2014 has been a year of changeovers for the big names in the sport of cycling, with many up-and-coming riders and underdogs taking the place of the usual well-established stars. This year’s Giro d’Italia wasn’t an exception, and the finale, as well as the closing three stages, saw even more young riders take their chances and make cycling history.
Pirazzi takes stage 17, with attitude
Stage 17 ran from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto, and resulted in Stefano Pirazzi crossing the finish line first whilst throwing an offensive arm gesture.
“It wasn’t a nice gesture, I’m sorry, forgive me,” said Pirazzi . “But it’s been five years of anger, five years of criticism. As the days went by, my moral was going down. I was here to get this victory finally, that was the target.
“I was unleashing all that. Five years of criticism is a lot for a young guy. I really had to deal with a lot. Today I reached a goal that I wanted since I was a young boy watching the Giro. I’m very happy. I’ll enjoy it and never forget this moment.”
Pirazzi finished 15:36 ahead of the peloton as he managed to stay in front off the back of the breakaway and burn out Tim Wellens and Jay McCarthy. The win obviously meant a lot for Pirazzi, and will give him more confidence and belief in his ability as a top competitor.
Image courtesy of Velonews
Nairo Quintana stays ahead in stage 18 as Julian Arredondo crosses the line
Quintana managed to retain the General Classification lead in stage 18, as he finished ahead of previous maglia rosa holder Rigoberto Uran, giving him a lead time of 1:41. Cadel Evans, the pink jersey owner before Uran, ended up dropping back to ninth place. He was ‘sniped’ off by Pierre Rolland, who picked off the Australian to take third place. From there on in Evans just kept being overtaken again and again.
Stage 18 results:
1 Julian Arredondo (Col) – Trek Factory Racing (4:49:51)
2 Fabio Duarte (Col) – Colombia, +17
3 Philip Deignan (Ire) – Team Sky, +37
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) – Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela, +1:20
5 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) – Bardiani-CSF, +1:24
6 Thomas de Gendt (Bel) – Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, +1:38
7 Ivan Basso (Ita) – Cannondale, +1:43
8 Dario Cataldo (Ita) – Team Sky, +1:59
9 Fabio Aru (Ita) – Astana, +2:43
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) – Movistar, +2:46
Stages 19 – 21: Quintana can’t stop
The diminutive Colombian cyclist is now the winner of the Giro d’Italia 2014, and the undisputed holder of the maglia rosa for another 12 months. With such a phenomenal effort and win from the Movistar rider, we’ll let the video highlights do the talking.
In the final three stages of the Giro d’Italia, Quintana won the event with true spirit and glory. In stage 19 he finished first, 17 seconds ahead of Fabio Aru.
In stage 20, Quintana was almost certain of taking overall glory at the final stage, unless he had a major slip up, which luckily he didn’t:Stage 21, the stage finale, was a moment of blazing glory for Quintana as he took the maglia Rosa for the final time. Thanks for keeping up-to-date with the Giro d’Italia 2014 here at ProBikeKit, keep reading for our nutrition series, Tour de France: la retrospective series and much more.
