Giro d'Italia - Menchov seals Giro victory in Rome

Eurosport - Mon, 01 Jun 14:57:00 2009

Russia's Denis Menchov survived a fall on a rain-hit final stage to win the Giro d'Italia in dramatic fashion in Rome.

Denis Menchov - 0

The Rabobank rider looked certain for victory in the world's second biggest stage race with a 20-second lead before Sunday's 14.4km time-trial, which was better suited to him than nearest rival Italian Danilo Di Luca.

But the home fans were given hope of a shock win when it started to rain while both riders were out, making the going hazardous on Rome's slippery cobblestones.

The Russian tumbled on a straight stretch in the last kilometre, but kept his cool and crossed the finish line near the Coliseum with a faster time than LPR's 2007 winner Di Luca.

Menchov had a 41-second margin of victory, according to provisional results, as the 31-year-old added the Giro to his honours list after winning the Tour of Spain in 2007 and 2005.

The stage was won by Cervelo's Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas, who set his time of 18:42 before a light rainfall that forced riders to slow down, although conditions had dried out a lot by the time the leaders went out.

Britain's triple world track cycling gold medallist Bradley Wiggins finished a second behind Konovalovas and would have gone quicker had the rain not hampered the end of his ride.

Reuters

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    menchov, di luca, garzeli, scarponi, basso, complete­ lpr team, virtually all italian & eastern european­ riders - doped or former dopers ! What a farcical race­ - what did the dope testers test for - pasta ? None of­ these guys will win a stage in the TDF - why ? because­ they won't be allowed to enter. Di Luca - strong­ every day ! Sastre - good days bad days - as it should­ be. Figure it out for yourselves - probably only­ Cavendish, Boasson Hagen, Gerrans & Sastre's­ stage wins were honest, sorry Giro but you hav a long­ way to go - typical italian's - all style & no­ substance.

    From pete, on Sun 31 May 9:02PM

  2. Great job from Dennis.

    He won't win the Tour this­ year, but I bet he will strictly focus on doing so next­ year.

    If he wins TdF (whenever) then he equals­ Contador in winning all three. So he is gonna focus on­ TdF from now on, that's the only one he is missing.

    From stanof, on Sun 31 May 8:49PM

  3. great Giro by all top twenty riders. Worthy of the­ centennial

    From Alan G, on Sun 31 May 8:29PM

  4. Yes!Denis done it!!!It was so hard!But Denis Menchov is­ absolutely winner not only today but on all tournament­ giro!!!!I anted to Menchow win and he done­ it!Впер&#10­ 77;д­ меньш­ ов!Мо&#1083­ ;одчи&#1085­ ;а!!!)He is a pride of Russia!And me))))

    From kosiannatalia, on Sun 31 May 8:25PM

  5. Excellent Giro all round. Well done Menchov. Great go­ from Wiggins today, shame about the rain though, reckon­ he would have bagged the stage if dry. Lance 12th on­ GC- 15 down but after his injury not a bad showing.­ Best thing, no drug fails- hope this is due to riders­ being clean rather than lenient controls.

    Roll on le­ Tour!

    From riderden, on Sun 31 May 8:10PM

  6. Spectacular finish to an amazing Giro. A thoroughly­ deserved win, he was the strongest and cleverest in the­ race. He didn't need to attack - he was the leader,­ all he needed to do was defend. Was a heart stopping­ moment when he fell, but he deserved to win, and win he­ did. Were it not for the fall, i think that he may well­ have claimed the win today, his splits were getting­ faster and faster and he looked smooth in the last few­ k up to his tumble! He's becoming more and more­ rounded, a stage victory in a mountain top finish, and­ a time trial. Him and Sastre have had a really good­ test ahead of the tour. Will be an amazing race,­ hopefully a good clean race.

