Giro still an open race going into mountains

Joaquin Rodriguez wears the Giro d’Italia’s pink jersey after his stage win yesterday in Assisi, but other teams pull the strings. After he took over the jersey, he explained that his Katusha team will have to work off the stronger teams.

“We will have to play off of Liquigas, Lampre and Astana,” Rodriguez said in a press conference. “They will make the difference and we have to stay with him.”

The three teams controlled the race through the medium mountain stages Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Katusha took advantage yesterday, setting up Rodriguez for the win and overall lead.

He leads by 17 seconds over Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), who held the jersey for three days. Astana’s Roman Kreuziger is in fourth overall at 32 seconds, Liquigas’s Ivan Basso in sixth at 57 seconds and Lampre’s Michele Scarponi at 1-11 minutes.

Basso suffered two crashes in races this spring and started the race behind schedule. He said that he had his doubts heading into the race and started behind form. In these days, he’s fine-tuning for the mountains ahead.

Scarponi inherited last year’s title after Alberto Contador received an anti-doping suspension. This year, he tweaked his schedule to win the race outright.

“He worked less in his lead up to the Giro compared to last year to start a little bit behind. He showed in Rocca di Cambio to be strong, he showed in Lago Laceno, gained seconds,” Lampre’s team manager, Roberto Damiani told Cycling Weekly.

Damiani has years of experience with Mapei and with Cadel Evans at Belgium’s Lotto team. He laughed at the idea that riders like Basso and Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) calculate their form.

“If they can make these calculations, they’re good. I see Michele Scarponi going well, he’s in a good place already in the overall and I think he can have a good Giro. I don’t know if he’s at 90 or 100 percent, the road will decide. After 30 years in the business, I’m only ever able to understand a rider’s condition afterwards.”

Rodriguez said that he had good condition. Over the winter, he took aim for the classics and the Giro. He won the Flèche Wallonne and now holds the pink jersey.

“I talked to [Angel] Vicioso this morning, saying how we weren’t really feeling the effort of the race,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a good sign.”

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