1997 Giro d’ Italia with Phil Liggett

1997 Tour of Italy – World Cycling Productions coverage with narration by Phil Liggett.

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Produced and Directed: Tim Grady
Written and Narrated: Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen
Edited: Tim Grady & Curt Laine
Music: Michael Ward & Bob Thomson

Note: This video was created by World Cycling Productions. I do not own this content.

[Music] yeah n [Applause] w hello everybody I’m Phil liard along with Paul shuring together we hope to bring you an exciting 80th edition of the tour of Italy starting right here in Venice on the Leo and moving all the way around Italy to finish in Milan on June the 8th the weather today absolutely marvelous full sun 29° C very hot indeed for what is 16 laps of the Leo here in Venice and of course the hot favor today will be the self- acclaimed fastest man in the world Mario chiellini and Paul with 2 kilometers to go his team are working for the win for him certainly this is what they’ve done all year so far they’ve been at the front in all of the situations like this they are a well- drilled Squad and there’s only one thing they’re thinking about that’s getting Mario chelini to the line in an ideal position there he is Phil in the tricko jersey of the champion of Italy so chiellini hoping to get on the winning Trail again in the tour of Italy already a winner of 16 stages of this race since he first competed in it in 1989 and now lining up for what he hopes will be the start of a clutch of wins this year these early days of the tour of Italy will certainly suit chiellini they’re very flat that just his ideal type of racing and he’s got a very strong team here around him with his favorite lead out men right on the front now the man he always relies heavily on Jean Mato fenini is the second man in the line here and the last man to lead chiellini out for the Finish 1K to go a kilometer to go and just behind chiellini there is the blue and white jersey of Marcel w a German Sprinter who is very good indeed when it comes down to these opening stages especially this afternoon you have to bear in mind first man across the line will get the pink jersey because there’s been no prolog time trial Marcel was out on the very first day a year ago when he was spining so well it was meant to be a highlight of his year instead it was the biggest low light he’s right in at the final kill here today Marcel W now now it’s just fanini now with chiellini on his wheel and you can see the heat ha here now as fenini gives his final effort here for big Mario also in on the hunt here the yellow Jersey of Leone Leone also trying to break in Manali in the bat colors of blue trying to get through now Leone’s been left on the front fenini has gone out of it now it’s all up to chiellini the champion of Italy is boxed in behind Leon and Manali the big sprinters may have him but he’s coming through an impossible gap on the inside and chalini gets it so Mario chiellini opens with a win he’ll be the first man to pull on the Mal Rosa the average speed of the day 48 kilm an hour that’s more than 30 m hour for the first stage and I am not surprised he is happy although he didn’t look too happy there with somebody that tried to T him anyway this is how chiellini did it and I must say at this stage Paul I thought he was completely boxed in well he was but there’s a lot of action in the Sprint there you can see arms going up people pulling off each other but this is how he did it for pH he came right up the inside of Nicola minali he was looking through a gap that hardly was there at all which is quite remarkable he knew he had to get this first stage he’s up here you can see right on the barriers minali on the blue jersey at the front here coming across a little bit trying to close the door on him and chipollini the Gap doesn’t even look wide enough for his shoulders but he’s got the speed and the confidence he’s just gone straight through across the line to get his first win of this year’s tour of Italy and that’s what he wanted so a win for Mario chiellini second Nicola Manali third andreo Leone and that was the order of the sprinters and the Order of the overall as the race now moves on to the second stage which takes the Riders from mea to Sea a ride of 211 kilm and the weather again is absolutely glorious so it’s a little bit longer than yesterday in fact it’s something like 90 kilometers further but no terrain at all to speak of Paul absolutely pancake flat look at that four laps when they get down to the end and again once they do get to the finishing circuit I’m sure the team of Mario chip Will Take Over Control you can see him there in the pink jersey just at the left of the screen and he has said one of the major things he wants to do is win a stage of the tour of Italy with the pink jersey on his shoulders you know Phil he’s such a showman and I think he can rise to the occasion absolutely right he’s worn the pink jersey before but he’s never won a stage of the race wearing it and he’s changed his color of his short yet again these are the official shorts for a changeed more or less PA they’re not quite the right pattern but he keeps on collecting those F so wearing the illegal shorts but as Paula said he really is a fashion expert Big Field and the field now enjoying the start of the tour here right down in the very warm part of Italy as they now race down towards the far south of Italy where the weather is bound to be at its hottest and the field staying together hardly in attack all day in fact the Riders just continuing into the big bunch and the whole field coming in towards the final kilometer here now and again mg trying to get on terms the big men we expect to talk about staying out of the way of the at the minute and leaving the sprinters to it as the bell rings pulling a long line of riders towards the Finish Well M GB trying to keep it together for them and yans farada he’s ridden very well so far this year but as we go closer to the Finish it’s obviously the team of psycho canelle at the front the team of Mario chiellini who’s there at the moment in around about sixth or seventh position just controlling his guards at the front well in fact we heard the Bell there that was for the final lap there now 5 km from the finish here as the spins tried to get on terms in fact Z has been in the action earlier today at 50 kilm he won the sponsor special Prem they’ve got this year the gr Premo of La gazetta Dela sport which is the newspaper that sponsors this event and now we’ve got again SEO trying to bring the Riders up towards the front forari is the rider who’s just swung off there making way for the rest of the team now but this we could be some Sprint here for how was a little bit of wobbly as they came around that corner but again fenini has got his man on the front well Chini can’t ride without finina he needs this man just as a pilot fish just to get him to the last couple of hundred meters but at the moment he’s got a long way to go and Ry is starting to up on his shoulder and it may well be that he’s left it a little bit too late so as they come up towards the line now it’s again chiellini is trying to do something about it as he starts to lead out this big man kicks again but there’s a terrible crash on the corner I think Manali was involved in that but he’s left on the corner as chiellini knows nothing about it he gets the win he wanted and it was zer who got second place just behind him but I think it was Manali who was left on the corner it was indeed number 48 Ana Manali and it looks as though he’s heard his back there that’s how it happened in fact it looked as though it might have been manali’s fault there Paul his front wheel seem to lose traction he’s taking a lot of risks as he came around the corner he knew he had to stay on the wheel of Mario chalini but as he cruises across the line he’ll get the same time as the rest of the Riders there but I think he’s going to be very sore very sore indeed there that was a nasty fall at the the most crucial part of this watch it again his back wheel went in fact and he sat right down on his backside that was a painful fall indeed but the skill of professional cyclist virtually nobody else involved in that spill just one teammate in fact of Mario chiellini got involved a tremendous bike riding by the big boys and now look at the front this is the win he wanted win number two in his many days to Mario chiellini and again he’s distance andreo Leone back into third place the man who’s popped up into second was Yan zerada of the map a b so the big man ruling the roost in the zalia in the top three again today with his win and overall no change at all chiellini leading this race by 16 seconds now from andreo there’s confirmation of the stage result Tomy getting fourth one or two strange names getting up in the spint all disturbed by the crash but overall no change at all chiping leading andreo Leone by 16 seconds R is third onto stage number three well this is a a time trial stage in fact and I think Mario chapini is going to have a very hard time keeping hold of that leader yellow Jersey because it’s an uphill time trial into San Marino but Phil it’s great to see on the start of this year’s tour of ity Marco pantani making a brilliant comeback after 18 months almost out of the sports and since that crash he had in Milan Torino at the end of 1995 and there he is so now at the smallest Republic in the world population 23,000 just 61 Square kilm the Republic of San Marino and I think Paul B here to watch the departure of Marco Panton well they’ll get a chance just to see how good his recovery has been he rode very well in the tour of meria in March he was in fact lying in second place overall but then disqualified for not wearing the king of the mountains Jersey the team also fil his base here in San Marina so they want to do something special pantani still a little way down the leaderboard in fact leaving the departure house 51st and this is Gotti who has worn the yellow jersey in the tour to France briefly and now riding very very well indeed here the best time through this checkpoint done by Copo at the moment and Gotti is slightly up on that he’s not quite at the line yet just around the corner here he’s going to run Copo very very well indeed Copo has been heading up all the way through this race so far and he’s just a shade outside Gotti just less than a second slower than coalo so he might go better over the distance here’s the defending Champion now this is an important day only a short time trial not a lot of time trials in the tour this year pavl tonkov want to see a good result and his season so far although he is showing form now Paul has been dogged by crashes he’s had a lot of injuries but it was good to see him coming just to form in the tour of ROM he looked exceptional there he was beating all comers but at the midsection of the course Marco pantani is showing I think Phil that he has come back to some form of his former self well this is a bit of a remarkable ride here by Panton Calo still is on top of the ball but look at this now as Marco Sprints for the line here he’s going to be oh I think he’s going to be quicker he is nearly 4 seconds to the good for Marco Panton at the early stage of what is a very short time trial it’s a very short time trial only 18 km long but really from the Midway it’s uphill all the way to the finish right in the center of San Marino gotty out on the course still looking very comfortable indeed but it’ll be interesting to see just what time pavl tonov does when he gets to the halfway point so looking down at Ian Gotti the training partners by the way tonov and Gotti as they make their way now and the own team colors here and iang Gotti riding well I think but tonov is riding exceptionally well here he’s riding up to the check here panton’s time is surviving but this man is going to knock more than a couple of seconds of it so Pavel tonov looks to me as though he has got for we switched back immediately to see LC Leblon make the start here the top Frenchman riding now for py the Italian team a little bit sorry that we didn’t see the passage there of tonov go through he might get back to it pretty quickly but it looks tonov is now the leader at that check further up the course we’re back with Marco Panton and the fireworks are welcoming him well this is the pantani club here they’re all from San Marino you can see at the side of the road there they really want Marco pantani to come back to the former climber that he was and at the moment he’s climbing exceptionally well fil and the crowds have certainly turned out for him absolutely enormous is this man popular or what the little man with the big heart now stomping on the pedals everybody willing him to do a ride to put him right up there amongst the leaders of the gialia tough little climb this it’s 11% gradient that’s around about just over 1 in 10 it’s really remarkable to think feel that he’s been out of the sport for such a long time and he’s back and competitive up at the Finish Line it’s going to be Ian Gotti the time to beat is 3323 and I think he might just go inside so Gotti should set the best time by the way tonov got through the check there 30 seconds exactly ahead of Panton as iang Gotti is trying to dig out something special here but but his time is running up a little bit better than Copo he’s going to go top of the leaderboard right now if he can find it in his legs to Sprint and he can so Ian Gotti excellent time 46.7 seconds to the good now P OV getting a little bit long in the tooth now but he has been a great time trial Rider one of the few can claim to have beaten Miguel inine in a time trial in a stage of the Tour of France and that was an uphill time trial too so he’ll be at home on a course like this it really is a very tough course over the final part and this is the classification at midpoint iang Gotti has come in with the best time ahead of calilo and vladimiro belly in third place Bell’s a surprising Rider this season as well but now it looks to me as though tonov here his legs are looking a bit heavy all of a sudden he really looks to be crawling up this climb when you compare his style to the style of Marco pantani but it is very steep at this part of the course and pavl tonov has the reputation of a man who tends to use excessively big gears so it may well just be a deception well let’s find out doubt if Panton has maintained a Tempo towards the finish copalillo here in second place so he’s behind now Panton he’s slower than Gotti but he’s Racing for the second place at the moment he gets that so pantani goes into second a little bit off the pace set by iang Gotti who’s delivered the first surprise of this Sho daala I think and here comes luuk LeBlanc he also is not firing that great at the moment out on the course going through a tonkov set the best time there it is 1304 toov come in there with a very good time I think he lost a lot over the last couple of kilometers but out on the course Lucky Luke as the French call him looking for a good ride in this year’s jro dalala really time running out for him here’s the classification tonov still at the lead there with 3142 almost a minute ahead of Ivan Gotti I’m just wondering what our directors got against pav tonov there he only gave us a quick glimpse of him finishing with the best time but out on the course OV now without his hat and you can see the balling head is getting Bal I have to say for he’s now trying to set a good time he is going well he’s plus 10 seconds that’s not a lot for OV tonov though setting the best time there and now has the best time in at the finish the time of Pavo tonov 31 minutes and 42 seconds it’s nice to see the devil in fact has changed his holiday venue we normally see him at the tour to France but this time he’s decided to come down to Italy as well oh we mustn’t forget as we watch all the stars here the last man to go will be the Magle Rosa of the jir dalala and that is Mario chiellini I’m not so sure though he’ll expect to live with the quality of these mountain time trialists today and a very very fast tempo being set here by ugar back to the Finish LeBlanc is coming in with a good time here a racing the time now second best as he comes up towards the line he’s going to scrape in there so LeBlanc go second 3219 for him behind tonov Roberto Patito the next man to come out for Seiko he’s had an excellent season so far this year he was a winner earlier on of Tero adriatico but at the Finish Line OV 2 is trying to go inside the time of Luke LeBlanc but I don’t think he’s going to make it well in which case if he doesn’t he’ll go for third PA but we’ve got tonov with the best time in the house Leblon is currently second at 3219 he’s outside of that now he’s a chasing got’s time he could be slotting in here in third place and OV comes in yes 3235 he’ll hold third now the man who won the Tour of Italy the first Russian ever to do it afini bers we know he’s a great time trialist can he produce it today his form a little bit suspect well his form always erratic feel he comes up to the big occasions he promises to be good and then all of a sudden everything falls apart Here Comes Patito out on the course at the 8 and 1 half kilm check he’s now chasing a time set by ugarov so he’s falling a little bit down the leaderboard but not that far this is going to be a good ride by ptito he’s a big man to deliver good times out on the mountains 14 seconds off the pace that shouldn’t be too disappointing for him not yet there is evini Bine and I think in fact tonov will be very interested about Bine because tonov lost a minute 27 to him on stage 19 of the time trial last year there he was watching him he’s in the Finish remember with the best time and einini Bine still away down on the course well there he is Paul he must be feeling a little bit of a complex down there now it’s going to be very difficult for him he’s done one thing that he wanted to do so far in this year’s jro dalala and that was winner stage wearing the pink jersey but with a finish at the summit of the climb here to San Marino it’s going to be very hard for him to keep that pink jersey and I think he’ll have to get rid of the pink bike as well well he doesn’t look to me as though he’s a man expecting to be in the lead by the end of this stage because you’re a little bit too relaxed is Mario chiellini as he rolls out to an enormous cheer from the crowd he really is a popular Rider two out of two stage wins but the time trial coming very early in this year’s yearo it’s forcing the favor to play their cards early on here’s one of them einini beine but IND ation are he’s not going that well out on the course and he doesn’t look too hot on the climb either he’s a strange Rider really enigmatic he can be absolutely brilliant or useless and at the moment I think he’s having a hard time just trying to get his gearing right on this very steep part of the climb as he came around the corner there he was suffering trying to decide which gear to use and at the Finish Line Roberto Patito has put in a very good time trying to push Luke Leblon away from second position as he goes inside that’ll give him second 3214 just 32 seconds of drift wow well good Roberto that’s a great ride by him now are we going to call a great ride for einini Bine this Rider following his own training formula this year they’ve given him a free hand on the battic team so he’s spent a lot of time racing in Portugal and he’s been getting wins there but not against the big competition anyway here’s the big man he’s closing down the time trial course and riding a lonely Furrow Bine was 3 seconds quicker than tonov out on the course but it looks as though he’s lost a little bit since the climbers hurt him because he’s chasing only second time now Patito he might sneak in there he’s in 3203 so Bering gets the second place but he’ll be disappointed he hasn’t beaten tonov this time out so einini Bine rolls to a halt shakes his head a little bit there I don’t think he was at all happy with that performance because he convincingly beat tonov last time out in the Ziro and this time he can sees 21 seconds Patito gets a very good third and Luke Leblon of France and py he finishes in fourth place so overall tonkov leading by a single second from Bine Patito up to third Leblon is fourth the race goes on this is now the fourth stage of 156 km taking us away from San Marino into Tuscany we’re off to a reto pole and a very tough stage too the first time the Riders really get a chance to stretch their legs so it’ll be difficult I think to control the main field and a good day really when a breakaway could succeed well again a 178 Riders at the start this morning and and uh no big racing done in the opening miles at all a long break away by Toby steinhauser but that’s been brought back to heel now as they gain the SEO boys are still sensing they might pull their man Mario chiellini back up for what would be his third stage victory in 4 days there is pavl tonov in the pink jersey in the center of the field and I think Phil he’s going to be very happy with the fact that the SEO team think they can win the stage because in fact they’re the team at the front doing all of the work controlling the pack well a few Rolling Hills as we’ve come into Tuscany but nothing to challenge the climbers of course and that 1 second Gap beginning to look quite a large gap over evini Bine for pavle tonov and they know the mountains are still to come because this is one of the most difficult tours for years and the mountains are still a little way down