Giro di Sardegna

Stage 3: Nuoro to Oristano, 206km/128mi

By Cathy Mehl and Philippe Maertens

At last it was a day for the pure sprinters in the third stage of the Giro di Sardegna.  Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) seized the stage win in front of fellow countrymen Enrico Rossi (Ceramica Flaminia) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Liquigas) in a mass sprint in Oristano.  There was no change in the general classification with Roman Keruziger (Liquigas) holding on to the race lead for a second day.  The best team rider for Team RadioShack was 22-year old Russian Ivan Rovny who sprinted to 5^th.  Coming from a track background, Rovny’s first season with Team RadioShack has gotten off to a grand start. Chris Horner and Jani Brajkovic remain in 2nd and 4th places.

It was the longest stage in the five-day race at 206km.  Roads were never flat but good weather has made for perfect racing this week.  After 60km of racing 5 riders went off the front: Giario Ermeti (De Rosa), David Gutierrez (Footon – Servetto), Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua & Sapone), Evgeny Petrov (Team Katusha) and Michael Rasmussen (Miche).  The quintet worked well together but long miles took a toll and by kilometer 125 only Ermeti and Gutierrez were left in the front.  Lampre and Liquigas chased to keep control of the escapees and steadily brought them back.  By 6km to go the group was all together, setting up for the sprint.  Despite suffering an illness last week, Petacchi had the legs on Thursday and took the win in dominating fashion.

Friday’s stage is another for the sprinters with 181.5km/113mi from Carbonia to Iglesias.

Rider Update: Gert Steegmans and Tomas Vaitkus will race in the opening weekend’s races of the Belgian cycling season. Their participation was questionable after crashes in the third and first stages of last week’s Tour of Algarve.

Gert Steegmans suffered a concussion after landing on his head in stage three. After three days rest he did a 50 kilometer training ride on Tuesday, followed by a 6 hour training ride on Wednesday. He could finish both rides without experiencing a headache.

“Since Monday I have had no headaches. The nausea has disappeared too,” said Steegmans. “The doctors advised me to wait an extra day and to stay in the dark to take no risks.  Though – as everyone joked – I could not have a concussion because of a lack of brains in my head! The two training rides have convinced me that I am able to play a role in both weekend races. My good condition cannot be completely gone.  The only thing that worries me a bit is the stiffness in my neck and upper leg but that is not the end of the world.  I can deal with it.”

Tomas Vaitkus, who crashed on his shoulder, kept his shoulder immobilized for a few days. Though his shoulder injury still causes some pain, Vaitkus will take the risk to start.

“In Russia there is a saying:  ‘One who doesn’t take a risk, will not drink champagne’.  So I will start,” Vaitkus commented. “In the past two-to-three days I have less pain, but it is still present.  On the other hand, I was able to ride 180 kilometers today on the bike.  I am confident of a better 2010 than 2009, certainly with less crashes anyway.”

In last year’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Vaitkus was on his way to a top-5 placing when he could not escape the crash of another rider in the final sprint and broke a bone in his right elbow.

Top Ten Results

1        Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini  5:27:57        

2        Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia                    

3        Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo                 

4        Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox               

5        Ivan Rovny (Rus) Team Radioshack                     

6        Matteo Montaguti (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic                

7        Michele Merlo (Ita) Footon-Servetto                     

8        Serguei Klimov (Rus) Team Katusha                    

9        Fabio Felline (Ita) Footon-Servetto              

10      Nicola d'Andrea (Ita) Meridiana Kamen Team

Team RadioShack Results on Stage 3

17      Christopher Horner (USA)

19      Jani Brajkovic (Slo)

21      Ben Hermans (Bel)

23      Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa)

38      Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)

86      Matthew Busche (USA) 0:00:17

104    Dimitriy Muravyev (Rus) 0:00:20

General Classification after Stage 3

1        Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo    14:18:14      

2        Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack     0:00:04        

3        Thomas Voeckler (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom         0:00:06        

4        Jani Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack       0:00:10        

5        Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Miche                 

6        Damiano Caruso (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic                  

7        Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli            

8        Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox   0:00:13        

9        Cristiano Salerno (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic      0:00:17        

10      Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:25      

Team RadioShack on General Classification

14      Ivan Rovny (Rus) 0:00:34

18      Ben Hermans (Bel) 0:00:36

29      Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)  0:01:51

40      Dimitriy Muravyev (Rus) 0:04:57

66      Matthew Busche (USA) 0:17:44

83      Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) 0:23:51

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson