigas-Doimo 0:02:35
5 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram 0:03:52
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:05:27
7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:06:32
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:06:51
9 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:07:15
10 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:07:26
11 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:07:43
12 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:09:02
13 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team HTC - Columbia 0:10:23
14 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:10:45
15 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:11:11

I reckon the giro is a race between Nibali, Basso and Evans.

Vinokourov will keep giving away a minute here and there on the hard mountain top finishes, I doubt he'll finish inside the top 5.