the road so for the moment at least Mario chiellini is looking for the victory the whole of his team have the confidence he can get it and there they all are well they certainly know what to do when it comes down to the final few kilometers of a stage like this this time Mario chalini in sixth or seventh place there you can see has changed his jersey this is the the Mayo chamina or the mo jersey for the points and he’s in fact asked for one of his teammates to bring in his helmet so he’s obviously worried about the danger of these final few Sprints I’m not sure whether that’s good news or bad news for the other sprinters in the race it means that big Mario is going to mix with the best here now as again his team start to stalk up and down the bunch this looks like in fact it’s Alexander moose who’s gone forward on the far side and uh also forari is the rider putting his hand in his pocket the whole team is here well they know exactly what their job is they’re totally dedicated to getting Mario chelini at the stage victories none of these Riders think anything at all about themselves all they want to do is keep the pace high so that they can pull this Breakaway back that’s just formed over the last few kilometers bring it all together so then when they go into the Finish chipollini has got a chance of taking another stage Victory well it’s a breakaway of a few Riders here who have been trying to stay away but the pace has been pretty Snappy and holding the Riders almost together and there’s no chance I don’t think for these Riders to stay away now they’ve pulled back two big breaks today little Riders trying to snip off the front yet again but it’s up to the sprinters on the SEO team to hold this race together if they can Number 96 there at the back is Simo biasco 67 riding for the Cantina too team that’s Andrea DOI but again ryers trying to come across all of the time but I think the pressure of the psycho canondale team at the front is going to bring it all together when we come in to the final few kilometers but the speed you can see Phil is allowing one or two Riders to LEAP across the Gap well we’re just about 30 km from the finish here now as ryer is trying to reorganize the situation but you see they’ve got everything nicely under control as the Red Guard as it were it reminds me of the old days of Rick van Loy when he used to have the Red Guard looking after him in the big Sprints the Belgian Sprinter you see how they don’t panic at all they stay keeping one simple Pace at the front of this group letting groups go across all of the time in ones and twos form a breakaway at the front and then what they do is lift the pace generally and pull everything back together but this break now Phil is up to five Riders and starting to look quite significant this is delova here and in fact we’ve got Pao batini in this break and Andrea DOI yet again from Cantina thing about the toour of Italy is the smaller teams do have a chance to grab a little bit of publicity and veslav javanan is also here for Ross lotto and Saro galleri from sco that’s the Breakaway but they just ahead we’ve just had a crash in fact off our cameras and the biggest Faller there was vladislav bobrick and U pesel also gone down in that fall but they’re chasing behind the race and we are now just 15 km from the finish and the pack are not very far behind there they are it’s down to around 100 met or so but javanan the Russian Rider on the L Ro Lotto Squad is a very good Sprinter indeed but he’s not feeling too confident I think trying to find a small Breakaway to give him a chance of taking one of the stage victories but all of the time you can see the Red Guard of Seiko at the front and this is the final little climb as we go down to the finish in areto and then it from the top here just 14 km to the Finish Line really the profile doesn’t favor this Breakaway because once over this little climb the SEO boys look as too as though they found themselves a little bit of help here now as well because there’s a lot of sprinters will fancy their chances here and they’ve really got to take Mario chiellini on at his own game if they’re going to beat him in a Sprint finish the thing about sprinters is poor they need confidence and right now chini’s confidence is so high well it’s 100% I think two stage victories in two days and the opening days of this jro italan makes him feel that he’s Invincible especially when you saw the Gap that he went through on the second stage there to try and get that victory of his but I do think also that Nicola minali feels that he’s in with a Chance which is why he sent his team in the light blue jersey the the btic DelMonte Squad to the front to try and help it as well to make sure that they all come to the line together well Manali is suffering from that crash injury by the way but he’s still very much in the tour and still trying to make amend with a stage win so the whole line of riders here the pink jersey now on the shoulders of tonov that turquoise move Jersey on the shoulders of Mario chiellini that’s the one we should look out for Paul because look at this sort of speed now as they go down towards the finish in areto and that is Gabriella Columbo who’s taken a flyer off the front well one moment a few moments ago in fact all of his team were at the front and I think now he’s trying to take the sting out of the tail of the Seiko canondale team and it looks to me if we get one or two corners coming into the Finish Line as if he might just surprise them well there’s a nasty right hand Bend there very sharp one indeed but they look as though they’re all safely round we’ve had one or two tumbles in these opening stages of the Z Italia this year Colombo though well he’s totally in for it now or he’s going to get nothing but the sprinters have got the whole teams working there to try and haul him back sharp left hand Bend here and he’s come round and he’s gone down he’s gone straight off the corner Columbo nasty crash with the curbstone there and Gabriella Columbo is down and is now going to have to chase back well he took too many risks there Philly pushed it just a little bit coming into that corner he knew he had to do something special but it’s now down to the sprinters there’s chelini in the chamina Jersey there in third position he’s looking for another win well he’s got himself right where he wants him at the moment he’s concentrating very very hard indeed angle Ado of the kelme team is up there with him too keeping an eye him tonov staying well out of it now because this is when the sprinters claim it for themselves there’ll be no change in the overall classification now except Colombo’s going to lose time he was outside the kilometer when he fell now almost casually the big charge for the line the much as short he wanted to be up there quite this soon here but I didn’t like the way in fact the fenini swung off the front there and blocked up the rest of the race but anyway angle is trying to come through on our left but chiellini gets the stage win and a brilliant result there three out of four possible for Mario chiellini so far he cannot do a thing wrong well he thanks his teammates for the effort but I really didn’t think very much of the sprinting there of Jean Mato well here’s Gabriella Columbo explaining how he just lost this stage Paul as he went off on that left hand Bend basically saying that he came into the corner too quickly trying to take too many risks he touched the white line a little bit there then all of a sudden he saw the fact that there was a directional Island tried to correct it but he couldn’t and he went into the curbs on there with his head you can see so fortunately wearing a helmet well in fact as we see chiellini spray the cameras his teammate has been disqualified from the tour Jan Mato has been disqualified for Dangerous riding in the Sprint when he led out Mario chiellini so that’s put a damper on thing we might see it here that’s finini on the right now we see how he slows down and he bks everybody he tries to apologize but that’s the professional foul If Ever I saw one he delayed everybody in their reaction and for that he’s dis qualified from the tour pavl tonov keeps the overall lead by a single second no change at all here all of these men finishing safely despite fenini in that main field and now we’re up to 215 km on stage number five as we go from areto down to the finishing stage here in Termino it’s going to be a very tough climb for these Riders at one of the hardest climbs of the tour of Italy and certainly a lot of Big Time gaps will appear this is one of the earlier climbs of CER greto and very hard too for the man who’s managed to get away on his own wearing number 57 from brat this in fact is Mariano picoli a very wellknown climber trying to make a name for himself in this year’s tour of Italy but I tell you what thing one thing Phil once they get to the finish at Termino it’s going to be very hard for a lot of riders well this is Mariano picy last two years the king of the mountains in the tour now coming up towards the top of the greto somewhere in between now as his teammate krini this is the main pack or the league pack really because one of two Riders ERS are in trouble on the climb as the mappe boys tried to look after tonov this is krini he’s gone over the top about a minute and a half behind his teammates this is the main field and so they’re coming pretty much together it’s a brave effort by picy this Paul to try and get some mounting points well certainly he’s been the king of the mountains in this competition for the last two years running 95 and 96 currently though lying 38th overall in the standings almost 2 and 1/2 minutes behind well he’s got the Descent and then he will start the climb of the Termino and it’s a tough one right to the top it takes them up to 1675 M this is the way down at the moment and just look at that 162 beats to the minute Paul at the moment 40 km an hour so he’s just riding sensibly at the moment just trying to keep his Tempo because he realizes he doesn’t want to go too hard and then get to the bottom of the climb a little bit asphyxiated he ride a steady tempo all the way there but the reaction still coming in the main field this looks like buenahora stretching his neck there he’s had a little dig he’s being brought back into the fold here by the group in fact strangely enough this looks like Mario chalini who’s still up there so he’s put an excellent ride in so far to get over the C of ltio but I think once they get to the slopes of Termino Mario chipollini is going to take the easy ride to the summit Well normally takes the easy ride home Midway through a tour of Italy but this year perhaps he’s intent on finishing the race himself this looks like the arrival of krini he’s come right back to the field now leaving just his teammate picol out front here comes the main field and they’re wiping him out in a big Swift run at him but again chiellini is paying close attention Paul he’ll obviously be afraid of the climb to the Finish maybe he wants to get a little bit ahead well he doesn’t have to worry too much today because if he’s still in the race at this stage he only has to ride up to the summit of Termino and not worry too much about the elimination times because they’re quite long today Phil on a stage of 215 kilomet back with the leader picy he’s no longer pulling away from the field now as he keeps his concentration and tries not to think too hard about what’s going on behind the weather L us down a bit today you can see there were little puddles of water on the roadside there’s also the Gap a minute and 50 seconds says the Blackboard so in fact he’s losing a little bit of ground now this big bunch here has found their Tempo and they’re just itching to get onto that climb up to the Finish it’s also the first time really the weather has turned in Clement in the tour of Italy after the opening days where temperatures were around about 35° C then now down to 15 or 16 and the rain I think making it difficult to everyone but Mario chalini there looking very concentrated indeed making himself a lot of effort to stay near the front of the pack there’s OV on the far side riding alongside his former country mate because although he’s now Ukrainian pavl tonov is still a Russian and so setting the pace here jany buo not seeing too much of him this tour but he’s given up all hope of ever winning the tour now he’s thinking only of a good performance perhaps on one of the stage es the pack waiting for the last 15 km in fact they’ve come up nice Tempo style to picoli who’s gone back into the field now it’s all hands free because they can now go for the climb itself farzin from maape looks to be the pacemaker now for tonov who climb steadily behind tonov is his teammate jeppe de Grande he’s a man who’s come through this year as well there in the green jersey as second place in the king of the mountains is fgi Bine he’s looking at the back of Luke BL wearing number 171 there riding for py and once again as soon as it goes uphill it’s always the the Spanish team Kel who at the front this is Kee Gonzalez the Colombian Rider he’s looking to try and get out of the main pack and put a lot of pressure on the the lead of pavl tonov but at the moment I don’t think tonov is too worried about Riders like Gonzalez he’s more worried about the Riders alongside and Marco pantani there with the balding head he’d like to see just exactly how pantani is going to be in this year’s tour of Italy but Bine looking very concentrated indeed and fighting to stay at the front it looks as though the meaton Uno boys are going to try and give tonov a rough ride up the hill here because pantani wants to show he’s back to his old form there he is sitting behind pavl tonov they’re not going to worry too much about the attack by KY Gonzalez at this stage tonov can’t afford to panic his leads are not that big overall yet but if a good ride today you never know what gaps will open here’s KY he’s got uh a great claim to fame really because last year he became the first Colombian to win a stage of the tour to France on the flat before you all write in because not many Colombians win on the flat well Bine looks to be suffering a little bit here you can see the green jersey lots of riders have gone by him and I think in fact he’s going to have a great deal of difficulty staying with the pink jersey of pavl tonov on this very tough climb 15 kilometers from the base all the way up to the summit of Termino I tell you what Paul it’s going to be a little bit Termino for one or two Riders here because there a few Riders now losing ground down off the back one of the names coming forth is OV has gone off the back we’ve seen Bine looking to be in a little bit of trouble and so this could be big damage here and here is Bine he’s not riding with anything like the spirit and Verve that made him the first Russian winner of the gialo a couple of years back one team who certainly do feel as if they want to stamp their Authority on this race is meron Uno with six kilometers remaining to the summit they’re trying to set it up think I Phil I think for a victory for Marco pantani cuz he’s at the moment in second position there’s the face of a man who he’s not enjoying his yalia F guini bear in and it looks to me as though now Jee de Grande I think it is setting the pace now for his leader pavle tonov who is now throwing down the gaunlet he established his lead in the time trial we’re now on the first Moun stage of the Ziro the sun has come out and that is also not pleasing einini Bine there you can see the pink jersey responding to all of the attacks coming out once again it’s the mg team trying to get across there this is copalillo trying to get away but straight away the pink jersey is on him and coming across now in the yellow is Marco pantani well it is really good to see pantani in the thick of the action that’s for sure he was in the opening titles for theal last year as a singer and I’m glad he’s gone back to cycle racing anyway he’s on the left of our picture now he’s going to try himself see if the legs are going to respond he’s had an excellent start to the season although he got disqualified in one event didn’t matter he finished high up in the GC before they kicked him out and it proved a point to him there he is Panton climbing very very good he looks determined he looks strong but tonov Paul has just cruised over and Gotti is here as well well tonov is just controlling all of the attacks he really looks comfortable every time there’s been an acceleration he’s been the one to ride across to nullify any sort of attack following his wheel there in the red jersey of Seiko is Gotti and not too far away from the action is Luke Leblon so the big names have come to the front the one big name we’re sorry to say is not here is that of einini Bine he is struggling down the mountain now there’s new names up here too gotty again throwing in a surprise after a very good time trial batito I haven’t spotted either at the moment he’s another man we’d expect to see moving up into the action but right now Panton is here tonov is here we’ve seen the blonc by the way tonov is quite Pacific and complaining about the riding style of luk Leon who he says just follows him everywhere he rides and right now he’s right behind him more or less well that’s the tactic he’s the man who’s the defending champion of this year’s tour of Italy if he wants to win it he has to go out from the front and I think that’s just exactly why Luke Leblon has decided to base his riding on the style of tonov you can see leelong there wearing number 1171 he’s just watching exactly where the pink jersey is going to go but I think now Phil we really have the heads of state of this year’s jodal at the front with 3 kilm remaining well the Kazakhstan Rider Alexander Sheffer is number 38 tacked onto the back I’ve known him for quite a few years good to see him getting up into the kill on the stage today still a little way to go it’s climbing all the way to the finish it levels out just before the line on the summit and now again the attacks are coming and is this gotty who’s trying to go clear bit difficult to tell from the helicopter but the pink jersey is right on him he’s looking so cool Paul he’s not not even getting out of the saddle he’s just cruising across to these attacks he certainly uses a very big gear on the clock and just sits there comfortably in third position there with the red jersey that’s Ivan Gotti looking very comfortable as the moment as well it looks as though he’s even more than that paor because he decided to have a go at it here he’s ripped away from the pack and immediately again the Mal Rosa has jumped across and locked in onto Ian Gotti Gotti is turning out to be the big surprise of this tour he’s looking very very frisky indeed but I have to say that tonov looks up to everything being thrown at him on the The Climb of the temin low today and that attack in fact putting Marco pantani under a little bit of pressure but Phil you can see in fact Luke Leblon has responded and he’s chasing the man that he feels is the number one favorite in the tour already in the pink jersey tonov well there’s about five or six Riders left up at the front here now as we’re just approaching the last 2 kilometers to the finish and it really has thinned out the race as a g now this is p who’s having a little dig too he’s the refin rider but again tonov has marked every move he’s doing it all by by himself he’s got complete control of this race now if he can convert this enormous strength he’s showing into a good finish he could take out this second most important stage so far well in fact he hasn’t waited for any more attacks he’s decided to launch one himself showing that he’s very confident showing that he’s got the power and in fact he’s put the the climbers of this event into a position where they have to chase him down well they’ve got in they’ve latched on in fact LeBlanc has been caught out of position there because he’s at the back of this Breakaway tonov now has decided of ball had a little dig at him that to try and control this race he’s gone to the front and he’s now using his strength to keep the pace at just where he wants to keep it well he’s not one of the great climbers what he has to do now as they come up to the kilometer Banner is control it set a pace to stop these climbers attacking him and all of the other riders in this breaker climbers apart from the man in the pink jersey who is really the most powerful man on the flat well the thing is he’s the defending champion of the Ziro daala he won it last year and he’s now looking very very strong indeed it’s been a long struggle this year for pavl tonov a couple of serious crashes he’s damaged his hands but he’s now seems to have got himself right on schedule to win the Jero little bit of rain falling again now and he’s got pey on his wheel then gotty then Panton and Luke Leblon and shefer tucked in there as well he’s got serious power here 700 MERS remaining and all he’s doing Phil is setting a Tempo to try and prevent anybody attacking but it looks to me as if Luke leelong decided he wants to have a go well look at this L Leong who’s watched everybody now waiting till the very end to launch an attack but I think a very annoyed pav tonov has gone after him as they come up towards the Finish now LeBlanc may have misjudged this because he a climb almost to the line and again and this must be about the 10th time he’s done it pavell tonov has counted a move with comparative ease now he’s going to wait and wait till he sees the banner well got is coming back then I don’t think tonov would be very happy with Luke Leblon because Leblon has been following him all over the climb this afternoon but got moves up around the outside he’ll be looking for a stage win now so gotty has decided to go for it as well and Leblon has gone after him and this time they have a small Gap over tonov but no he has reacted yet again pav tonov brings the string across now this is the final run for Ian gy he’s going to have to make it or not and in fact LeBlanc decides to go over his shoulder but tonov is coming as well and pavl tonov who’s been strong all day gets the stage from Luke Leblon Marco Panton I think snicked in third place there which will push iang Gotti down to Fourth but just look at this pole further down the mountain well I think he will be a very sad man this afternoon around about 4 and 1/2 minutes down at the moment on this climb but he hasn’t got to the top and I think he’s going to lose a lot more than that before he reaches the line aini beine losing his tour of Italy I think with that performance today and he’s another man in Desperate trouble as well P OV he is also he’s ahead of Bine but he’s lost almost 3 minutes on the line as we go back now to the sorry side to the former Russian winner of the Ziro you know Paul he’s going to lose more than 5 minutes very difficult his teammates have stayed alongside him this is vulpi at the front fratini stayed with him as well they’re pacing him up to the line but it’s going to be a real bad day for him more than 5 minutes 528 and this is the man that caused all the distress he was superb today pavl tonov on this fifth stage the J to charer he’s setting himself a long long time in that maggle Rosa if he’s going to win it again this year LeBlanc robbed on the line there’s the result he gets second this is the overall tonov getting 41 seconds lead now over LeBlanc big names missing Zen has lost big time today the runner up last year a gotti is now up into third place so the race now moves on to the sixth stage of 210 km the ride is now going from RTI to Lano and the race starts quite nicely along the coast but as they go in land it gets very tough indeed two big climbs on the stage one the top of the valico sorno and then the highest stage the highest one of the stage is the valico diin this is a little Breakaway that’s got clear and they’re enjoying a beautiful day now we field down to 175 starters this morning a nice luxurious start time Paul a few minutes before midday when the sun’s nice and warm as the race now begins to continue its Journey South we’re on the east coast of the leg of Italy now as we continue going south towards the hill on again there’s always a Seiko Ryder present in the leading group this is mikeli copalillo he’s really to me Phil been the revelation of this year’s tour of Italy because he he’s not really one of the Riders you would expect to see riding so well in the mountains but I think on that terminello stage he was very good indeed well this Breakaway has a real chance of success now we’ve got Dario fro from the SEO team in the red there mik copalillo who’s having a great tour at the moment up into Seventh Place overall we got Roberto galui he’s the rider that tore the field apart in the under 23 worlds last year got a silver and a bronze there and by the way Paul won the amateur Ziro dalala last year but I think the dangerous thing in fact is letting a rider like mckel copalillo get into a breakaway like this because he’s high up in the overall standings and I’m surprised really that the team of pavl tonov let this break succeed well they’re heading into the final kilometer and they’re going to succeed the peleton is not very far behind in fact it’s only a handful of seconds but providing they don’t mess about they will survive to the end here this is attack first of all by Dario fro the SEO man is trying to stitch it up for himself but they’re right onto him here they’re not wasting any time at all there’s the main field coming around the corner now there’s only about 20 seconds in it they’ve reacted over the last few kilometers to pull it back but this looks like scambelluri he’s decided now that he’s going to go over the top and I think he may well have just caught them off their guard first T what a dream beginning for this young man everybody says he’s soaked in natural ability well we saw a lot of that last year now he’s going to get us surprise first early stage win of the zalia he’s Round the Bend he’s caught them completely napping here Roberto scambelluri rise for Brazilia this year is going to win his first stage of the Z italion the other three have left it far too late to react and the pelaton that must be very very close indeed behind them too he’s not far to go to the line now as it looks as though it’s Dario fro is’s trying to catch him it’s all too late but only just as scambelluri wins the stage second Dario fro as he crossed the line third is calilo and fourth is steinhauser and look at that the main field coming in now the big sprinters are going to have the moment too and it looks like Fabio balato is going to be best of the rest on the line he’ll get fifth place a few seconds back so that was the order over the line there overall again no change overall although calilo Will sneak a couple of seconds which will help his overall classification but for this man here scuro scambelluri rather he very happy with just getting a win look how young he is what a great debut in the zero Talia for him good win for bashat too they like a few victories in the tour of Italy when they can get them overall tonov still leading LeBlanc by 41 seconds Gotti is third at 107 calilo is seventh at a minute and 49 seconds back he’s the big gain today as we now move on to stage number seven of the zalia as we now race away from the city here heading down from Lano to mondoni one of the great things about the tour of Italy Phil is there never are normally very great transfers between the stages I think the Riders appreciate that because they can actually finish and start in the same town and it really is not as tiring sometimes as some of the other stage Races they have to take part in and this coming down to again a bunch Sprint here the race has been together virtually all of the day this is the C before the mountains again of course as the leaders try to settle in and I wonder if in fact Mario chiellini you can see him stand out down there in that Mo Jersey can get himself a stage win again well once again a very hard stage in the early part with a big climb but all together as we come down into the town of mrei and again lap four laps before we come up to the Finish Well a lot of pushing and shoving going on here but once again you see chiellini has got himself onto the far right of our picture three or four men down remember though he’s without his big lead out man now fatini disqualified a couple of days ago and so maybe be a chance for the sprinters to take advantage of that as they all now to try to dice for the finish here now it looks to me as though we’ve got the mg boys trying to find balato somewhere in there but he’s not there yes he is in the center but chini’s gone off to the left of our picture here to try and wind it up Marcel W is also trying to break in for Festina here that will be a turn up for the German Rider but W’s hit it just right for the line here taking on is Roso of Italy but first will take it a second Miro Rosato of the sco team Le only is in there again I think that’s his third third place on stages here so far but that is the win that Marcel V wanted that makes up for last year when he crashed out on the opening day when the race started from Greece so bu gets the stage Victory the sco rider there is ratoo equally annoyed at being beaten on the line and third Leon and chiellini absolutely nowhere so we move on now to stage number eight and this will take us now from mondoni down to the the Cara D trni and this is now a most beautiful part of Italy we’re almost as far south as we’re going to go look this year certainly is a very hot part of Italy as well and the Riders I think starting to enjoy the fact that the weather really has come down to this tour of Italy they’ve got away from the mountains 32° C this afternoon with only a light Breeze off the shoulders which could spread the ra the field up towards the end and very very humid indeed so it’s going to be pretty hot this is the weather though that the Italians love this is why they all flock down to the South and the Beautiful conditions as this little Breakaway now has got himself an enormous lead of 18 minutes and 21 seconds and this is the day perhaps caused by the heat when they decided to allow a breakaway to succeed sitting comfortably on the back one of the Ros Lotto Riders Mario manzon and a strange group of riders have managed to get themselves together in this leading group here none of them very high in the overall standings there number 129 is Marco Leti a change of teams for him because he used to be a big Ryder on the mg team and he’s decided I think to come across to the refin squad because he wants a little bit more freedom to try and win races on his own wearing number 166 is Andrea vaton all of these really Riders you don’t hear an awful lot of in the overall standings of the tour but in the main field it’s work as usual for M GB who have to stay at the front and at least set a pace to make sure that the mainfield finishes and here is the main field and pav tonov with his guard all around him here beginning to gain a lot of confidence in this year of italion out but you know his form has been suspect all season because of injury and he’s looking to a long time in that pink jersey if he’s going to defend it all of the way to the finish in Milano this is the town of Positano after 140 km the Riders still facing 60 km before they get to the Finish around about 45 Mi and there as we Shadow up to where we are there we are still the one big climb to come before we descend down towards the finish in this very very beautiful area of Italy and they really have lost all interest in this Breakaway at the moment nobody in it who’s going to drastically affect the overall leaderboard and that’s why the leaders aren’t bothering to chase it’s ruined any hope of a sprinter winning the stage alow the Contours today well it wasn’t really their cup of te anyway very good competitive final few kilometers too with that little climb going up to 690 M davo chuni and then two other little capos towards the end just like the capos that you would see at Milan Sano the cppo dorso is the final climb and that’s where if somebody feels that they’re strong in that leading group they’ll try and jump away for maybe a solo Victory narrow twisting descents here it means you must stay alert all the way down through these areas as the Riders continue to just hold their defenses now they’re not there’s no sign of the Breakaway being caught at all there’s no big reaction coming from the main field the break takeway was started today by Manzone and he was starting the stage in 123rd Place overall at 26 minutes and 28 seconds Back At One Stage You’ almost got that time back but it’s come down a bit now the 16 men consolidating their lead though overall on the day at least Denny zanet sitting on the back here from the the Aki team coming back a little bit Paul snicked off a few minutes there there’s the devil again 15 and 1 half minutes these Riders must now be thinking they have an incredible chance of taking a stage Victory but to do that they have to use their intelligence and try to split off the front of that leading group and now the mainfield seems to be reacting a little bit because they’re stretching out and this really does remind me of the finish of Milan Sano with all these capos and this wonderful Coast Road and that’s when the speeds will start to pick up and if you’re at the back of the main field at the moment you’re almost 1 and 1/2 minutes behind the man at the front well there you can see the beautiful vineyards on the hillside here the ride is now now are heading on to the valo chunzi which is the last king of the mountains climb of the day a little bit steep but it’s not going to test them too much there’s Marco Panton stalking the pack as he goes past the green jersey of Luke Leblon the green jersey is the king of the mountains color in the tour of Italy and he just took note there as who was moving up the pack and reacted quite a bit well it’s the aex team on the front obviously trying to put a little bit of pressure on there but you can see in the the group there it’s starting to split a little bit these Riders thinking about the Finish thinking about where is the point where they’re going to launch their attack the man in the front now is Mariano picoli and he’s joined by 166 Andrea vaton of the sco squad so they have got 13 minutes and 51 seconds over the pink jersey group but the rest of that Breakaway is somewhere in between and so it looks as though they’re pushing the pace just a little bit here while tonko still quite unconcerned by what is happening up front and so to Marco pan T he’s fifth overall a minute 39 behind tonov at the moment I think reasonably pleased with the way the race is going when you think the mountains are still to come that matter as we head up towards the top of the climb here now 500 M to go picy will want this one to try and finally get himself into the leader jersey in the tour of Italy as he dances up the climb here now just on the back wheel of vaton looking very comfortable I think he was a bit crazy the other day to jump away on that Breakaway on the stage to Termino he should have saved a little bit and then tried to go out on the final climb but interesting to see the the team of aex at the front there very dangerous descent here as they go over the top there it looks as if picol went over in first position but you can see the rest of the group here starting to try and pull it back together 24 km from the Finish but certainly these descents around the area of Campa and Italy are very tricky with the walls down the side and if you do overcook it you’ve got a big drop on the far side as well well that’s man’s own he’s just got back on in P picy did get over the top first pole so he’s now officially the leader in the king of the mountains so the look LeBlanc green jersey awaits Mariano picoli tonight he’s back in a familiar role there having won this for the last two years this competition mayori as we continue our journey now along this beautiful western coastline of Italy and the main field at last on the climb are they starting to get themselves together a bit you can see they’re strung out in a very long line indeed and they must certainly put the pressure on as we look at the lead group here and again they’ve got themselves back together so again picy trying to get away the Gap started to come down but Phil has been an accident here well there’s been a fall here and we’re looking at ryers who SP that’s pantani who’s coming off the side Panton has gone down and look at the state of his trousers there Marco pantani looking a little bit shaken up here and a bit of panic amongst the mechanics as well well don’t say Paul that pantani is in the wars again well I can’t believe it he was looking so good on the climb just a short while ago there he is fifth overall B in the overall standings 1 minute 31 behind he’s got two teammates with him but he doesn’t look too bad at the moment looking a little bit another Rider here looks as if he’s had some difficulty and it looks as if it’s going to be the end of the day for this man whatever this Rider is in fact it’s Armen May who’s gone down and that really is a sad crash because a nasty hole in his knee there buen hor has gone too and he’s won the big hopes from the Kel May Squad there’s pantani well he’s got some teammates hopefully they’ll take him back up I don’t know what happened there but whatever happened on Cam’s just caught the aftermath as they were all lying down in the road well Phil Marco pantani to me here looks as if he’s in an awful lot of difficulty in fact he’s hardly pedaling at all and can’t follow in the slipstream of his teammates well back with the leaders here the Gap is down to around about 13 minutes at the moment they’re Tred to get themselves back together but they’ll be totally anywhere of the chaos behind but the crash to panon and Bueno hor two Riders who we expected to see go well in the mountains that could have damaged their chances a lot 15 km from the Finish now now this is the situation behind and you know Paul Panton is not at all looking happy here he really can’t get any kind of rhythm going he’s had a very tough crash here we get a chance here in fact to look exactly how that crash happened they’re just going around one of these little right hand bends and the Crash happened on the left hand side it looks like mayor was the man who went into the left hand side there with the Swiss Champions Jersey on and this is where Marco pantani is in the leftand side of the gut a little bit further ahead of in fact buenahora but that was just a crazy crash it doesn’t seem to as if there was anything really in the road well that’s a real shame the fourth man that went down was Dario fro and they’re all in bit big difficulty at the moment but none more so than this man here he’s got his two teammates with him he’s got three teammates with him now but he is not looking at all good here Panton I think has lost a lot of his enthusiasm for the Z to tell you right now he’s in clearly in pain the man pushing him there is Roberto Conti the man who’s only got one stage victory in his career to his credit that’s at the alz but here I think it could very well be the end of the tour of Italy for Marco pantani because he just cannot get himself going oh this is a terrible terrible shame this was a rider who was starting to return to his old form how much bad luck do you need in your cycling career this man seems to have collected an awful lot in a couple of Seasons well the man was lying in fifth place overall this morning and that is a shame Phil because I feel he needed to finish the tour of Italy if he was going to go ahead and be competitive in the tour to France well back up with the leader Manzone the man that started all now and he’s way behind overall but there he is he’s now looking to try and take out the stage here he’s just got 5 kilometers to go to the finish and rlto could have themselves a big Victor but look at this all of the team cars the race doctor everybody is now around Marco pantoni looks as if in fact although he’s got a superficial wound on the right hand side it seems that he’s having problem with his left thigh he’s trying to get something from the doctor the the secret tube there the The Ice spray which hopefully will take down some form of inflammation but you know Phil this is really difficult for him to keep going under these conditions and I think he may well have to take the better part of valor and withdraw from the tour of Italy and try and get himself into some kind of organization for the tour to France later in the season well that’s very very sad indeed well all the drama is behind the race we’re into the last 2 kilometers of the stage now and this long long Breakaway looks as though manzon is going to ride to an almost an anonymous Victory as our camera keeps going back now to Marco pantani the rider who is losing huge amounts of time now even if he does finish the stage will it be worth going on because he can no longer possibly be a Challenger in the Ziro dalala this year and that is such a shame because he looked so good on those early climbs in the tour of Italy this year he looked so comfortable but I think it’s going to have to be a withdrawal for him because the main field a long way down but manzon has done the ride of the day really he waited until that final climb the Capo dorso to launch his attack he knew he couldn’t stay in the main group so he launched himself away on The Descent and he’s going to get what for him will be a great Victory and the L is on a Russian team he’s an Italian so this will be a very important stage win for him manzon Mario manzon gets the stage Victory here in the Carini and he is clear of the rest of the Breakaway 16 Riders shaped up the stage today at one stage they gained almost 20 minutes but everybody is going to be talking about the situ ation concerning Marco pantani second over the line there was in fact Stefano geraldi and third in was maritzio Molinari of the aex team but further down the road there’ll still be quite a lot of minutes going by before this group arrives all the men who are in the overall leadership of the tour of Italy led by the master pavl tonov are in this group as Marco Panton still got half a dozen teammates around him he’s in a group that has been dropped by the main field they’re just trying to survive just trying to get to the Finish but pantani is certainly in a lot of pain there all his teammates have stopped with him to try and nurse him to the finish and at the head of Affairs these Riders don’t even know how far behind Marco pantani is as Once Again Luke Leblon sits in the slipstream of pavl tonov well we’ve got him time Paul at the moment at over 12 minutes behind the winner uh so that doesn’t put him quite so far behind tonov but even so 12 minutes down on the at the moment here comes the field now containing tonkov and that is a nice solid pack finish they’re going to be just very happy with the way things have ticked over there no problems at all for them as they come in pavl tonov finishing safely in the pack this is the group of Marco pantani still trying to get their way to the Finish but pantani I think is going to have to go to hospital this evening and just check on those wounds that he’s had let’s not forget Phil that he’s coming back from all almost 18 months out of competition and what he has to do now is make sure that everything is correct there’s his teammate penana just leading him through and there in the middle of the pack Marco pantani who I thought was on a wonderful comeback well at least he managed to finish the stage there but he’s come in an awful awful long way down today and I think his tour is over we’ll see how he heals up and we’ll find out on today’s stage of 232 km which is the ninth stage of the Jero the ride is now heading down to C barari another incredible day Paul and this the hottest so far 33° that corresponds around about 110° fah so it’s very hot indeed beautiful part of Italy as we ride away from Camp into the the next Department of Italy and these Coastal Villages here really are a marvelous place to to spend some time away from the racing in fact uh pantani did not start the stage this morning Phil he was taken to hospital and they advised him that the the better part of valor would be to actually withdraw get himself right and then come back later in the season so an uneventful day except at the start this morning the non-starting of Marco Panton the other Riders involved in the crash have also retired from this race as so buenahora also lost to the kelme team and we expected a lot from him in the mountains as well down approaching the final kilometer of the stage today and it again is swinging back towards the sprinters all the attacks such as they were have been brought back into the field and now it’s a chance for the wins once again well it’s amazing despite those big climbs that this whole field is still all together we’re looking for Mario chalini to see if he’s in there at all and I can’t see him anywhere and in fact his teammates have been faltering I think over the last few kilometers as well it looks as though picol is going to have a little dig here wearing for the first day his green jersey Kev on the far right he’s in the blue jersey of the interiro winner and he gets the stage came from nowhere there Dimitri Kev the Russian he was the first ever Russian by the way to wear the king of the mountains in the tour to France and now he’s taken on the current King of the mountains in the zalia and he’s taken him out Dimitri KES here finishing ahead of Mariano picoli and Roberto Patito who made a good start to the Ziro he took the third place and genti was fourth in the overall situation there no change here it is still tonkov on top of the leaderboard ahead of luk Leblon and evang Gotti but gone now Marco Panton from that fifth place on to stage number 10 189 k were bridging right across the hill of Italy now with this ride from Castro Vari to Tanto no real Hills Paul and a day for the spiners as it is proving to be this time it’s the turn of the sco team to try and sort it out for them and they expect merco Rosato would have a very good chance of winning this but I do feel they’re missing fabito guidi there top man who broke his collarbone in the tour in the Parry ruet earlier in the season well this looks like Fabiano fontanelli is trying to get away and try and Snick a stage win he got one last year just before retired and now he’s clear again he looks over his shoulder there but all of the sprinters are trying to come up to him well if he can if any man can hold them off this man can in fact he won two stages of the tour of lanar in a similar fashion this year but you know that sco team at the front looked to me as if they’re dedicated to the victory this afternoon and somewhere in the middle there also is Mario chiellini well You Bet Your Life poly won’t be far away now because when he gets this close to the finish in with a shot at the line he is always looking for victory in fact he’s twice won four stages over the years of the zal in 92 and in 96 but he’s never won five well at the moment he’s got three in the bag and there’s still one or two left in this race that might suit him and sure enough you can pick out that M Jersey about seven or eight men down at the moment and as we look at the picture now he’s moved up into fourth or fifth place but the whole field are massing around him he’s the man to beat I often wonder why they follow his wheel because he knows they know they can’t get round him once they allow him to start the Sprint first he’s got one team teammate left to lead him out and then it’s going to be up to Mario to try and get the stage win but there are a number of other Riders here now because a nonstarter earlier in the week was Mani he really did suffer from that crash he’s retired from this tour so he’s not going to challenge now Mario chiellini chiellini is Comfortably there in third place but he is one of the fastest men once he gets to the front I don’t think anybody can come around him he’s switches across at the right hand side of the road but still the other sprinters queuing up on his wheel and all they can do now is Hope well once he gets the lead there he’s got Leon on his wheel Leone’s had 3/3 I think and now he’s got a second because chini’s got it that’s win number four for big Mario Leone will get second I think it was Fabio balato who was there for third place there he is baldar in the white crash helmet Leone still looking for this elusive stage win his tongue out as well but he’s had 3/3 and a second and all of them now are defeated by Mario chiellini hasn’t worked out yet how to get by the self-proclaim climed fastest man in the world he go down well in the horror film sometimes wouldn’t he he’s over the line so a win for Mario chiellini 5 hours 10 minutes in the saddle as we now move on with big Mario searching for stage win number five 159 km today 26° C Celsius now for the 11th stage the race now moving on down to the Circuit here at the Leo de calori think the Riders will be quite happy that the temperatures have dropped at last below 30° C and one of the men in the Breakaway here is masimo penano riding for makaton Uno and now that team really without a head because Marco pantani has had to with withdraw giving some of the riders in that Mitch the chance to look for these small breakaways and the possibility of a stage Victory 153 Riders left in they had their rest day yesterday and 180 Riders started this tour it’s a 53 km circuit and they’ve covered it three times by the time they get down to the finish and again the blood tests were out today and among the non-starters were Ty lauron Vladimir pikov marcoil and Roberto Moretti all out of the Tor because they had the wrong blood count and considered unsafe to race by the UCI those Riders taking risks as they come to the top of the climb here as you can see looking back down there pinzan has been caught out he was hoping to keep to the front here the two leaders now wearing number 113 is Paulo betini and been joined by the mé GB Rider Gabrielle missaglia it’s a shame to see that pinana has missed out because he’s such a good Rider when it comes to the end of long breakaways like this and in fact a former champion of Italy and a stage winner in the tour to France last year well perhaps it was the long transfer of 900 kilm and a little bit of training only yesterday for these Riders but they’ve allowed this big Breakaway of 13 Riders to settle in and we’re looking here now at Gabriel massaglia he’s on the map 18 free is a bird at the moment and away from Team duties helping tonov keep his pink jersey nobody really overall the best place Rider in this race is 18th overall and really not going to affect the overall situation well the Riders here reaching the to of the C de pedona for the last time as the two Riders go over the top just looking back in fact penz I think has reacted and started to come up to them it’s good to see him riding so well obvious as well a man liberated by the withdrawal of Marco pantani and just getting onto the back there Andrea vaton once again getting into the right Breakaway oh and a little bit of trouble here but watch out almost PA betini and the bicycle’s just gone in the garage well at the bottom of the climb is going to be the finish so he realizes he doesn’t have a very big chance of getting up back up to the leading group of three what a shame for him because he’d been in the Breakaway all the time he’d put in the right efforts and to lose a back tire at a time like that well really that is frustrating oh you can say that Paul he’s a a rider of real good future batini I can imagine his frustration but he’s still going to have to go in the garage and get his bike back anyway we’re on the way down a little Breakaway massager voni pod denz watch out for pod denz he has been twice champion of Italy he comes up with the odd big win in his career but he’s never been an all-time great Rider but he’s been a winner another man to get onto the back there was merco celestino chance just to see how technical this descent is here it’s completely s-shaped all the way down and these Riders slowing down into the corners and having to accelerate away again showing that there is a good chance for the Breakaway just to hold on but you can see how stretched out the main field is showing that in fact the pressure starting to go on and they hope again that it’ll be a chance for the sprinters well it’s going to be a little group I think Paul because they’re just hanging on to a lead the 13 escapers WHO instigated this breakaway have been split up on the class time up the climb it’s just 6 km from the finish a finish they all know because they’ve been through it enough times today as this little Breakaway tries to now consolidate msaga looking over his shoulder wants a little bit more speed attack by pod denara which is bound to come this agan veteran will’ll gamble on a long Sprint towards the line here and msaga is going to react here msaga is trying to but he’s picked himself up a passion you here vaton is on his wheel and vaton is riding I think his first Ziro dalala here and masagi by the way he’s been out a little bit this year with tendonitis but now he he wants to catch up with pod but he’s trying to force vaton here to take over from him well vaton playing a wly character he’s not reacted at all he’s just stayed on the slipstream of missaglia they knew that they had to catch up with penana but now it’s his turn to attack but you can see the mé GB R of msag he’s very keen indeed to keep this group together and I’m sure he’s going to try and get up to the back wheel there of the sco rider he’s wearing the orange Jersey there he’s made it penana now is been caught out well the three of them full flight here there’s not a lot of tactics left in them I don’t think because these wide roads you know you do feel as though you’re on the Open Seas and it’s hard to work out your tactics but now vaton is going to go again pod denz looks over his shoulder there can’t be much left in the legs of pod denzo right now but he’s going again at 2 km to go and the game as saglia is Bridging the Gap first but Phil they can’t play around too much like this because every time they attack they do open up their lead but then it comes back down again and the REM the remnants of that breakway are right behind them but pinana he’s decided I’m going to go for the victory again and still it’s missaglia who responds he brings it all back together but in fact there’s a group of riders not too far behind them and they must surely be in sight well if they keep slowing down like this they are going to regroup the rest of the 13 men are just off our camera behind us and we only can guess where they are right now B denz keeps on attacking keeps on getting pulled back the man that’s not doing any real work in the saglia and there we look in the distance we can see the rest of the race here and they’re all checking it out now and while they all check it out is Marco celestino who burst away and he’s going to try and S he just came up almost out of sight of our camera latched onto the front he’s going to be first round the b m Sagle again takes second well that’s remarkable one minute he wasn’t there then the next minute he just came back the rest of the group a little bit further back but now it’s up to celestino to lead this group out because he’s the one that came up and he looks quite fresh maybe he should have hit them straight away because he’s just given that lack of surprise now they’ve worked him out and massaglia looks to me the fittest he’s watching everything as again pod denzal goes far right to the road as we look at the picture and this Wy man in fact he’s just latching onto the back it was an illusion of the camera that now celestino is going now masagi is going vaton is chasing the little man but this time it looks as though massagli has done what he wanted to do he’s followed everything to the line Gabriela massag gets the Sprint Andrea baton will take second Marco cel he gets third which means that pod denzo the former champion of Italy he is sitting there at the back taking a few deep breaths and he will have to be content with the fourth place here’s the big race from the rest now as the main field comes up now kisher is in blue but our man in the move here is um Mario chiellini and it looks as though he’s going to take it at a Canter the rest was still sprinting then when he crossed the line he was freewheeling what an amazing character so the main field are in no Big Time losses at all or perhaps we should say for these four no great time gains but of course the all important stage victory for Gabriella massaglia he gets the win ahead of Andrea vaton and he’s pretty happy with that he’s had a pretty good season third year professional no change overall tonos still leading by 41 seconds over the rest of the race as we now move on to stage number 12 here we’re now looking at the beautiful finish here at vereta as the Riders now go from lepia over the top now couple of small climes on the way and we join the race on the first one of these two big climes towards the end of the race the Passad delello and it’s on this climb we’ve got big riders in trouble already Paul well it’s again a very hot day as the Riders head around the Mediterranean close they go around Genoa and over the top of the climb it’s going to be the king of the mountains picol in the green jersey he’ll get the major points but behind a lot of riders suffering but still pavl tonov looks very comfortable there you can see in the pink jersey and as always the yellow Jersey very close to him of the py rider Luke Leblon well there we’re looking now at the rider here who’s trying to get on terms this is Barbaro who was in the original Breakaway that started the climb he’s gone clear on his own now because the Breakaway has been splattered all over this hill there’s a lot of speed though from the main field and picoli well he’s taking a lot of risks here to try and join Barbaro on The Descent that’s what he has to do if he can get together there these two Riders can work because there’s this little descent down into the the valley at San petro dolba and then another final climb the Monte De beua and then it’s all downhill to vat over the top of that climb by the way Baro was the first P was 52 seconds behind him but we just saw he’s almost up to him now and little key Gonzalez got over there in third place the magal Rosa group at 5 minutes and 5 Seconds down but they’re beginning to close now we’re looking here at the maraton Uno Rider Sergio barbero looking very good looking comfortable hoping I think that that Rider behind him picy could come up to him and get on terms because the two Riders together would certainly have a very good chance of success in this stage Victory you can see he’s riding very close to the side of the road there a little bit dangerous because a lot of these rocks come onto the road and that’s where you can get flat tires well Paul we’re looking now at the lead group here there’s the gaps the same barbro 50 seconds Ahad of peky the buch not too far behind him and here is the head of the field now and the climb is some tempo as it looks as though tonov is setting the pace at the front and in fact there you see the green jersey pickley has just been caught so those time gaps have been wiped out just one man left towards the top of the climb now and that Serio Barbo it’s a very tough climb indeed they start at 500 m in the valley and climb up to a maximum of 1287 m in fact that time Gap has come down dramatically to to the leading Rider Barbaro cuz I make it a round about only 20 seconds as we look down at the pack another big name in serious difficulty today enrio Zena second last year he’s now reported more than 3 minutes behind pavl tono’s group and again it looks as though the btic rider einini Bine is also not enjoying yet another day in the Ziro now Luke Leblon launching an attack now that’s something but Luke leelon has been following tonov for quite a few days now and he thought he would take opportunity on this climb to try and shed himself of the pink jersey but once again the pink jersey of pavl tonov very observant making sure that all these attacks are covered by himself in third position there is Ivan Gotti riding very well over the last few days in the mountains but Leblon certainly a little bit frisky well it’s coming a battle of the first three on the GC in this year’s year ofalia because there they are all three of them not quite in the order they appear on the overnight situation but we’ve got the man who lies in second place putting his glasses in his pocket and getting ready for the final assault of this climb it is not a Hilltop finish let’s not forget we’ve still got a long long descent down to Vetti for the finish and so the Riders if they’re going to steal a March have got to get big time and now here goes Ian Gotti and again the Counterattack is coming from the maggle rose itself well he’s responded to every attack that’s been thrown at him he really is riding like a defending champion and I don’t see anybody really being able to beat him in this year’s Jed Italia because he’s come here he has had a lot of problems this season but certainly I think he’s come to four just at the right time this little series of Sprints that have been coming off the front over these last couple of kilometers has thinned out this leading group quite dramatically now Watson just gone by as well Paul look very much like him another good shot for Graham another good shot for the calendar and I hope he makes sure he keeps plenty of Sun cream on his head there now another attack this time it looks like key Gonzalez is having a go well KY is quite an animator in the mountains and we’ve come to like this little columb a man a nice acceleration from him he may get a little bit of a gap he’s been marked here by one Rider one of the Riders from AK is come up there as they come into the town at the summit of the climb just sitting on the back there is Alexander schaer from the Al from the ass and a very good group forming at the front here Phil pretty decisive one right now they’ve counter attacked each other all the way up this climb and now we’ve got what three six Riders going clear and still launching a delicious attack here as it goes storming off off the front and this is the rider we haven’t quite identified yet but we’re going to pick him up this time I think he’s looking over now for a little bit of help to see if anybody’s going to come down and do something about it and in fact there’s always a reply coming this group is going to go clear here’s evang Gotti going again well has tried once or twice on the climb there but you know Luke lbla has been very active and I think that in fact is Nicola Meli of the uh a Aki team there that’s him just going through in the yellow Jersey and here are one of the Kel riders coming through as well looks like Kee Gonzalez well Gonzalez fairly well up overall but not as high as he wouldd like to be of course McKelly by the way is 12th at 3 minutes 5 Seconds Sheffer is up to 9th and having his best Jero at 3 minutes 05 and again Nica mcki is having another little dig here he’s got up to this group and now he’s causing them a lot of pain but what he wants to do is try and get over the top of the climb because once they get to the summit here it really plunges down once they get around one or two of these corners and it’s all the way downhill to the Finish around about 20 km but when a downhill it’s only around about 25 minutes of effort so there we are 20 km to go and Nicola mcki is going to be the first to take the plunge down the mountain it’s through trees it could be a bit damp and it’s not a descent to be treated lightly little bit of reforming here at the back of the race there’s Gonzalez he didn’t come to any good on the climb and he’s going to have to do something about it on the way down I don’t think he’s capable of that as it looks as though miky is now beginning The Descent they wiped out Barbaro on the climb we never saw him caught but believe me he was this is the lead group now there once again is the the green jersey of py man Luke lbla sitting very happily in the slipstream of pavl tonov an acceleration comes straight away from Gotti Gotti has tried once or twice he’s looking pretty good on these climbs at the moment as he goes over to take some points I don’t think these Riders are too worried about the king of the mountains competition at the moment but there’s the attack leblanca