First Swiss stage victory in the Giro d'Italia since Alex Zülle in 1998: Johann Tschopp wins the sprint on the cima coppi (the rooftop) of this Tour of Italy before giving everything he has in the descent to be able to start the final climb with a big enough gap to win the stage. A surprise attack by Cadel Evans allows the World Champion to take the second place, ahead of Ivan Basso who keeps his pink jersey before the final time trial tomorrow in the streets of Verona.

The summary of the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010

Yet another mountain stage in the Giro d'Italia 2010 today, from Bormio to Ponte di Legno-Tonale over a distance of 178 kilometers with the climbs of the Forcola di Livigno, the Passo di Eira, the Passo di Foscagno, the rooftop of the Tour of Italy: Passo di Gavia and the mountain top finish in Ponte di Legno-Tonale.

The visit of the Gavia was still not sure this morning but the Tour of Italy organiser has finally decided not to cut off this Giro d'Italia of its cima coppi, thanks to the good weather conditions.

All riders who finished the stage yesterday, 144, came to the start earlier this afternoon. After about 15 kilometers a leading group is formed by José Serpa and Cameron Wurf (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni), Andriy Grivko and Gorazd Stangelj (Astana), Damien Gaudin (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Xabier Zandio (Caisse d'Epargne), Julien Fouchard (Cofidis), Dan Martin (Garmin-Transitions), Daniele Righi (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo), Mauro Facci (Quick Step), Pieter Weening (Rabobank) and Laurent Didier (Team Saxo Bank), but they're quickly neutralised, except for Dan Martin (photo).

19 chasing riders join the Irish rider: Francesco Failli (Acqua & Sapone), Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale), again José Serpa and Cameron Wurf (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni), Gorazd Stangelj (Astana), Thomas Voeckler and Johann Tschopp (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Xabier Zandio (Caisse d'Epargne), Marcel Wyss (Cervélo TestTeam), David Moncoutié and Julien Fouchard for Cofidis, Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox), Damiano Cunego and Daniele Righi (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Pieter Weening (Rabobank), Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia), Evgeni Petrov (Katusha Team) and Laurent Didier (Team Saxo Bank).
In the climb of the Forcola di Livigno they get company from Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) and Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Farnese Vini) and while some riders drop back to the peloton, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) joins them as well in the leading group.

Matthew Lloyd shows he deserves the green jersey he wears as the second placed rider in the King of the Mountains classification behind the pink jersey Ivan Basso (Liquigas) by getting first on the top of the Forcola di Livigno, ahead of Pirazzi and Didier (the pink jersey peloton follows 1'40" later), and by doing the same on the top of the Passo di Eira where he's followed by Wyss and Sastre.

In the climb of the Passo di Focagno, Stefano Pirazzi attacks from the leading group and gets first on top, 50 seconds ahead of Matthew Lloyd, Wyss and the other leading riders and 1'45" ahead of the group with the pink jersey. Lloyd thus takes back "his" green jersey as the new leader in the King of the Mountains classification.

The climb towards the rooftop of this Tour of Italy, the Passo di Gavia, than starts and David Moncoutié and Gilberto Simoni attack in this climb. A few minutes later they get company from Alexandre Vinokourov and Johann Tschopp and a bit later from Marco Pinotti and Matthew Lloyd, while David Moncoutié is losing contact.
At 5 kilometers from the top, Gilberto Simoni attacks and Johann Tschopp is the only who can follow him. These two riders are still leading at the top, the cima coppi of this Giro d'Italia 2010, and Johann Tschopp wins the sprint to arrive first on top. In the descent, the Swiss rider gets a solo lead since Simoni is taken back by Vinokourov, Pinotti and Sastre. It than becomes clear that he's highly motivated to try and get the stage victory, because he takes some risks in the descent to win some precious seconds on the riders chasing behind him.

In the final climb, a group of Gilberto Simoni with Vladimir Karpets (Katusha Team), Alexandre Vinokourov and Daniele Righi is chasing on him, followed a bit further by Carlos Sastre and Marco Pinotti and than by the peloton led by the Liquigas guys and including Ivan Basso and David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne).

At 6 kilometers from the finish, the gap of Tschopp on Karpets, Vinokourov and Righi (Simoni has been taken back by Sastre and Pinotti in the mean time before losing ground on these two riders as well and dropping back to the pink jersey group) is about 1 minute when Alexandre Vinokourov attacks, followed by Righi.

3 kilometers further, when Sastre and Pinotti are taken back by the group with the pink jersey, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) attacks from this group, hoping he can win back some precious seconds for the general classification. In one kilometer he gets back on Vinokourov and Righi before continuing his chase towards Tschopp. Scarponi, Nibali and Basso also get back on Vinokourov and a bit later on Righi.

The videos of the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010

>> Watch the images of the last kilometer of the stage Bormio > Ponte di Legno-Tonale

>> Watch the video summary of the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010

The classifications after the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2010

The stage classification for Bormio > Ponte di Legno-Tonale

1/ Johann Tschopp (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 5h26'47" (32,865 km/h)
2/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - +0'16"
3/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - +0'25"
4/ Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni)
5/ David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) - +0'41"
6/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) - +0'43"
7/ John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) - +0'48"
8/ Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) - +0'50"
9/ Daniele Righi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - +0'57"
10/ Vasil Kyryienka (Caisse d'Epargne) - +1'02"

General classification

The night before the final individual time trial of this Giro d'Italia 2010 Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) comforts his first place in the general classification even more. Only Cadel Evans managed to take back a few seconds, but that'll not be enough for him to start dreaming about winning this Tour of Italy.

1/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - 87h23'00"
2/ David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) - +1'15"
3/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) - +2'56"
4/ Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - +2'57"
5/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - +3'47"
6/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - +7'25"
7/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - +7'31"
8/ Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) - +8'55"
9/ Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas-Doimo) - +14'06"
10/ Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) - +15'00"

Classification by points

Thanks to his second place in today's stage, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) reconfirms his first place in the classification by points. Ivan Basso's (Liquigas-Doimo) third place allows the Italian rider to also take the 3rd place in this classification:

1/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 136 points
2/ Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - 112 points
3/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - 104 points
4/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) - 104 points
5/ Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - 103 points

King of the Mountains classification

Thanks to his first places on top of the first climbs of the day, Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) officially takes back his green jersey after having worn it today while he was second in the King of the Mountains classification since Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) was already wearing the pink jersey.

Thanks to his first place on top of the Passo di Gavia and at the finish, Johann Tschopp (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) quickly climbs up in this classification to make his entry in the top 5 directly on the 3rd place:

1/ Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 56 points
2/ Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) - 41 points
3/ Johann Tschopp (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 38 points
4/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 35 points
5/ Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli-Diquigiovanni) - 25 points

Best young rider classification

No changes in the top 5 of the best young rider classification; except for 3 days, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) will have been in the white jersey during this whole Giro d'Italia 2010:

1/ Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) - 87h30'25"
2/ Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas-Doimo) - +6'41"
3/ Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) - +11'44"
4/ Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) - +29'48"
5/ Francis de Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - +41'12"

photo Ivan Basso in the general classification: at the Tour of California 2009, by richardmasoner under the Creative Commons license

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Giro d Italia | Giro d'Italia 2010

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