After the first rest day, the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2011 was destined to be won by a sprinter and for the first time in this Tour of Italy, Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Highroad) was able to seize the occasion.

The summary of the 10th stage: Termoli > Teramo

The stage between Termoli and Teramo which took place today went along the coast line for about 140 kilometers before going landwards towards the finish at 159 kilometers from the start. With an almost completely flat profile, this stage could only be won by a sprinter!

Right from the first kilometer, Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Fumiyuki Beppu broke away, with Yuriy Krivtsov chasing behind them. When the rider of the AG2R La Mondiale team joined them, their gap on the peloton was already up to 6 minutes and that's the sign for Team HTC-Highroad to get in front of the peloton in order to reduce this gap. However, even though it initially goes down to 3'42" at 85 kilometers from the finish, it's progressively going up again to values around 4'30" afterwards.
Team HTC-Highroad however decided not to give up its efforts and progressively wins back terrain on the three riders leading the race. When they turn left to go landinwards, Team Saxo Bank-Sungard of the pink jersey Alberto Contador joins the American team in its effort and at 11 kilometers from the finish what should happen happens and the leading group is taken back.

While Team Sky and HTC-Highroad get ready for their trains to bring their own sprinters to the finish, David Millar (Team Garmin-Cervélo) decides to attack solo at about 3 kilometers from the finish.
When taken back by the peloton which is going high speed, the different teams get ready for a bunch sprint. After an abandoned try by Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step) at 450 meters from the finish, we first see Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team) who accused Mark Cavendish of having been dragged by a car in the Etna stage the day before the rest day in order to finish in time.

The Spanish rider doesn't manage to keep up the effort over such a long distance and it's thus up to Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) to launch the sprint, looking for his second victory in this Giro. He didn't however count on Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Highroad), who was sitting in his wheel and got over the Italian rider in the last 100 meters and than simply won the sprint! The English rider who was expecting to have 5 opportunities to win in a sprint in this Giro d'Italia 2011 must be very happy to have finally won one! Francisco Ventoso finally finishes second, ahead of Petacchi.

Mark Cavendish' comment

After the finish, Mark Cavendish declared: Winning in Italy is massively important for me.
It's where I took my first ever Grand Tour stage win and I was disappointed not to win in Parma, because this is one of my favorite races, really close to my heart.

I suffered badly in the mountain stages, but I wanted to get through in order to keep winning here.

The video summary of the 10th stage of the Tour of Italy 2011

If you would like to see the images of the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2011 between Termoli and Teramo, you can do so with the below video!

The classifications after the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2011

The classification of the 10th stage: Termoli > Teramo

Here's the top 5 of this stage:

1/ Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Highroad) - 4h00'49"
2/ Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team)
3/ Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD)
4/ Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli)
5/ Davide Appollonio (Team Sky)

The general classification after the 10th stage

No changes in the general classification after this stage:

1/ Alberto Contador (Team Saxo Bank-Sungard) - 37h04'40"
2/ Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Team HTC-Highroad) - +0'59"
3/ Christophe Le Mével (Team Garmin-Cervélo) - +1'19"
4/ Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) - +1'21"
5/ Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) - +1'28"

The classification by points

Thanks to his 3rd place in this stage, Alessandro Petacchi takes over the lead in this classification.

1/ Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) - 80 points
2/ Alberto Contador (Team Saxo Bank-Sungard) - 65
3/ Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team) - 56
4/ Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli) - 56
5/ Christophe Le Mével (Team Garmin-Cervélo) - 53

The King of the Mountains classification

The only 4th category difficulty early in the stage today didn't have any influence on the top 5 of the King of the Mountains classification:

1/ Filippo Savini (Colnago-CSF Inox) - 16 points
2/ Alberto Contador (Team Saxo Bank-Sungard) - 15
3/ Bart de Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 11
4/ Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) - 10
5/ Federico Canuti (Colnago-CSF Inox) - 9

Best young rider classification

The top 5 of the best young rider classification also remains unchanged:

1/ Roman Kreuziger (Astana) - 37h06'21"
2/ Francesco Masciarelli (Astana) - +1'08"
3/ Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) - +1'15"
4/ Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) - +1'34"
5/ Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - +4'10"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Giro d Italia | Giro d'Italia 2011

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