decided he’s going to go but once again Phil tonov reacts he knows these attacks are going to come and all he does is just slowly accelerates and nullifies him each time he’s trying to play the same game he played on the terminale and it worked there he won the stage and he’s got that’s what he got the lead he now holds in the zalia and he’s trying to do it again here once again whenever this race goes into the mountains the mé GB team disappear I think they had a hard time deciding how to structure the team whether to build around tonov or to build it for Jans Vera who unfortunately is no longer in the race but it seems that they did have a team built for the sprinters I’ll just remind there’s a 41 second Gap here between tonov and Leblon 67 seconds back to Gotti and now this man is trying to force a little bit of an issue as well this is Nicola Meli and the rides for the Aki team and he’s clear at the moment as they go up towards the top of the last climb today another acceleration coming from Ivan Gotti in the red jersey there Luke Leblon looking a little bit in difficulty but has responded to the climb and it’s forcing three Riders clear and there in the pink jersey was pavl tonov all the cheers though for the Aki Riders as he goes up towards the summit but again Leblon is now altering his tactics he too is beginning to attack the pink jersey now if they can go oneon-one here with gotty they may weaken him they may well do that but there’s been a certain reaction at the front because ml is about to be joined by noi the rider from aex and also by Kee Gonzalez the Colombian Rider where in 1986 I should say in the green jersey so a complete different face on this race well especially with Noah coming on the scene here 143 down this morning in six place he’s got a chance of a real Ascension in the overall classification this should cause some interest by these Riders just behind and they’re being led Now by Gotti then Leblon then tonov they’re trying to get back on terms and look at this site further down down the climb it looks as though again um evini Bine is in in some sort of trouble P but now this is the critical descent these descents around here are very narrow and they’re going down to almost 70 km an hour it’s knocking on 45 mph not far off 50 mph as they take all sorts of risks and these Riders are trying to catch that leading group of three Riders there’s the time split at the moment 31 seconds to the pink jersey and the three leaders must take the risks if they want to stay clear oh my goodness that’s Gonzalez he went off the corner we didn’t see him go we saw him come out and Gonzalez lost completely off the road there now he was amongst those leaders they’ve gone through he’s back into the action and this is how it happened now he just didn’t get round this left hander did he I think his line was taken out by the other two who were also taking it wide well he was rather lucky there was a grass bank anyway he’s okay and he’s chasing he’s P the other man that was up in that front group and it looks as though he’s trying to get clear on his own certainly is I think on the back here looks very much like Axel Ms has joined the action the first time we’ve seen him at the front of the tour of Italy so far 8 kilm to the finish and py now looks to me as if he’s trying to get himself back into the race 16 seconds his advantage over the pink jersey Group Well Pip’s tried to do something here but I think he’s realized he’s going absolutely nowhere he’s sitting up he’s going to wait for that group behind now the pink jersey isn’t in that group Gonzalez has picked himself up off the road and has chased back to a group he’s not in this group that’s coming up though but there is a kelme rider in it Paul so it can only be Marcus Serrano because he’s the only other one with the ability to stay with these boys certainly you can see Axel Ms has made it into the group as well and so is De Grande the rider of the mé GB Squad and the aex man there in fact he’s schaer so he’s done a very good move to keep himself in the action well that’s schaer at the front of the group here a sharp right hand Bend as they come around schaer going to take them round first and axel Ms no he’s decided to go and see the corner first followed by Sano oh my goodness me the motorcycle never made it this time but happily they are all safely round there’s a few seconds Gap and that’s all to the pink jersey group and at last the motorbike is gone this is the leaders 3 km to go there’s Ms at the back Sano is there as well and the rider sitting right on the back here number three that is De Grande so a good rider for mape has made the split but this is a very difficult climb that W have been on the graphic sheet last night that the Riders will have looked at and I think it’s caught one or two of them by surprise and they’re starting to Gras gasp for breath just a little bit that is the aex rider on the front there Sheffer he’s decided he’s going to lead it out but as we get nearer to the Finish still it’s all together five Riders and the main field Phil just around the corner and the Breakaway knows it as well and in fact de Grande here is signaling to the rest of the Riders to come and do some work because they’re not a big Advantage at all here Leonardo pipy is the rider who’s been forced to hit the front and Lead Out Grandy’s got his second place here now good chance for Eddie Ms his son Axel to go for it and he is Merks is going for the goal line here now and this will please his dad who won this race five times during his great career but Ms may have gone a little bit early here now de Grandy digging very deep indeed Sano is challenging the Grandy gets it Sano second and Alexander shefer gets a third and I think merer have to be content with fourth place not a lot of time gaps at all now as over the line comes belly ahead of guerini and luk LeBlanc was there as well and in fact there’s Bine finishing he’s over three minutes behind and the other big losers today palan who was in fifth place overall has lost 8 minutes 27 seconds finishing only 54th and Patito also crashed today and he’s lost more than 15 minutes and de Grandy won’t mind a bit the there’s the stage situation overall 41 seconds still the Gap to luuk LeBlanc Ian Gotti is in third miky is now 11th and ugam of 13th Axel MKS up to 14th overall and so we move on now to stage number 13 145 km we tucked away now right up in the far Northwestern corner of Italy the sun is shining beautifully again and the field is getting smaller and smaller by the day but this has been a a fairly tranquil stage now you can see tonov is still there gritting his teeth because he’s hanging on to the tail now Paul of the sprinters as we approach the finish in cunio well just 700 M remaining in Piko feel that their man Mario chapini has got a very good chance but just in front of him in fourth position is Fabio balato well the Amore Vita team are getting the taals up a little bit for this one now but it looks as though going through on the inside is sery OV making the leftand turn around the Pat and he’s gone OV completely overcooked it there one the SEO boys have been brought to a standstill that’s Disturbed the rhythm of chiellini and it looks as though Glenn magnuson’s going to profit by it Magnuson who won stage two last year and the Ziro gets it this time he wins now the stage here number 13 lucky for some and chiellini being challenged Now by Miro Rosato and you know chiellini can only spring quickly when it’s for the win he gets third and there’s the man that fell right on the line he get the same time as the winner today he went down the last few hundred meters but there he goes sery OV and let’s hope he’s okay he was down there for a little while before they sorted him out but anyway he’s up and walking and uh as Glenn Magnuson gets the victory here the man from Sweden now gets a customary stage win for him in the zro daia and so he’s over the line first the rest of the results chiellini was third by the way and Mario travison got fourth Fabio balato was Fifth and picoli he got the sixth place overall of course no change whatsoever so on we go stage number 14 232 there might be a change today because this is a bit of a rough ride today we’re back into the mountains now as the Riders start to cut the way north towards the Swiss borders and once again the man putting the pressure on the pink jersey is Luke Leblon a very tough finish to this stage Phil because the final climb is over 2,100 M well he’s been the hero of the day so far salvad Deli he was in an early Breakaway with his teammate Kev who just said I can’t do it you carry on alone and that’s what’s happened salvad Deli has been setting the pace from a long way out with this very select group here they’re more interested I think in the infighting and they’re still 74 km to go and still Tonk off right right there and on his shoulder as always Luke Leblon Luke Leblon has watched him very closely there’s the Gap 40 seconds still to salvad Deli but there’s an awful long way to go and I think tonov looking very comfortable you see the way he climbs he just sits there but he does seem to use a very big gear new time check for salvad Deli 1 minute and 2 seconds well I don’t think it’s going to be enough because look at the road that’s still ahead of him this is only in the first of the three rather sharp climbs that take them up to the Finishing Line and a very very difficult finish it is today Ian Gotti taking over a little bit of control at the front of this group but still it’s salvad Deli at the head of Affairs his lead still hovering around about the one minute Mark but he’s going to have a hard time staying in front with over 70 km still to go well he’s only a youngster in his first tour and he’s got a very high overall position at the moment 7th 2 minutes 51 seconds down so he will cause a little bit of excitement amongst the leaders as we now climb up to 1100 me here this looks like McKelly again at the front as he keeps the line going nicely very tough climb these Riders facing after 202 km covered in the race The Climb of the cuer S pantoon and almost 1600 M at the summit of this climb from the sagri there had his stage win looking quite happy with the way things are going he won’t be under any pressure to work at all because his team leader is right here Ian Gotti is also up here in this front group so to luk Leblon the men that we’ve come to talk of Andrea Noah now up to Fourth Place overall he’s there as well salv Deli still nosing out front over 2 minutes now so it looks as if he’s actually building quite a good lead for himself but the reaction is certainly going to come over the final Climb by the yellow Jersey now starting to drop down a little bit 1 minute 52 over the pink jersey group of the leader pavl tonov so as we look down now that little group is now 1 minute and 10 seconds behind salvad Deli who went over the top of the shamp Premier climb about 48 seconds in front of key Gonzalez but the Gap is opened up just that little bit we’re now on the climb of the pantelon p a group of five Riders getting clear nice to see Axel MKS very aggressive over the last few days and this could be one of the deciding points of the stage on the foot slopes of the CER S pantalon as MKS gets away with Gonzalez and Kelly and another ride to get in there from Aki and I think that might just have been gazelli more or less 20 mi 30 km or so to go to the Finish it’s the composition now of the chase group and there is Axel Ms he’s starting to look good these last couple of days there’s the climb that they face now it’s 15 km long this climb lifting them up to 1127 M and here is a rather tired salvad Deli now he’s had his moment he’s been out in front an awful long way going clear at the 80 km Mark with his team Captain Dimitri Kev and then going on by himself just on the back here wearing number 19 Nicola McKelly who certainly has been a revelation of this year’s tour as they catch salvad Deli and a lot of the work being done at the front by the little climber from maraton Uno that is Peli so there’s salvad Deli and a little uh little show of appreciation there from niola melli who said well done to him and now we’re setting down onto this long long climb as I say somewhere around 30 km from the Finish as KY Gonzalez in the action again sitting on the wheel of number 21 who is Fone from the Amore Vita team Fresh Off The win yesterday of Glenn Magnuson of the team and the pressure going on again this is San Gotti decided he’s going to try and go out of the group there is salvad Deli he’s going to disappear straight through the main field but a good move be got in in fact for once the pink jersey of the leader Pavel tonov isn’t there well well this is Stefan gazeli who’s got onto the back wheel of Gotti sort of a headless team M katoni Uno with the loss of pantani which is a great shame now what is the man from mappe going to do because Gotti has been such a good bike rider in the jir of dalala this year and he’s beginning to force the pace Gotti and garelli are trying to get up to the leaders there’s the remnant of that Breakaway and in fact look at Gotti as he comes up alongside them Axel MKS takes a good look clearly getting himself ready here to jump on the whe of Gotti and grits his teeth but I’m not sure he can Paul well that was a remarkable reaction by Ian Gotti there he’s come across this is a sort of leak frog situation he’s got to the group of five Riders but nowhere to be seen is the pink jersey of the leader of the tour so far pavl tonov and he’s only got one teammate with him that’s de Grandy and as always the yellow Jersey of the py rider Luke Leblon sitting on his slipstream and behind him is little peopley but I’ll tell you what this is the first time in 14 days of the Jal we have seen and the Magle Rosa under pressure and this time it really looks as though he’s relying heavily on the paac making of jeppe De Grandy now Axel mer gritting his teeth but still trying to go with the moves while there’s a big reaction from behind a little bit of help coming from the py team at the front now this is a situation for them because they’ve got a man in the Breakaway with Axel Ms but also the overall position of the man Luke leelon is disappearing so they’re going to have to chase their own man Ivan Gotti here trying to get back up to Axel Ms doing a very good job Indeed also Nicola Meli number 19 sitting on his wheel too but what a remarkable finish this is going to be mlli becoming something of a name in this year’s year who’s only ever had one win as a professional Rider he turned Pro back in 1993 but he’s riding like a star this year anyway he’s latching on to the league group and again he little KY Gonzalez as we come up towards the top of the pant Leon and KY Gonzalez looking for the points here that will give him the lead in the king of the mountains and I don’t know whether he’ll find too many people to challenge because I think gotty has other things in mind here he is prepared to get this group working together he’s not interested in the king of the mountains as Gonzalez presses on towards the summit as they get to the top of the climb head just under 400 m before they go over the top and then it’s a big descent down into the valley at anony s Andre and then the final climb up to the finish of bril Cina oh key is doing all of the work here there we are the summit were 29 km from the checkered flag and in fact key Gonzalez is keeping the pressure on but now Luke Leblon himself is having to take up the chase key goes over the top ahead of Ian Gotti That’s the order the first two over the top Merks was in there as well a little bit further down a certain amount of panic coming into the main field there’s Luke Leblon leading them over now it’s the turn of pavl tonov to sit on the Frenchmen but there’s the Gap 23 seconds is the advantage of iang Gotti’s group over the group of the pink jersey a very difficult descend now down into the valley before the road then tilts up again all the way to the finish line and then it’s the climb Visto taking them up towards the Finish it’s a climb which takes them up to around about 2,000 M so it’s a tough one very difficult indeed you can just see how far it is down into the valley there gotty losing a little bit there in the corners in fact it was Mel’s fault because Meli sat up and let the leading group of three Riders go clear and now gotty must shut it down in one of the corners well this is the most interesting move now we’re see Ian Gotti’s taken his chance well this is a a hilly stage which is coming as an interlube between the undulations up in the north of Italy but very soon of course we’ll be heading into the dolomites and three very tough days indeed there’s Gotti he really has thrown the cat in among the pigeons now and he’s been joined by key Gonzalez and Nicola mik two very strong riders in the mountains this year Well Axel MKS has been put under pressure cuz he’s been dropped from the leading group of five but now the reaction has to come come from the pink jersey group because Ivan Gotti was third overall this morning is’s going to be a very big danger to this man in the red jersey in fact MKS was still in front I think in fact also got back there po Stefano garelli he was also in the action this is a much thinning out group here of the pink jersey who taking his glasses off there as the group tries to get something going but this little workmanlike group here it is now it’s got itself together and uh that was either bus number 11 or 11 kilometers to go that just went through our screen there but there now is Stefano gazelli in the maraton Uno Squad and this is Gotti Gotti I think will just throw this stage away to make time over the men behind this is his big chance now to break the pink jersey of the goo dalala this could be the weakness now I think for Pavel tonov because he’s only got one teammate in this group and he’s not going to find too many friends and nice to see in fact fgny Bine for once accompanying the leaders in the mountains well Guinea Bine still in this race but we lost today that didn’t start in fact P OV the tour of Italy this year proving just a little bit too much for that great man he’s out as this field gets smaller and smaller well I didn’t think Evon Gotti was looking for anybody to help him there I don’t think anybody could actually help him the speed he going up the climb there these Riders actually suffering to try and stay in some kind of slipstream and behind you can see the pink jersey is visibly going slower just look at the speed here they’ve gotty now as he continues to ride Merks has come back big long thin legs of Eddie MKS he most like the build of his father Eddie but Axel now riding extremely well certainly has improved since he first rode the tour of Spain as his first major stage race and a little bit of panic I think starting to appear on the face here of pavl tonov because he realizes that his major Challenger is Ivan Gotti and Gotti is a very good climber and he’s the one at the moment putting all of the pressure on the front of this group and Riders just getting shelled out well tonov doesn’t make many mistakes and one must presume to allow Gotti to escape like this he couldn’t do a thing about it he marks his men so well Pavo tonov but right now there’s nothing he can do he is conceding time and if he concedes more than a minute and 7 seconds then he will lose that pink jersey to pav to Ian Gotti he’s used his teammate up completely there now he’s decided to take the race into his own hands and he’s in fact accelerated and caused a lot of confusion behind there many riders being left behind but in the league group still Ivan Gotti on the front setting all the pace kein Gonzalez looking very able just sitting in the slipstream there but it’s now down to just three men two of them sitting in the slipstream of Ivan Gotti who’s doing all of the work and not asking any help well that’s the way it should be if you’re about to pick up the Magle Rosa in the gialia and if that time Gap survives to the Tonk off peopley group that’s exactly what he will do and what a present as well because tomorrow we race into the home area of evang Gotti you can guarantee there will be tremendous support for him and I’m sure they’re locked into the television watching this right now so got he climbing now the face of pav tonov under pressure for the first time in this year’s Euro Talia so far he’s won all of the key stages now he’s about to lose this one I think because the Gap is opening and this man has shed everybody now except Nichola Miki well Miki looking very comfortable indeed just sitting there letting Gotti do all the work he realizes that the man from Seiko is the one who’s looking to try and get the pink jersey well further down the mountain at 1 minute and 42 seconds it really is a time trial for the man wearing number one all he can do is ride a consistent last 6 km and hope that he doesn’t lose too much time over the little Italian climber certainly no help coming from P who’s just sitting behind but maybe he can’t help him now it’s so Mano oh Mano on the climb here up towards the Finish Ian Gotti has never asked anybody to assist him and he’s riding with a tremendous Tempo and that’s probably the reason why here’s the chase as the two others go into the tunnel as we go out the other side otherwise we lose our pictures 5 km to go now and that’s the Gap 1 minute 40 he’s creeping back it’s just 2 seconds but all the time the man from psycho at the front setting the pace but this man certainly could be the master tactician he could have