    From pinderbilly, on Sun 31 May 7:39PM

  7. In order to win a rider plays to his strengths. Those­ people who are complaining about Menchov as a­ wheelsucker are missing the point. If Di Luca had been­ better than Menchov he would have found a way to take­ time out of the Russian, yet his biggest time gain on­ any stage (excluding bonuses) was 24 sec when Menchov­ got caught behind a crash on a sprinters' stage. If­ you take away the time bomus for stage positions­ Menchov would have won by more. For the record Di Liuca­ took time out of Menchov as follows: St1 16secs (TTT);­ St 3 24secs; St10 10secs; st17 5secs. Menchov took time­ out of Di Luca as follows: St5 2secs; St12 1min 54secs;­ St16 1sec; St21 21secs. Di Luca took 1min 26secs in­ time bonuses and Menchov took 40secs. I think the­ figures demonstrate that Menchov had the measure of Di­ Luca and that he won the race by being the strongest­ overall (not by much) and by playing to his strenghts.­ It would have been foolish of Menchov to risk­ everything trying to be more attacking and show more­ panache. I say congratulations Denis Menchov; a­ deserving winner of the Giro

    From DAVID, on Sun 31 May 6:47PM

  8. i dnt think menchov was anythin special he got his time­ in the itt, and tbh he never looked like attackin on­ any of the mountain stages. when cadel uses this tactic­ you all moan your heads me included its a borin tactic,­ but this is exactly wat menchov did. he will never win­ the tour usin this tactic as their are riders who will­ simply blow him away on the mountain stages, just what­ cadel found out last year.

    From djwiners, on Sun 31 May 6:29PM

  9. OW! It went very quite here, then Denis got up and­ finished, Its still mostly quite here because of the­ shock and panic, We have enjoyed the Giro immensely.­ We were in Venice and Lido di Jesolo for the first four­ days and have been very priveledged to have met many­ riders and support people, we have received gifts,­ autographs and souverniers. I hope all that survived­ the Giro recover well and they will give us more of­ their superlative execellence in the future. If your in­ Monaco for the TdF start I wish you a safe and happy­ time, see you there I will have a special Astana hat­ on, Mascot on white.

    From kenny4x4, on Sun 31 May 6:19PM

  10. Menchov was the strongest on this giro no doubt of it. ­ And winning the giro without a strong team around­ himself is amazing. He is tt specialist and he gained­ time there. In the mountains he just had to follow. But­ its not easy when 3 or 4 people are attacking u and u­ dont have teammates. So i think that he got a fully­ deserved victory

    From Jordan, on Sun 31 May 6:11PM

  11. Menchov did not need to attack. His the leader and­ everyone else wants to win too. He can beat them in­ the time trial. In their interest to make as much time­ as possible in mountains, but the top 5 other guys were­ unable to so Menchov wins. He was very strong and this­ win stamped some authority on the pelton. I'd be­ very interested to see how well he goes in the tour. ­ Good luck Menchov and fantastic win. Today should have­ been another stage victory, but bad luck.

    From queenxpress2003, on Sun 31 May 6:08PM

  12. Well first of all congrats Denis. Nice job done­ sticking to Di Luca like glue. Di Luca would have­ deserved the win aswell. He was the animator of the­ race. He attacked and made the race interesting.­ Everybody rides different but Menchov was more or less­ the follower or in other words the wheelsucker which is­ kinda boring but oh well.

    From Andre, on Sun 31 May 5:49PM

  13. WELL DONE DENIS!!! Organizers have upset a little.­ During ceremony of rewarding of our Hero have included­ an old hymn of the Soviet union: (
    Thousand kisses to­ the winner!!!!

    From miss_elena, on Sun 31 May 5:32PM

  14. Menchov is good winner he never been involvod in Doping­ so far so good.

    From Ra, on Sun 31 May 5:18PM

  15. To the people talking about menchov constantly falling.­ He fell in the tour last year and today. Both times­ the road was wet, and the roads are never straight. ­ Get your facts straight for once. Well done Menchov,­ champion riding. Lets do it in the tour.

    From queenxpress2003, on Sun 31 May 5:13PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Another 'Grand Tour' won by a time trialling­ wheel follower!!!.

    From ERIC D., on Sun 31 May 5:09PM

  17. Awesome win, Denis! Keep it up!!!

    keir_williams, easy­ to be smart@ss sitting on the sofa. You try going as­ fast on an inch thick tires over wet cobbles. Then,­ after hospital treatment, come back and share your­ thoughts with us.

    From kamigato7, on Sun 31 May 4:55PM

  18. What a worthy champion Menchov is!
    '
    His final­ ITT time underlined his deserved overall win, just like­ a 7x TdF winner would do. Chapeau Menchov!

    From p, on Sun 31 May 4:54PM

  19. well done denis. he deserved to win!

    From alexmn85, on Sun 31 May 4:46PM

  20. Behold... Denis Menchov is the new 'hardest of the­ hardmen' in cycling... Denis-go win the TDF !!

    From martin.pugh55, on Sun 31 May 4:46PM
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