Giro d'Italia - Sastre wins at Vesuvius

Eurosport - Sat, 30 May 11:35:00 2009

Spain's Carlos Sastre came home alone in stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia which finished at the infamous volcano of Mount Vesuvius.

CYCLING 2009 Giro Carlos Sastre - 0

The Tour de France champion attacked early on the 13km climb to the summit finish and came home 20 seconds ahead of Franco Pellizotti.

Rabobank's Denis Menchov hung on to the pink leader's jersey after sticking close to second-placed Danilo Di Luca's wheel as the 2007 winner tried to break away on the climb to the finish line near the volcano's crater.

The LPR rider sprinted in ahead of Russia's Menchov on the final straight to cut the Russian's lead to 18 seconds but he may have missed his last chance.

On Saturday, the riders have a relatively easy 203 km stage from Naples to Anagni before the centenary edition of the three-week race finishes with Sunday's time trial in Rome.

"I tried in every way to break away from him, but nothing," Di Luca said. "We'll see in the time trial in Rome, but for the moment he's the favourite because he's still in front."

Menchov is taking nothing for granted.

"You can't say anything (is decided) until Rome," he said. "Di Luca and I are very close and we contesting this Giro over a question of seconds. Naturally, it's better for me to be in front than behind."

Sastre pulled away with about two kilometres to go from Ivan Basso, who had attacked early on the climb, and then held off a late surge from the Italian's Liquigas team mate Franco Pellizotti.

Pellizotti finished 21 seconds later and remains third overall, although the gap with Menchov is down to 1:39.

American Lance Armstrong, racing in his first Giro having recovered from a broken collarbone, got back up quickly after falling on a winding descent on the Amalfi coast and came home 16th.

The American is out of contention for victory, 13:29 back in 12th, but looks in good shape as he prepares for a crack at an eighth Tour de France title in July after coming out of retirement.

GIRO LIVE: 3:30pm on Saturday on British Eurosport 2 (Sky 411 / Virgin Media 525); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

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  1. Britain has one tennis player who sometimes doers OK­ but always gets knoocked out in the semis. We have­ cyclists who regularly beat the world. So naturally­ only tennis dominates the schedules at the expense of­ everything else. Poor show Eurosport.

    From Wolfie M, on Sat 30 May 1:51PM

  2. Three channels and Eurosport still don't seem to be­ able to find a time slot for the important stages of­ the Giro. Of course this is Eurosport UK and because­ Andy Murray is doing well we are subjected to a­ constant diet of tennis. Why don't we get the­ opportunity to watch Eurosport International which­ David Harmon mentions as showing earlier transmissions?

    From jbandbetsymac, on Sat 30 May 11:47AM

  3. Sastre will not repeat this TDF wins. I think it's­ important to be realistic. Last years tour was very­ unusual to say the least, and to me Sastre can get away­ only when others let him go.. this has been the case­ with his stage wins in this years giro, and the case­ when he won the tdf. On both the giro stage wins all­ his made is 30 seconds each time, I don't think­ thats blowing oponents out of the water, and someone to­ me this giro seems to lack the diversity of mountain­ men. It's only menchov, di luca, sastre, garzelli,­ and basso. The tour de france will explode on the­ mountain stages, you will probably have another 10 guys­ into that mix. Good on him that his made a number of­ top ten places and won a tour, but sport really­ sometimes is lot of good fortune. His not what you­ would call a power climber that can blow people away,­ and his time trialling is still not great, despite that­ everyone here think's it improved remarkably. ­ These are things that your gifted off, if you not a­ velo pedigree your noth going to become road time trial­ champion at any time soon. Lucky if ever top 10.

    From queenxpress2003, on Sat 30 May 7:05AM

  4. We can look back on some great racing - seeing Lance,­ Basso & Sastre hone their form for the TDF. As­ usual Leipheimer is the most boring non attacking rider­ in the pro peleton. De Luca is a great fighter &­ never gives up - also Garzelli but we won`t see them in­ the TDF.
    Can Menchov hold this form until the Tour? -­ doubtful - but he deserves to win the Giro.
    My guess is­ still that Contador will be riding for Caisse d`Epargne­ come July with Lance obtaining sponsorship on a limited­ budget for the new team to replace Astana. Once again­ LA will be able to build a team around himself if he is­ calling the shots.

    From Bikefan, on Sat 30 May 6:06AM

  5. Way to go Sastre, true Mountain man.

    From cgmoxley, on Sat 30 May 4:02AM

  6. Sastre showing again it wasnt just a lucky one move win­ at the Tour last year,he is the real deal. This has got­ to be Di Luca's greatest Giro ride, amazing form in­ the mountains, i hope Cunego is watching him and­ remembering Di Luca had many years of so-so grand tour­ rides before he finally came good again in 05 and 07.­ And just a note for those of you bagging the Eurosport­ coverage/highlights, here in Australia, we get 15­ minute early morning highlights that consist of about 6­ minutes actual coverage, god awful commentary (not­ blaming you Trent Wilson you can be the next aussie­ Paul Sherwen one day!!) then the other 10 minutes are­ adverts!