decided not to respond to the attacks of Gotti and just Pace himself over the final 5 km but 3 km to go and in fact mik is now cracked no attack has come he’s just ridden him off the wheel the tempo has been absolutely amazing by evang Gotti this man who finished is second in the tour of Italy as an amateur back in 1990 he’s led the tour to France for a couple of days when he lost that lead to his teammate B Reese and we all know what happened to B Ree and now iang Gotti is looking for a maggle Rosa of his own he certainly flying up this climb he hasn’t asked any help from anyone in the race so far he’s gone to the front he’s set the tempo and every one of these Riders has just popped up his wheel and now he’ll be looking not only at a pink jersey if he can keep that 1 minute and 40c Gap at the top but also a brilliant stage Victory well the Italians are recognizing their man because he’s not living too far away from the finish of today’s stage of the Ziro dalala and they’re going to shout him all the way home and now the pink jersey of pavl tonov the shine has gone a little bit but you’ve got to hand it to tonov Paul because he’s rid himself of everybody else in the chase back certainly got rid of Luke Leblon the man who’s been his limp at mind for the last few days every time the race has gone uphill but now he has to ride the time TR he’s got out again a little bit 1 minute and 46 seconds but he must really pull itself together at the moment because once they get to the top it’ actually descends a little bit down to the finish line but it looks to me as if pavl tonov is in serious difficulty the same can’t be said of this man he wasn’t too happy with that either very aggressive indeed he’s concentrated on the job in hand he doesn’t want too much cold water on him because at this altitude it really does make you cold and it is a difficult thing for a rider to to have on his jersey because all that war is absorbed into the jersey in fact at the end of the day making the Jersey probably four or 5 lb heavier well that’s certainly not what you want on the last climb of today’s stage of the zalia massive crowd has turned out now this race has shook off the image of being a training event for the tour the France it’s now a bike race in its own right once again and Ian Gotti is thinking only of the pink jersey as leader of the tour there’s the race behind and tonkov there’s one of two passengers coming up now because cheffers got on board as well he is a very persistent Rider this kazak certainly has shown himself this year in the tour and recovered as well to come up to the wheels of those two Riders who are in third and fourth position on the mo on the road at the moment let’s not forget Nicolo Meli is somewhere in the middle of all this trying to survive as well and hold on to Second Place The Gap has stretched once more to 148 so in fact this man now is feeling the attraction of the Finishing Line he’s increased his lead by 8 seconds since the last time check well as popular as pavl tonov is in this race as a former winner of the tour of Italy I think the Italian crowd getting a little bit partisan now because they can see for the first time a serious Italian Contender for the pink jersey at the end of the day yes and they’ve got used to foreign winners in this tour over the years with Pavo tonov einini Bine and of course Miguel iner but now with 100 met to go they’re going to get themselves an Italian winner of quality today because I think as the time will tell us shortly he’ll be the leader of the Jalia and so we never really thought that pav tonov would lose his overall lead he’s look such a solid man but today Evan Gotti has found a in his Shining Armor and he’s hit him hard well it’s going to be difficult to pull back any time now just 2 kilometers down this little descent into the town here and got’s not going to lose any time at all but it was amazing to see the way he rode up that climb he had the Speed just to pop everybody off his back wheel there’s the kilometer kite he would have been waiting for that for quite some time but look at the speed 8075 km an hour that’s nearly 50 m an hour absolutely no chance now Paul he’s going for it all the way he wants that jersey for the first time in his life he won’t be thinking of victory in Milan right now just at the moment this stage Victory will do and the present that comes with it he’s converting a 67 second deficit this morning into whatever the clock tells us later on he’s got now in the lead a tricky little finish this at the top of this mountain as he comes into the finishing straights it’s a few little zig Zs but for him he won’t even worry too much about the victory salute because to him what’s most important at the moment is the time gaps that he can increase over the main challenges now here he comes the great moment for the little man Ian Gotti now he salutes the crowd he’s got the stage win and the clock starts now and once those 67 seconds have gone by he will be the new leader of the Ziro dalala and we’re going back quite a way here to these pictures still probably 1 and a half kilomet out to pav tonov of you can see at the front of this group of three Riders had no help at all from the riders in the group because obviously he’s the man got the most to lose and when you’re in a situation like that you don’t have any friends well now we’ve got trying to make some ground up here is in fact Gonzalez comes over he’ll get fourth tonov was just behind in the official Gap was a minute and 46 Nia McKelly did get in in second place also surviving the Breakaway was gazelli there is luk LeBlanc he’s losing big time as well and here’s the man that’s caused all of the distraction today Ian Gotti the stage Victor and indeed the new leader of the J balion Now by my calculations it’ll be round about 50 seconds to the good so he gets the Victory and a big surprise he gets the pink jersey I don’t think anybody expected that the overall situation now Ian Gotti the leader ahead of pav tonkov by 51 seconds Leblon is third but 3 minutes and 2 seconds back people is fourth and now we’re off into the Italian Lake District here 173 km the ride today as we go from verz to bord Monero and again the attacks are coming thick and fast but it looks Paul as though we’re having in the rain believe it or not a little bit of respite for the race lead I think they’ve been suffered a setback yesterday with that great ride by Ian Gotti this is very often this the situation in the race after a tough day in the mountains wearing 151 and his raincoat over his pink jersey was the leader of the race now Ian Gotti and the man not in pink anymore just going through in the next position there was pavl tonov over the top of the the big climb of the day at 110 kilm and Ricardo Fone is taking the lead over Baron or bronti rather he’s the Rider by the way who replaced cladio kuchi who was thrown out before the start of the tour of Italy when he failed a routine uh blood test and so baronti in the Breakaway today a third year perfe na here’s the chase group behind and they’re not very inspired by the weather at all 4 minutes and 2 seconds the Gap we certainly feel they won’t take too many risks on this descent because they don’t want to come off and it is a very treacherous descent you can see just how narrow it is and as is often the case in these Mountain Roads they’ve been resurfaced just for the tour of Italy well there were 14 Men set the race patent today but that League group looks to me as though it’s thed out quite dramatically on the climb of the moton it’s hard to recognize the Riders now it’s going to be nightmare at the finish for the photo finish cameras if the Riders continue to wear their overclo here but they’re still coming down P with a respectable speed nearly 60 km an hour the maggle rose are taking no risk but it is closing in they went over the top at 4-2 it’s down to 345 now but there is nobody seriously who will affect the overall top six riders in the race they’re LED here by number 21 forone and they joined by baronti and salvad Deli and interestingly enough he’s the man who set the race alike yesterday and he’s still in the action once again well he’s only a young man but he’s certainly got a feeling for this year ofalia this year forone by the way he was the first man over the top of the motoron with baronti just behind him very very hazardous now as we move on to the next climb it’s not a very long climb this one but as you can see conditions are treacherous here really is difficult to race in with conditions like this for con wearing 21 for Amore Vita setting the pace here and it looks very much as if this group now is just down to four riders with a 4minute gap over the mainfield and people in fact being caught out today 2 minutes behind the leading group of the yellow of the pink jersey and in fact that is going to send him out of the top 10 overall if he continues to trail by over 2 minutes on the pink jersey group a move there by pavl tonov thought he could catch out Ian Gotti hard to hard to spot him there with a raincoat and a Seiko Jersey on top of his pink jersey but he’s not going to get away from that man quite so easily isn’t it strange how the rols have changed though only yesterday it was the other way around and now it’s having to be left to pavl tonov to do the attacking and the figure there in the white Cape evang Gotti he is doing the following no reason to attack now he’s got a 51 second Gap over tonov and then it goes out to over 3 minutes over the rest of the field must be a nice feeling well a big Advantage for gotty now to know that he’s going into home territory he’ll be just looking at the back wheel of this man pavl tonov realizing I’m going a lot better than you are on the climb so what’s the point of trying to attack me here but he will try and attack him every time that he can if it’s not on the uphills it’ll be on the descents so Gotti seems to have everything under control but then we did think about that when pav tonov was in the pink jersey but he’s riding there quite steadily the group is 328 behind so they’re not really getting any closer it’s all hovering around the same Gap but it looks as though the rain may have stopped coming down now because I think that was gotty throwing off his racing Cape he still got more jerseys on because we can’t see his pink jersey well this is gotty in second position here now getting his teammates to the front I don’t think they want any more surprise attacks like that one from pavl tonov so what they will do now is try and keep the pace high enough to discourage anybody from trying that again well it might damage the leader group up front but not by a lot you just saw a caption there it said Gotti was fifth in the zalia last year and uh trying to go five places better this time out now which is something of a surprise two years before that it was also fifth in the tour to France so he is a man used to riding the big stage races that was Lucky Luke Leblon putting his hand up there with a little problem probably asking for another rain coat minute 44 they’re saying there now so the Gap is obviously tumbling down if that’s the Gap to the leaders on the road here they are and what was originally 14 men are thinned out it looks like we’ve got four Riders going clear here Alexander baronti there he is and no that’s that was shaer we’ve gone back to the main Chase group now they don’t give us long to check them out do they but this is the main field back here uh they’re just keeping a nice Tempo going now but we can tell you in that Breakaway now is salvad Deli baronti filipo CAG Grandes up there and so too is the very consistent Ricardo Fone he’s been riding well over the last few days but so is salvad Deli he’s the man who could cause a surprise here when it comes down to the last few kilometers the last meters I should say because he is a very rapid Sprinter when it comes down to this kind of a finish but when there are only four men in it it really can be precarious well they’re trying to get the cars off and leave the four Riders to conduct the spint and there goes salvad Deli he’s made the first move in a dash for the line he’s got the most to gain lying 16th overall but nearly 15 minutes behind the leader but a stage will be nice he’s being chased Now by baronti who’s tucked in nicely at the back look at veron’s face as he kicks hard on the shoulders there of CAG Grande this could be a dream victory for the man who replaced cladio kuchi he gets it alesandro baronti will not believe it in the race just 48 hours before the off and he gets the stage Victory further down now the Sprint goes on and no way takes out the Sprint here and around about 50 seconds the Gap but just look at the celebrations here on the Finishing Line the first Reserve who carries a team Captain’s number is the stage winner of the J dalala today and this is how he did it we’re looking at the face here to ca Grande but on the far right we’re looking at the sprinting legs and the drain water dripping off his hat too as the man G Alesandra baronti gets the stage win terrific result for him doesn’t affect the overall at all as we go on now to what is the 16th stage of 158 kilm and the overall situation still exactly the same and so to the race Paul because this has been a fairly routine stage so far and the Riders passing very close to Milano on their way to head up to what will be the Alps and there’s the devil on his holiday in Italy probably getting a little bit of practice for a couple of months time when they’ll probably see te on the roads of the tour to France another little Breakaway going away here joining it is Fabiano fontanelli very quick finisher and in fact this is a surprise move because there are four mg Riders got clear well as we get down towards the finish here 25 kilm away from the finish it lives one evang Gotti so I would think there’s going to be a lot of people there at the Finish while the sprinters again are trying to set this up and they’re all coming up towards the line there he is the man in the mo Jersey again Mario chiellini little bit far down on the line I think this time well certainly I don’t think he’s too worried I think he feels today that he may well have just left it a little bit too late but that was a great move by those po Riders from mg technogy but I think they may well have gone too soon well magnuson’s leading them out but I think he this time he hasn’t made the most of it because the mg boys are taking over Fabio fontanelli trying to put his head down he tried a few days ago to get the win or was it a week ago this time he gets it Fabio fontanelli ahead of Fabio rosoli angalo Le was third and vpy was there Magnuson faded back into fifth place but the win for Fabiano fontanelli overall again no change gotty with 51 seconds over Luke LeBlanc 3 minutes back for him and there is the confirmation that further down Sheffer doing a great ride at 340 and mik still up there in fifth as the race goes on to a 200 km 17 stage and the rid is now beginning to get back into the undulating Countryside we’re heading towards the dolomites now well from deline to Verona and once again the weather not too bad at least the rain is keeping away for these Riders and once again KY Gonzalez has found himself in the action in the green jersey now as the leader of the king of the mountains he’s looking for a stage Victory and as he did in the toour of France he certainly knows how to be a competitive rider in the mountains and on the flat well the little circuits at the finish here there are five of them and there’s a little lump every time around it’s just the place for springboard it only takes the Riders up a couple hundred me M climb brings them up to a 300 M top height but it’s caused the Breakaway and now will they stay away to the end as they keep just a slight Advantage here alesandro poy moves over and then the rider he’s leting through here in the Gap is gualdi medical gualdi he was AED a former world champion but he’s never really had a great career as a pro had a very difficult time breaking through after winning the amateur World Championships in Japan but it may well be if he could just get one Victory under his belt that he could do it there’s Gonzalez little fox of an attempt there he just thought he’d try them out and see what their reaction would be what a character he just took one look at him smiled now he’s starting the Sprint for real this time as he goes into that corner flat out now take it easy one or two haven’t made Corners at that angle but now he’s making a dash for the line here Gonzalez he’s such a cheeky Rider he’s the leader of the king of the mountains he can finish on the flat as well he’s fainted again he set up once again the other two Riders are by the way are poy and Meo gualdi these three just ahead of the of the race here but they’re going to have the Sprint to themselves now and again you see gon Gonzalez has tried to and now he’s been put into the back seat it’s an awful long way down there Paul but it is puty on the front now gualdi coming up through the outside it may well be that he’s going to get his first Victory well that’s amazing it looked so much as if it was going to go to potsy but on the line gualdi gets for him what will definitely be the biggest stage victory of his career so far so Marco galdi turn pro in 1993 at last gets a victory as the main field start to Sprint it out for the rest of the places here around about half a minute back and P comes over there and gets the fourth or fifth fourth place it is yes that’s right there’s the winner meico gualdi and he at last gets a big victory his life has been dogged by injury Now we move on to the 18th stage here now we can see the beauty of Italy shining down we make our way now down to cavaly and this is a stage of which the Riders will now be facing up to one or two Hills but nothing too much it finishes a slight uphill drag that’s the overall situation 51 seconds still the Gap no change at all yesterday 3 minutes 2 seconds to L Blan cheffer miky guini still up there too in Sixth and a lot of those Riders by the way are often training Partners where they live in Italy now all important time trial the race against the clock we haven’t seen one since stage number three of the zalia we saw what tonov did then the wonder if Ian Gotti had a sleepless night Paul well Ivan Gotti not a great time trialist and in fact I think very worried about the fact that in this 40 kilomet time trial he only has a 51 second advantage over this man starting now pavl tonov who really is a good time trialist especially when he knows at the end of this 40 km there is a pink jersey waiting for him well I wonder what he feels like Paul because he’s riding that bicycle now which has been thrown out by the commissar on his spare bike he’s the arrival of f guini Bine he’s going to set the marker though so little Bine has done a good time T 22 seconds to the good to go top of the leader board now these look like the feet of Ian Gotti and he’s waiting now for his start he starts behind pav tonov and he knows if he can just hold his own against tonov today he’ll have a real shot at this J this year because from Tomorrow pole there are 11 Mountain passes to climb well that’s going to be his terrain but he’s not on his terrain this afternoon because in this time trial it’s a very flat one and I think the advantage must certainly go to pavl tonov unless of course Ian Gotti can pull something very special out of the bag a nice gentle start he’s taking no chances on this rather twisty exit from the town and then he’ll get down into his rhythm he certainly will need to find it quickly I think he’ll be glad to get this race underway now because once you’re underway you only think of racing all the pressure of the feeling of nerves there’s the bike of tonov in fact the furing has been removed that they stopped them riding with on uh but even so he’s now on his spur machine and he was only given literally minutes warning to change bikes so he’s not going to feel too happy about that chance here just to see how powerful pav tonov is there’s a little accident out on the road there looks as if it might have been Sher yeah I wonder what that was all about well let’s have a look because here he was oh he’s locked his bike up and he’s about to hit that pizza stand if he’s not very careful oh my goodness me what a shock for everybody down there well let’s hope he’s okay well he is because we’ve just seen him pushed off of my goodness me he went piling into the bread bin something down by the back wheel of the pizza truck anyway this is Luke leelong on the same descent now and he’s also in trouble and this is much more serious luk LeBlanc hits the wall coming down the mountain almost The Identical spot sheev was a just bit further down by about 100 meters but again this descent has caught two top Riders out here but I don’t know how Luke LeBlanc Paul has come to remount like that well he was really taking a lot of risk there and that must have hurt him going into that wall because the wall certainly didn’t move very much let’s hope no let’s hope that the same thing doesn’t happen to the other two men out on the road especially the pink jersey of Ivan Gotti well tonkov safely down Gotti was about to approach it we’ve gone down to the Finishing Line This is gona here and this is going to really hurt because look at this time a minute and 8 seconds better than Bine that is an incredible ride by goncha to put him on top of the leaderboard he’s really pulled one out there but still tonov looking very strong indeed but you know Phil I think