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2011 Giro d’Italia, Stage 14. Yes, it was yesterday. I’ve been busy. And, I haven’t seen a video of today’s action online yet. I’m sure it will be available a mere 10 minutes after I type this. We’re a day late and a dollar short around these parts.
The 28-year-old Basque climber rode up the narrow funnel of asphalt up one of Europe’s steepest roads Saturday to deliver a dramatic victory at the Giro d’Italia and climb into contention for the final podium. Thousands of rabid tifosi cheered his winning surge with 7km to go as he soloed home a 33-second victory ahead of Alberto Contador, and nudged into third overall at 3:21 back.
“You’re so concentrated in a climb like that. It’s a beautiful sensation. You can’t hear a thing. The tifosi were cheering so loudly. I wanted to know how far ahead I was, whether it was 10 meters or 1 minute, but it was impossible,” Antón said of climbing the 22-percent steeps of the Zoncolan. “It was pure suffering, pure hell, but here I am at the Giro, riding at the front as a protagonist. It was beautiful.”
Video of finale:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xityi5Also check out: 2011 Giro d’Italia stage 14 photos by Graham Watson, and 2011 Giro d’ Italia Zoncolan.
They booed Contador at the top. Really. Apparently they blamed him, at least in part, for the removal of the Crostis climb. I can understand the hesitancy of the race organizers to include such a road (if you can call it a road) following the death of Wouter Weylandt in stage 3.
We can be such a bunch of dicks, we fans of professional cycling. We expect so much. Maybe too much. Today, on State 15, this plucky young man got to run along his hero, undoubtedly voicing his unwaivering support. And by “support,” I pretty much mean, “four foot long syringe.”
Image source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/giro-ditalia-his/stage-15/photos/175227.
You win some, you lose some, then your friends rat you out on 60 Minutes.
So it goes.
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I admit I’ve been one of those guys always laughing at Euskatel. They’re the guys causing crashing in feed zones and stuff. Well, who’s laughing now? Those guys are BRINGING IT.
…“It was pure suffering, pure hell, but here I am at the Giro, riding at the front as a protagonist. It was beautiful.”…
…that comment by the basque, igor anton is the reason we’re all still fans of this sport…
…the lying, the cheating, the drug taking, the hyperbole, the bullshit all gets overlooked when a man can work his ass off for hours on a bike & then say “…pure suffering, pure hell…it was beautiful….”…
…wow…major props…
I dunno. All the peds in the world, and it still comes down to suffering. I don’t care what money decides, cycling is what I love. Dope or not. Viva el dopistas!
BGW +1
It’s kinda rare that a pro athlete demonstrates grace with words like that statement bgw quoted.
Doping is dead. Long live doping.
Now I’m not sure they booed Alberto because he got the course change, or race organizers for not announcing the change until 9:30 the night before which lead to lots of folks not knowing about the change and making their way up that climb to watch, only to find out that the race isn’t coming or maybe they were booing Alberto for wearing the pink jersey knowing he will be giving it back in month or maybe the UCI for the misshandling of the entire Alberto affair. But it seems to me there is no shortage of reasons to boo.