Pezcyclingnews: Giro’15 St.18: Phil And The Pistol Profit!



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Jan 3, 2005
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Race Report: Just when you thought this Giro couldnt provide another high-octane thrill ride, the first-category Monte Ologno, and some carefully nurtured righteous anger, fuelled a further chaotic stage. We had it all: breakaways, chases, races within races. Dropped chains and thrown-down gauntlets. The maglia rosa on the charge. It was perfect.To Philippe Gilbert went the stage, with a virtuoso breakaway masterclass; to Alberto Contador went the overall honours, as he mercilessly battered another nail or two into his rivals classification coffins.How it went down: the first two-thirds of todays romp are flat for around 125 kilometers. This being the Giro, we actually kick off in the Swiss village of Melide, nestling beside beautiful Lake Lugano. Then we return to Italy, via Varese and Sesto to Lake Maggiore, then through Arona and Stresa to Mergozzo and Verbania for the finishing circuit.After the first passage through Verbania, its the days significant bump in the road. The Monte Ologno averages 9%, but hits a maximum of 13%.The stage starts off steady. When the break finally goes … it really GOES! It takes until kilometer 44 of 170, but as the move gets working the lead balloons to over 12 minutes with Tinkoff-Saxo looking the other way.A nice lake view for the startThe escapees are BMC Racing Team duo Philippe Gilbert and Amal Moinard, Giant-Alpecins young American Chad Haga, Davide Villella from Cannondale-Garmin, Matteo Busato for the SouthEast squad, Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEDGE), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling), David De La Cruz (Etixx – Quick-Step),...

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