Ian got is doing a very good ride here in this time trial he looks very fast he looks comfortable he’s right down on that aerodynamic position as we go through there in fact K tonov is a long way down on the to best time he’s a long way down perhaps on the best time P but he is only 8 seconds behind tonov at the first check which has come at just under 10 km so if he continues to lose at that rate he will conserve an awful lot of his lead well this is the situation at 31 km gonar was in the finish too with the best time was the best Rider here tonkov look a six time for him at 146 six and we still have Gotti to arrive there there he goes through it now he’s gone through in fact 21 seconds slower than tonov so he’s way off the leaderboard but the man he wants he only 21 seconds quicker than him Bel labl looking a little bit pained here you can see he’s rocking the top part of his body I think shaken by that crash and may well have been that he’s hurt himself a little bit more than he would have liked to I think poly canoni have got up there on pure adrenaline because that was a terrific smash into the wall and let’s hope he is okay here’s the pink jersey now he’s not losing time quick enough to hand his jersey over just yet to pav tonov and I wonder how well he’ll finish because a little bit of a drag coming up now as we go back to LeBlanc finishing the man with all of the injuries he be straight in the ambulance I think loses 3 minutes and 48 seconds to sery gonar 23rd Place for him but you know Ian Gotti doing a very good finish to this time trial here you can see the different styles of the two Riders on either side of the screen the powerful side of the blue jersey Eva pav tonov on the right you can see using a lot of power but on the other side it’s energy that’s keeping the young man from Italy going but here comes tonov and surprisingly too he is not racing the first place in fact he is just getting scraping in there that’s not a great ride by pav tonov at all leaving just the pink jersey out on the course 21 seconds down at 31 km that’s just 9 km from the finish and it looks to me as though Gotti is going better than tonov now well he’s fighting he’s riding on in enthusiasm he knows what he has to do to get inside and keep the pink jersey pavl tono’s finished and he’ll be waiting just to see exactly how many seconds tick by before Gotti comes home well I tell you what Gotti is riding very close to tonov tono’s just gone through the screen there Gotti will be slow than him but you know he has pulled back over these last few kilometers as he searches for the seconds up the line he keeps his pink jersey that’s another big surprise in this year of theala he finishes now with a time of 502 a comped to 4948 of tonov he only conceded what was that 14 seconds so he did come back there’s the result of the stage as Sergey gonar his first big win he is also the time trial champion of the Ukraine he gets the stage ahead of Bine and boss Gardine but overall gotty keeps his pink jersey by 37 seconds over pavl tonov and that’s the lead he takes into the 19th stage today which will take the Riders now 222 km and again the weather is pretty miserable a very tough stage too with the SEMA copy on this stage as well the highest point of the tour of Italy at 2,240 M and once again the man looking for the action key Gonzalez what a man every time there’s a possibility of a breakaway he’s there and you can see him wearing the green jersey as king of the mountains well he’s becoming a very solid leader in the king of the mountains now peeley no longer a challenger here here’s the tonkov group as they’re now trying to put things to right here the pink jersey Evan got he really is in his element now after yesterday’s time trial and he didn’t lose that lead and he must feel now the race has swung in his favor Gonzalez attacks and counterattacks and now he’s waiting for the arrival of a straggler fact that’s one of his teammates there but a little bit further down the road there’s been a sharp reaction by Ivan Gotti and that has put pavl tonov into difficulty he’s joined by 178 gpe gini of py the first time we’ve really seen him in the mountains but now Gonzalez trying to sort something out of the front with his teammate Jose Luis riera well riera also riding well in fact the Kel team are riding well in this year’s jro dalala while tomov is no longer in the frame now there he is back in this group he’s allowed the pink jersey his freedom again and Ian Gotti seems to like riding in the bad weather certainly does he’s here in the moment in the slip stream of the man in front of him gini and further down tonov really starting to suffer not finding any friends either at this part of the Jiro Italia sitting on his wheel there one of the psycho Riders he’s just defending that was Dario fro fro isn’t going to help that’s for sure as now tonov is finding the pressure of having won this tour last year something perhaps we may well find evang Gotti gets next year because now things are beginning to look good here he knows he is gaining more time over the field here luk LeBlanc we are told is in Desperate trouble because of his injuries in that time trial they’re joined as well by Melly copalillo so he’s riding a very good tour of Italy this year as we look at the leader this is riviero going over the top of the climb and it Wonder really what has happened to Gonzalez cuz he was riding very well indeed but it may well be that he’s paying for his rides over the last few days well I’ll tell you what he’s had a great day today KY Gonzalez he’s been taking first plays over all of the climes and so he’s now beginning to run away with the king of the mountains competition as his teammate is now beginning to take over at the front as well this is the top of the ri Molino and rera is the leader there’s the gaps now on the screen and the important Gap it’s a minute 25 between tonov and Gotti here goes Gotti Gotti looking very good you can see his join it still by gini and he’s going to try and build up as much of a lead as he can over pavl tonov in these Mountain stages because this is where Gotti has the advantage over the very strong Russian well it looks as though guini is going to force himself even higher up the overall classification now and that is going to pose a bit of a problem for the py team because they have a limping luk Leblon as well now and GE is his teammate this is riro and he’s never won a race in his life he turned Pro a couple of years ago but today could be his big moment you can see they’re still suffering trying to find friends left and right to help him the Russian Rider wearing number one pavl tonov a long way behind and it’s amazing just how far this man Ivan Gotti has gone now he’s pulling it back though 44 seconds is their Gap and gotty not getting any help from the rider from py now not surprising I suppose and guerini knows that if gang Gotti keeps going on this Mission he’s going to drag him up into a high overall standing as well he’s already well up the charts anyway and now in fact as we go back guini I think has been told to work now that to me Paul explains to me that they’re going to try and move guini up because they feel Leblon is in too much difficulty well I think Luke Leblon is going to have a very difficult time he was in difficulty in the first few kilometers of the stage this morning he was already losing it on the first time we went over the climes and now with just 5 kilometers remaining it looks as if really the victory is going to go to Jose Luis riera but what’s more important is the time gaps from this man in the pink jersey to pavl tonov behind well slowly but surely this little group is getting it s organized here but again they’re soaking wet in what is another chilly day in the T of Italy in the heavy wet rain and the pink jersey again has been given Freedom now he’s Beginning to Look such a strong man in this race lead now it’s too what they say isn’t he put a race leader his jersey on the rider and he becomes two men there’s the sign there that tells him 5 kilm remaining that Gap is down to 39 seconds so tonov is definitely not giving up he’s trying to pull himself back into the race and a little bit further up the road got he can see one or two Riders who’ve been in the breakaways if he can pick up with those Riders it may well be that he’s got a good chance of working together with them and extending his lead over the rest of the pack which is already considerable but I think a good lead today will sew it up for Evan Gotti even though he won’t think so because of the big climb still to come in this race still three stages to come only the one around Milan is the flat one as we now look at Jose leis rira who’s never won a stage of anything in his life and now the kelme are beginning to celebrate a great zero Italia this year performances like this by himself and also by Kee Gonzalez I feel sure could get them a wild card to the T France because that is certainly something that they’re going to need if they want to ride the major event in July but a great ride by this man Riviera well that was the last string over goes the bottle now comes a huge smile from this Rider this is the greatest moment of your young career he’s winning his first professional bike race a stage in the tour of Italy he’s home and dry and now we go back to the group here which contains Roberto Conti in the white crash helmet Gotti still continues to push home an advantage every pedal rev could mean a second over the second man in this race pavl tonov and in this group as well we’ve got Gonzalez sitting in the back he has Consolidated his lead in the green jersey today for sure that looks like his now and also here climbing to a high overall position jeppe gini here comes the Sprint now and it looks as though Conte has only ever won one bike race in his life has been beaten the game because this time he gets second gini is third Gotti is fourth and Gotti has come in around 3 minutes and 8 seconds behind now this is the Sprint containing pavl tonov the clock has almost gone by a minute and so plus or minus another minute loss there for pavl tonkov to the race leader there’s the winner rubira he gets the stage win but of course the talk again is All About This brilliant man Evan Gotti he really has shock this time because he is now winning time back just about when ever he likes and there’s two more days in the mountain still to come in the 80th Jalia and as we look at the overall jepp gini gini is now third the news reaching Us in fact that LeBlanc retired halfway through the stage so we now go on to the 20th stage three stages left to go the rid is now finishing right up here on the paso del tanali at the end of some 176 km a tough days racing indeed very tough days racing and again a chance for Ian Gotti to try and extend his lead over the man pavl tonov the leading group got away very early on and built up a maximum lead of over 12 minutes on the pink jersey group and all of the time pavl tonov quite happy to stay in the group there with Ivan Gotti but also key Gonzalez Paul is having a tremendous ride through the mountains here in this leading group as well andini Bine finally putting in appearance in a breakaway Bine by the way he’s still 22nd overall in this race but he’s 40 minutes and 20 seconds behind strange performance by him to to look for small breakaways like this to try and get himself a stage Victory the man really is enigmatic one day he’s up and the next day he’s down well there’s The Big Field now and they must all be thinking that Gotti is going to win the Z deala because he is now leading by such big margins over the field now one attack here trying to get away off the front of the group and this looks like it might be pod denana having having a dig again had a very good tour of Italy 26 in the overall standings a long way down he was seventh in the tour of Italy in 1994 but I think much more liberated in this year’s tour of Italy by the fact that Marco pantani had to withdraw because of that crash and now a reaction coming here from Giani buono man we haven’t really seen a lot of in the tour of Italy this year and another enigmatic performer because he really has been a great champion in the past but I think now seeing one of his last few seasons out and just look where he is overall 2 and 1 half hours behind the leader and about to be collected by the main field but this is the sharp end of the field here now and key Gonzalez again today has helped himself to a few points he was second over the Passad Del mola after 104 km behind pod denz in fact the Breakaway was already on and the pink jersey at that stage nearly 15 minutes back you see there on the arm of the second place Rider pavl ton of a little plaster starting to appear it could well be that he’s having a little problem with tendonitis due to one of the crash he had earlier on and also the crash he had earlier in the season which gave him a very badly injured wrist and because of Little Broken Bon he’s had around the scaffo region know he might well be feeling some pressure there now as the tour has gone on for the best part of three weeks and these are the toughest stages and ask little key Gonzalez how he’s enjoying his tour of Italy and he’ll tell you very much indeed 9 kilm to go now for Gonzalez and pod denana they’ve got together pink jersey very firmly now on the shoulders of in Van Gotti following the man who’s his closest Challenger and look at this PA further up the mountain key Gonzalez he can’t contain his enthusiasm he has shed pod denz there’s no way that pod denzo will match this little climber once he gets going and there’s not a lot of reaction coming from behind at the moment although that field also is beginning to split up but Gotti now is just riding so well back up with the leader well Kee Gonzalez is quite remarkable as soon as the road tilts upwards he goes go out on the attack and it’s great to see the Colombians back because over the far last couple of years Phil they really have been in the doldrums well you know the last Colombian Rider I think won a stage of the tour of Italy was Oliva ringcon and that goes back to 1995 4 kmet out now and KY Gonzalez about to update the record books I think because they’re not going to come too close to him face of pavl tonov is really one of concentration at the moment just trying to keep his second place comfortable he realizes there’s this final climb up to the Finish could put him into danger again well up to the snow line now at the Passad Del tanali and gotty won’t be worried too much about little Gonzalez one kilometer to go he checks over his shoulder to see if he can see the Wy old massimiliano penan coming up but I don’t think he will now toov trying there but it wasn’t really a full concerted effort I think he just thought he needed to try because he’s flying in second place in the overall standings but it really was half-hearted and another great day through the mountains and another day he can tick off when he gets into his hotel tonight iang Gotti everything’s gone his way he’s having absolutely no trouble the retirement of luk Leblon really very sad indeed but he couldn’t go on with those injuries let’s hope he gets himself ready for the tour to France but it’s amazing how py have found themselves a replacement in jeppe gini who now holds leblanc’s third place overall was quite remarkable over the first few days of the tour tour of Italy here he was in fact riding as the protector for Luke Leblon and he rode so well that he accompanied him on all the mountain stages and rode himself now up into third place the personal battle then 1 2 three in the zir dalala they’re lower down the slopes while meanwhile at the top little key Gonzalez becomes the seventh Colombian to win the stage of the Jiro dalala as he comes up to the line he has really deserved this Victory because he ridden so well in this tour he has ridden so well in the mountains he has an almost unsalable lead in the the king of the mountains competition which has been the domain of picol for the past 2 years now KY Gonzalez gets the stage win meanwhile further down the mountain the real leaders of the tour of Italy are continuing their game here comes pod denz he gets second over the line and the 1 minute 43 already tick by there and so that means this group is still a fairway behind here as taking them through is tonov well tonov trying again but all the time he has a shadow and the shadow has a pink jersey on his shoulders and that’s Ivan Gotti Gotti looking very comfortable more comfortable as we get towards the end of the tour of Italy than he did at the start I never would have put his name down as one of the challenges because everybody felt certain that the man who was going to walk away with a second victory was the man at the front now in blue pavl tonov because he looks so good in those early days and coming into this race with a good victory in the tour of romandy I think everybody would have gone down the beding shop and put a few Bob on him but anyway they might have lost it because it looks now as though Gotti has this race nicely stitched up this is the strong group that’s here now all around them but they’re still over 7 minutes behind Gonzalez who is finished he’s taking quite a slice of time now but he won’t really challenge the top 10 overall he might with a bit of look P scraping around 10th he may well do but a man caught in the middle of all this fighting is ofi Bine he managed to cut across the line in eighth place well this is the group coming in now containing all the top Riders on the overall and in fact they’re approaching 10 minutes now since the arrival of Gonzalez here’s the Sprint Cony in the white crash helmet going to have a little go for it I think as he starts the Sprint the pink jersey of evang goty still got plenty of fight in him as well but it’s going to be a formality I think for Conte as on the far right is Noah who’s still right up there on the overall and in fact Noah gets it right on the line he’ll be just ahead of goncha and gotty and Cony there’s the result of the stage though the rest of the Breakaway finishing quite a few minutes behind the day’s winner overall tonkov still a minute 32 back now I’ll take a look at this because this is the toughest stage of the zalia pole and it comes just one day from the finish and buo of all people has launched the attack well it’s quite remarkable cuz this is one of the toughest stages 238 kmet with the final climb the Paso de molo and what a climb that is and it really is a stage if they want to put ivang Gotti Under Pressure this is the only chance they have left because tomorrow these Riders will be in Milan and so the breakway are going to have to first deal with jany buo there’s the senior men all together as they lock into the big climb here but I’ve got a feeling now that jany buo is starting to feel the pressure here he was the leader over the second first category climb the cardino but now I think his legs have turned a little bit to jelly this is a very tough stage indeed and you see a man like buo suffering like this you can understand just how steep the gradients are here and this is the senior section of the race and I must say now that got he knows that he just controls immediately pavl tonov he’s got this race in the bag he is now over 7 minutes ahead of the rest of the field well as always de Grande there on the left hand side in the light blue mé jersey he’s the man who’s trying to Pace tonov into a position where he can try and take advantage of the strength that he has but bobbing and weaving there in the pink jersey Gotti is looking very good he looks extremely good he doesn’t look in any trouble at all and the teammates here at tonov over the shoulder they see Gotti looking in crime condition I don’t know whether we can say the same for tonov as they start to move clear here even the kelme boys are having a little bit of trouble today and they’re the big climbers as we see Sano who’s also having a good tour in trouble there and also gini who third overall looks as if he’s going off the bat these Riders now getting onto the back wheel of Giani buono so that is quite a remarkable failure for him he was riding well and now he’s been caught well buo is going to really suffer on the pass of molo right now because this is a climb of 12 1/2 kilm and that man has been out front for so long his legs must be feeling pretty awful anyway he’s looking over his shoulder Paul he’s seen the pink jersey coming up I wonder if there’s anything left there now for a little acceleration from him well Gian bu there wearing number two he might be thinking one last time to try and put some pressure on for his man pavl tonov wearing number one once again the last chance to put this man 151 Ian Gotti into difficulty but I really don’t think that pavl tono’s got anything left well this is absolutely Showdown time now pavl tonov is looking for 1 minute 32 seconds that are small time bonuses at the finishing line but I don’t think he’s going to worry too much about those now buo is still trying to play the team helper here as he leads up pavle tonov but just for how long can he do this and it doesn’t look to me as though tonov is under any pressure at all a motorbike has gone down on the right there and in fact I don’t think buo spotted it because buo lost his rhythm and I think with it the league group well that’s very difficult indeed but that is just how steep the corners are here on the Paso de Moro because they’re very hard indeed and it’s amazing to think that an organizer like the organization of the