    From demi162, on Sat 30 May 1:11AM

  7. Eurosports evening highlights coverage is rubbish! or­ more accurately NON EXISTENT. I'm beginning to­ realise they are a complete bunch of amateurs.­ Doesn't anyone there own a watch? lets all club­ together to buy them one then they would know it's­ time to switch from tennis to the Giro. Ahhh! hold on,­ they'd need someone able to read a watch!

    From Julian Evans, on Fri 29 May 11:55PM

  8. Tuned in to watch the Giro this evening and got the­ tennis again. Come on Eurosport sort yourselves out.­ Think of cycling fans.

    From jamesjjjohnson, on Fri 29 May 11:32PM

  9. As usual it looks like I'm not going to see todays­ Giro thanks to Eurosport and it's obsession for­ @#$% tennis programmes. It's about time another­ channel picked up the cycling so we could at least­ watch these classic tours!

    From Liz S, on Fri 29 May 11:20PM

  10. Armstrong wil not win everythink anyway, Giro and Vulta­ and clasics...If he can hold a record forever his best­ chance would be Tour the France wins..if he win it for­ 8Time he wil be olso the oldest te win the Tour, I hoop­ he nail it.

    From Ra, on Fri 29 May 10:11PM

  11. Regarding the Tour de France, Armstrong and Contador­ seem to have come to some understanding regarding their­ respective roles. I coming to this late so I may be­ way off but is it possible that Armstrong is only going­ for victory on the Ventoux to fill a nagging void on­ his list of notable stage wins and work for Contador­ for overall victory?

    From pleediablo, on Fri 29 May 9:24PM

  12. dfmcos_mail - I agree, I have been impressed with­ Basso. Looking strong for the Veulta, big, big chance­ for the TDF next year. Menchov has looked really strong­ throughout, Di Luca is having a good Giro but the set­ up has suited him. Sastre Awesome again, TDF with­ ALberto should give us some great stuff in the­ mountains.

    From pithagoris, on Fri 29 May 9:23PM

  13. Interesting to see Astana doing a lot of pace making­ for Menchov on the climb. Getting in a favour for­ Rabobank to repay in the Tour. Bruyneel knows how to­ play the game!

    From keir_williams, on Fri 29 May 8:11PM

  14. Great stage. Sastre deserved the win, whilst Di Luca­ and Menchov were having a real ding @#$% at the­ end.
    The Russian could not and will not be shaken off­ though. He has it in the bag.
    Cyclecrank co uk

    From cyclecrank70, on Fri 29 May 7:33PM

  15. i don´t think that basso is being pathetic...i think is­ is first major tour since coming back from a 2 year­ ban...i think he will ride better if he rides the tour­ de france...besides him, who will lead liquigas in this­ year tdf?or they´re only thinking of bennati for the­ points?i don´t see kreuziger or nibali battling for a­ top 3 at this year tdf...

    From dfmcos_mail, on Fri 29 May 7:20PM

  16. i agree
    even if di luca begins the TT in the pink­ jersey he aint gonna keep it...
    menchov is way stronger­ than di luca in TT,especially in one that is so­ flat
    menchov,in normal conditions,will win the­ giro...
    but we still have tomorrow's stage
    but di­ luca is being a little bit naive if he really thinks­ that the 20th stage will be enough to take the maglia­ home

    From falcao_2, on Fri 29 May 7:00PM

  17. even if di luca does get 20 second bonus tomoz he wnt­ keep it in da relatively flat time trial to come. yet­ again sastre has shown dominance in the mountains. and­ lance looks as if he is improving from his awful start­ to the giro. basso, cunego, and rogers have been­ pathetic. i agree cav was da best sprinter by far nd­ fully deserved his three victories. i also feel that­ although menchov has been dominant he hasnt looked­ strong enough to actually attack di luca, hes merely­ done an evans nd hugged his back wheel which has been a­ bit disappointin

    From djwiners, on Fri 29 May 6:46PM

  18. di luca just don´t know how to race...sure he needed to­ gain time...but would be smart when he leaves the other­ riders gain time on menchov to make him going to chase­ them...di luca keeps on menchov wheel and then he can­ atack...just remember what happen whit contador on­ paris-nice...

    From dfmcos_mail, on Fri 29 May 6:22PM

  19. just a correction for the general classification
    di­ luca is just 18 seconds behind menchov
    and tomorrow the­ winner takes a 20 seconds bonus
    maybe tomorrow the­ maglia rosa will change for di luca again

    From falcao_2, on Fri 29 May 5:57PM

  20. Me too, I cant stand Di luca. I dont mind if he ends up­ being 3rd, even 4th.

    From chem452002, on Fri 29 May 5:56PM
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