Thomas Löfkvist worked hard to limit his losses on a gruelling ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia which culminated up Mount Etna.
Contador takes win and race lead
Thomas Löfkvist worked hard to limit his losses on a gruelling ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia which culminated up Mount Etna.
The Swede was among a number of general classification contenders who were distanced after a stinging late attack from Alberto Contador on the unrelenting drag up the active volcano.
The 27-year-old managed to slot into his own rhythm and eventually came home 32nd on the day, losing two minutes and 41 seconds to the Saxo Bank-Sungard rider.
The mountaintop finish saw the majority of the peloton in difficulty with only Jose Rujano (Androni-Giocattoli) finding an answer for Contador’s decisive move to place second.
Victory moved Contador into a 59-second lead over Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC-Highroad) going into the first rest day after overnight leader Pieter Weening (Rabobank) lost over six minutes.
Hotting up
After the stage Sports Director Sean Yates was philosophical about Löfkvist’s situation, pointing out that with two weeks of racing still to come, the Giro is far from decided.
He said: “The boys did a great job in supporting Thomas throughout the day but Contador showed he is in unbelievable form.
“At the end it turned into every man for himself and when Alberto took off they realised they were all racing for second place so that slowed things down a bit.
“The initial attack was what saw Thomas get dropped but then it settled down and he nearly came back but the final 2km or so it got going again so he just lost a bit and soloed in.
“We’ll arrive back tonight at midnight or later so the deal is tomorrow they lie in for as long as possible and at maybe 11 o'clock they will go out for a two-hour spin.
“Really they want to just try and have a relaxing day. A good massage, a good dinner and an early night and get ready for stage 10.”
Spectacle
With the stage over the riders now face an unenviable long transfer. We caught up with Norwegian climber Lars-Petter Nordhaug en route to a late flight back to the mainland.
He said: "Right now we are sitting on a small bus with four other teams going down some small twisty roads at the moment so it is not very nice.
"It was very special to ride up Etna. There was lava on the side of the road but it didn’t smell or anything. It was a very spectacular climb but it was hard because there were strong winds.
"I’m feeling better but I’m not at my best. I’ve been struggling to recuperate well because I’ve been a bit sick so not a really good start. But with the rest day now I hope I can make up for that.
"Hopefully it will get better and better but it is a really hard Giro and the level is very high so it is not so easy.
"Tomorrow is just about resting as much as we can then we go for a couple of hour’s ride and just go steady. The body doesn’t just shut down but then on Tuesday it should be another sprinter's stage."