tour of Italy could put such a hard climb on the final penultimate stage well it’s not the time to remind these two that this is the climb where Miguel inine collapsed when he lost the tour where Abraham Alo collapsed when he lost the tour and now it looks as though this time the pink Jersy is having much better fortunes because he has put tonov under pressure quite remarkable pH coming into this year’s tour of Italy in fact Ivan Gotti didn’t have a win to his credit and the Man in the blue jersey on the left hand side pavl tonov well he’d come in after winning the tour of romendy which is supposedly the ideal preparation and a sign of the man who is in form well now it is side by side the top two riders in the jir ofalia and a little bit further down the man who used to be one of the great Riders is in the gialia jany buono is drifting away into anonymity these are the two men this year and Gotti is riding side by side with tonov he reminds me Paul of the days of Raymond pulidor alongside Jac onel big Showdown a big Showdown this is certainly the classic mano a mano man against man man against machine and man against the mountain it’s a question of survival these two Riders are certainly the strongest Riders of the tour of Italy and Gotti again thinks he can get rid of tonov but tonov I think now riding on Pride well you wouldn’t think these two are friends really because they train together when they’re not racing but they have been locked in battle now and it’s now day 21 of the Year Italia and remember since day three they have been fighting each other for that pink jersey and still Gotti is trying to knock his man out the crowd here going crazy they realize there’s a great chance for an Italian win but they I think also understanding the the Rivalry between these two Riders they are training partners and it has has become certainly a great duel well as they continue up the climb here they’re still shoulder toh shoulder and gotty keeps looking across at tonov but I don’t think there’s a lot of fight left in tonov now he’s just hoping to survive up this climb on the shoulder of the pink jersey sorry about the little bit of picture breakup it’s caused as usual by the trees in the area interfering with the signals up to the helicopters of our motorbikes but even so these are the top two Riders we’re watching now in the 80th jila dalala and next year number one is certain now to be Ian Gotti well 12 1/2 km but look at the gradient here 18% at this part of the climb and when they reach the top it’ll be 18850 M and that’s almost the same altitude as the aldz I have to say I’m surprised in fact that Gotti not Gotti tonov can stay sat in the saddle here on the steepness of this K look at the speed they’re only climbing at what 12 km an hour around 7 mph 1300 m is the elevation of the pass and again pushing the pace once more is Ian Gotti every time he needs to he tries to accelerate a little bit a little bit of change of Direction there of course I think by the fact that the motorbikes were getting in the way but you can see the crowd now they want an Italian to win they know that last year it was pavl tonov but this year it’s going to be one of their compatriots well whichever way you look at it Paul tonov has put up a great defense of his win last year just look at the crowds down there now this is the final climb in the Italia and they’ve all come out to see the kill for Italy because they’ve had a long run of foreign winners of the tour now they’re set to get a home one and it has to be said it is a surprise but I must say that gotty has ridden every day with greater strength than the day previously back further down the mountain now the climb behind and this Rider number 51 is Vladimir belly well belly started the day in seventh place 12 minutes 44 seconds back and he is helping himself up the overall classification as as well well still 4 kilometers of Agony to go for these two Riders to get to the top of this climb but certainly Vladimir o belly who was seventh overall this morning putting in an excellent climb and this climb here could really change the the structure of the top 10 in the overall standings belly has a little bit of time to make up but as I say seventh overall this morning he might climb one or two places depending on his time gains these two right I think got is almost asking for water there off the off the runner on his left but he didn’t get one this is belly belly making a little bit of progress up towards these two at the moment in fact there he is Paul just behind that’s been a fine piece of climbing by Vladimir belly all the pressure off him of course he’s just climbed steady and he’s now going to come right up behind these two now the good form I suppose if he’s got the strength is to try and go straight by well that’s how it has done in the handbooks but I’m not sure after a ride like that if he’ll still have the strength to go straight by these two Riders because it really is a question of just surviving riding as fast as you can just to keep the bike in a forward motion you can see belly there all over his bike twisting and pulling on those handlebars just to try and get as much power as he can into his pedaling action and I think he’ll just be happy to be with the two leaders 2 km to the top I always think it’s a little bit of a shame it’s very difficult for cameras to show the real gradient of a climb but you can see by the speed of these Riders just how steep it is I think there you get some idea now a little bit further down the mountain too here because this is uh mik in the yellow Jersey trying to get back on terms as well certainly over the last few years Phil Gotti really has improved as a stage race Rider he was fifth in the tour to France in 1995 fifth in the tour of Italy last year but even so to go from there up to wearing the pink jersey on the penultimate day is really quite a performance and that’s what the Italians think of the situation now they’ve got themselves an Italian leader of this Euro and this will bring a new Spate of publicity for this this event now as the people will love it once more they’ve had a couple of Russian winners they’ve had the Spanish victories of Miguel in jine and now it looks as though it’s swinging back today gotty as the climb continues towards the end and I think that’s about right now number one in Milan will be Ian Gotti because we’re only a few hundred meters from the top of the last climb and what a climb to finish on the tour with 50 seconds is the gap to miky and Noe and Noe by the way mik are not very far in front of guerini so he is on the climb somewhere and he should be maintaining his third place overall it’s like dartanion on one of the Knights of the Round Table trying to help these Riders out here running alongside it’s a very difficult thing for Riders to have all this water poured over them but at the moment I think with the heat they’re not too worried because all they want to do is just get over the final kilometer oh belly certainly seems to be enjoying the shower a few drgs for tonov but not too much and now belly starts to move clear again now is this the acceleration to claim the top of the mountain and then perhaps plunge down to the Finish very narrow ride this is for these Riders all the crowd coming in out to the side of the road starting to get quite fanatic about the fact that they’ve got two Italians at the head of Affairs and the wearing number one as last year’s winner pavl tonov tono’s having none of it now belly has been brought back to Hill as he follows him up the climb the crowd still enjoying the moment and just look at them now as they cheer these Riders around the corner Two Italians and a Russian but of course he’s on an Italian team chance there F just to see how steep these Corners are on the molo it really is a hard climb I don’t think I’m going to take my bike out there for a bit of a fun ride I was just thinking the same thing myself but now we got Vladimir belly the last man to join the two leaders Now setting the pace here he can just about see the road I think because these are very emotional scenes by the Italians and don’t forget they are an emotional lot really when it comes to supporting big names in sport and now it’s 1 kilm to the summit of the final climb well I think they’ve been looking for that sign for quite a long time now because although it’s 12 1/2 kmers from top to bottom it’s a very difficult climb and these Riders now have been climbing for something like 45 minutes well they thanking evang Gotti in that sign and I think they’re trying to Pat him on the back as well because they know today he won the Tour of Italy he has put up with all of the pressures he’s actually trying to push them away he’s had enough of it now as the crowd gets dragged out the way of our camera as well and somewhere up at the top of this climb we’re going to see a banner across the road I hope because belly is leading the other two Riders up towards the top a very dangerous moment there for Gotti in fact those Riders getting a little bit too overzealous and getting too close and I remember a couple of years ago a rider being taken off on one of the climbs of the tour to France the called the galib and that was Giani buo and Robert Miller I think and that is exactly how dangerous it can be for these two Riders so that probably went through the mind of Ivan Gotti there just thinking that he was so close to the finish one of his own supporters could have put him out of the race and back in 1987 of course uh Steven Roi went on to win the Jalia was Finding himself quite a worried man riding through the Italian toosi because they wanted their man visentini to win and roach was being pushed around by the crowd all the way up the climb but when he did and now looks as though it’s going to be Gotti’s turn a little bit of respite towards the top of the climb as the three of them ride up to the summit and I think they’re probably going to allow belly to be first over the top it doesn’t mean a lot to any of them there is a prize of course for the first Rider over the top but there’s a much bigger prize for the man that wins the zero and he’s happy enough where he is those I think are some of the greatest Spectators I’ve seen on the tour of Italy for many years they really do seem to have come back to the race with a Vengeance the race I felt a few years ago was starting to die die but really since Miguel inderin and top Riders started to take this race very seriously the crowds have certainly come back well here they come around one of the final bends and still we have belly leading there’s the altitude 1852 M and very soon now we are going to see the summit just about enough Road left to ride on I think and I just wonder how gotty is feeling now well I don’t I know how he must be feeling he’s going to be feeling pretty good he knows now the tour is his but Bell he still sitting at the front there trying to find a way through the crowd the crowd going absolutely barmy on this final few meters of this year’s tour of Italy’s last climb because they know that their man is going to win there he is in the pink jersey in second position pavl tonov I think just happy now to ride over the top of this climb because once they get to the top there’s 17 kmers of downhill to the Finish Well the situation behind has got he waves away the crowd there miky girini de Grande noi and rubira around about a minute and a half behind this group and they’re climbing all split up and I’m not surprised on the way to the summit as well strange enough pH one man we haven’t spoken a lot about is still in the tour of Italy this year Mario chiellini and I think that’s going to be his first finish for several years indeed it is I think 1992 actually Paul and you know a lot of people think he’s never finished the tour of Italy but in fact he has finished three of his tours of Italy anyway these are the leaders now making the Way to the Top Mario chiellini still one day to go and a possible win tomorrow in Milan that will give him a record five stages that’s a personal record by the way but right now iang Gotti is just dreaming of Milan and his final maglia Rosa there he is up towards the summit now all of the pressure will all of a sudden disappear in this year’s race as he climbs towards the final Mountain Banner of the tour between 152 M it’s a very long way from the bottom of the valley here 12 1/2 km they’ve been climbing and around about 50 minutes at the top and it looks as if Vladimir o Bell smiling as he reaches the top yes and it does look as though he’s going to be the man who says he won the climb too because I don’t think Gotti is going to challenge and I think the towel has been thrown in by pavl tonov because he hasn’t been in a position to offer any attack at all on this climb I think gotty proved to him Midway up the climb he was just too good and so tonov decided to settle down and just go up the mountain with the group there’s the banner and under it goes first belly second Gotti third tonov so so now they’re heading down towards the finish in Ado and that will be music in the ears now of Evan Gotti tricky descent for these Riders and you can see how many cars have turned out as we look a little bit further back this is Noe coming up with Nichola Meli and he’s done a very good ride indeed round about 90 seconds these Riders are down on the three leaders and a lot further down there’ll be a lot of men just trying to get their bodies over this final climb and now the long descent and some Sharp hering bends and it could be that belly is trying to rid them down here because you know he might take a few risks but certainly gotty is not going to take too many and it looks as though tonov is going to take even less of a risk and you can’t blame him for that tonov lying right off the back of these three as they look at the rout and find their own way down the mountain well tonov has been joined Again by Gotti while belly is trying to take a little run for home back down the mountain or back up the mountain rather Here Comes Yanni buo and he’s coming over the top an awful long way behind now he looks pretty tired and I’m not surprised it was a long escape and it has been a long way to the top of this mountain well it would have been a great stage for him to win but at the moment the race is on at the front tonov starting to lead them on The Descent and I think gotty now just happy to sit in his slipstream he’s not going to take too many risks to try and catch belly you can’t blame him for that really belly wants to pull out a little lead oh and good Bell’s overshot the bend he scraped the wall here the other two are straight by him immediately without a blink and so now from first to third in one easy movement he’s going to have to start catching up that would have shaken his nerve a little bit well here’s a chance just to see exactly how it happened he came in there and in fact he didn’t even fall off his bike his shoulder went into the ramparts there and that’s quite remarkable that he didn’t lose it but just look at the speed those other two riders came by him well he was looking to get out of that one it was a little reminiscent of the crash that took luk Leblon out of the race it wasn’t with the same force of course and belly back on his bike now and they get back to the lead is no problem he was a little bit lucky there but there have been some strange crashes this year’s Euro and most of them going down steep hills now back to the other top of the climb and look at this rocking and rolling now of Mario chiellini is he popular or what he must have had a little helping hand I think up most of the clim but it doesn’t stop him going over the top some 12 minutes behind the leaders 8 km to go well that little accident there certainly rocked the foundations of Vladimir oel see how he’s just laying off the back a little bit now won’t take the risks he was taking taking before because once you have an incident like that you really do you lose your nerve well he’s having to fight back just to stay in touch now with the other two Riders on the way down to the bottom of the valley 6 kmet to go well normally Paul somebody like tonov would take a sprint out at the result like this that would be quite a turn up now if tonov stole the stage wouldn’t it well certainly would he’s got up against two other Riders I feel if these three Riders do stay together he’s got a very good chance but that doesn’t mean that these three Riders behind don’t have a chance of coming back because they were only 90 seconds behind at the top of the climb so it may well be they’ll pull something back well that’s mik gini and the kelme rider is rubera who’s got himself in the action again towards the end of the stage these are the three Riders there’s the kilometer kite now it’s going to be a three-man Sprint for the line Two Italians and a Russian and the pink jersey again in at the kill at the end of a crucial stage he has been a most consistent leader this year Well if I was Vladimir oeli I’d Dro myself back into third position now and just try and surprise these two Riders cuzz obviously a lot of animosity between them but you can see got’s decided he’s going to go for the win well he’s gone he’s full of confidence and belly now not smiling this time in fact he’s left a little bit of a gap here he’d do well to force tonov to take up the chase but tonov just staying on the wheel little rise now and in fact looking over his shoulder got he’s just checking Here Comes belly this time now so he has got some speed left in those leg but that sharp left hander has taken a little bit out of him now this is a long Lead Out by Ian Gotti and it usually means you get third place when you lead from so far out and it could well be the case because pavl tonov is going for his third stage win and he may not be going to win the Tour of Italy but he has won the toughest stage of the race what a turnup tonov gets it and in fact Gotti stays second and belly gets third now back down the line here because this is the chase group coming in and this is robero who’s going to take out fourth place so robero gets fourth from Noe and miky was there and guerini also so that’s the order over the line there’ll be no change in the top three overall but the time gaps continue to open the overall situation now is that iang Gotti leads pavl by a minute and 27 seconds guerini is 7 minutes and 40 seconds back next stop Milan and the big finale and there it is just 165 km remaining of the 80th J Det and this is One race that the Italians will love to recall on video for many many years to come because there’s no doubt now they’re going to have an Italian winner now it would be a perfect race Paul if they could finish off with a win for chiellini well it would but it’s very difficult on the last day everybody wants to get the last little bit of energy out of their bodies they try and make sure they can get themselves at least on television one time and coming up to the last kilometer it looks again as if it’s Fabiano fontanelli very close to the front well they’ve done 10 laps here of the senion park 5.5 km a time around there’s been plenty of attacks and plenty of riders tried to slip away but each time just like on the chanis say in the tour to France they’ve all been brought back and so now looking for what would be his 21st stage win of air dalala and he’s Fifth and a personal record in one tour he’s in fifth place down at the moment just following through Glenn Magnuson is the rider on the front I think that was sery OV who nipped away out of our camera and so now it looks as though OV might steal the show here as he tries to go clear of the field because he’s got the little Mar remember he was the rider that crashed out when he went around that sweeping left hand Bend and we thought he broken his hand but he hadn’t but now this time around it’s not going to work out for him either and big chiellini is coming for stage win number five like an Express train Magnuson is second Mario get oh my goodness me almost fell off and Magnuson first to congratulate him I think or complain whichever the case may be this was the Sprint quite a regular Sprint the fastest man got it by a good length well I’ll tell you what Paul five wins isn’t too bad is it it’s not too bad at all that makes 21 stage victories of the tour of Italy for Mario chelini and the shorts go very nicely with the shirt thank you and so will the fine later on today but he won’t mind it’s in his contract in fact that his sponsors pay all the fine so wearing the wrong colard shorts so Mario chiellini now 21 wins congratulates his teammate who won the race evang Gotti here’s the stage result first though chiellini winning ahead of Magnuson manati maati getting a first appearance in the top six finishes there is he’s turned up in his suit he went behind the stage changed to a white suit to receive what would have been the Winner’s Jersey but he always is a character and the champagne anyway he’s going to spray the crowd with it and make sure it doesn’t go on his suit chiellini as popular as ever overall though this is the new star of Italian cycling even vanti after 102 hours in the saddle has beaten pavl tonkov by a minute and 23 seconds in third place ji gini at 7 minutes 40 all three of them tomorrow morning will probably meet at some Street Cafe and go training together as they always do between the big races what a result I hope you’ve enjoyed this year of Talia I think it’s one to be remembered for many many years to come and until the next time we meet I’m Phil liot for Paul sh saying so long for now [Music] [Music]