Jan Hruska (Vitalicio Seguros) dominated today's 32-km mountain time trial
from Briancon, France to Sestrieres. He won the event in 59:49, with Andrea
Noe (Mapei) finishing second in 1:01:03 and Stefano Garzelli (Mercatone Uno)
finishing third three seconds later. The victory completed Vitalicio
Seguros's sweep of the 2000 Giro's time trials and was the fourth stage
victory of the Giro for the Spanish team, which was not invited to the Tour
de France.
The most important news of today's stage, however, is a change of overall
leadership. Stefano Garzelli started the day 25 seconds behind Francesco
Casagrande (Vini Caldirola) on GC and ended it 1:27 ahead of him.
Casagrande, who had led the race since Stage 9, rode a pedestrian 1:02:58;
he rode so slowly that Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) nearly overtook him for
second overall. Garzelli and Simoni were faster than Casagrande at every
time check on a day on which the Vini Caldirola rider had to be at his best.
Marzio Bruseghin (Banesto) set the day's early standard with 1:03:02. No one
expected this time to be the stage winner, particularly because the high GC
riders came well after him. Still, Bruseghin's time held up for a long time.
By the time that Riccardo Forconi (Mercatone Uno) bettered it, all of the
riders were on the course. Of the top four riders overall, Casagrande,
Garzelli, and Simoni were contesting the race lead, while Pavel Tonkov
(Mapei) could have earned a podium spot with a very good day's work. The
Russian, who is the best time trialist in the top four, showed the effects
of three grueling weeks of racing and could do no better than 1:04:13, which
was 21st on the day.
Garzelli and Simoni, however, were something else again. They flew while
Casagrande struggled. At 10 km, Garzelli was nearly two minutes ahead of the
maglia rosa and Simoni almost one. During the climb to Sestrieres,
Casagrande rallied briefly and took a little time out of Garzelli, but on
the steepest part of the ascent, Garzelli regained command. He finished 1:56
ahead of the Vini Caldirola star, while Simoni finished 43 seconds ahead of
Casagrande. The pink jersey had changed hands.
Tomorrow's final stage will be an anticlimax. The flat, 189-km ride from
Turin to Milan is traditionally a procession for the new Giro champion. The
sprint into Milan is the only part of the race that will have significance.
Look for a blazing finish by the fastest sprinter who has not abandoned--Jan
Svorada, perhaps?
