Basso: It was a good day

Ivan Basso faced his first big Giro d'Italia in today's fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia and he passed it as he made it to the finish with the best. With a rainy descent and an explosive finale, it was not a day for him to make a move and so it was a good day for Cannondale that also saw Elia Viviani take over the points jersey.

The Giro d’Italia’s 204km ride from Taranto to Viggiano introduced the first real hills of this year’s Giro. The verticals found on Stage Five are small mountains that demand the small chain ring, though not terribly steep. The race finishes with two five-kilometer climbs to Viggiano; where the peloton will see its first for a King of the Mountain sprint, then again for the finish.

Cannondale Pro Cycling wanted to get points in the points competition for Elia Viviani, so he could pull on the red jersey of points leader. And they wanted to shelter Ivan Basso so he’d be ready for all attacks on the final climbs.

Viviani got himself into the early move of eleven riders escaping the peloton in the opening kilometers of the race. His goal was winning the points sprint, 70km into the day. In the group of eleven, he was joined by fellow sprinters Ben Swift of Sky and Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Sharp. The group went into the sprint at Montalbano Jonco, and Swift barely edged Viviani and Farrar. But the points gained put Viviani in the jersey, provided Swift didn’t win the stage, one of the British rider’s goal for this Giro.

Sprint over, the break continued on. The eleven split up on the first KoM climb, then regrouped on the descent. They lost motivation and most were reabsorbed with 23km remaining and the last absorbed just before Viggiano was summited for the first time.

On the slippery descent, Omega Pharma’s Gianluca Brambilla attacked, and quickly gained 30 seconds. He was both going for himself and potentially setting up his teammate Rigoberto Uran for a counter-attack. The stage win and nine seconds would put him in pink.

But Katusha, riding for Joaquim Rodriguez wanted their man to win the day and start erasing his deficit, clawed back Brambilla.

But the effort worked in Lampre-Merida’s favor. Their man Diego Ulissi got a free ride and a leadout from a teammate to win the day. Third place went to BMC’s Cadel Evans, who moved within fifteen seconds of Michael Matthews Pink Jersey. Basso finished 24th, on the same time with Evans for the day, moving up to twelfth overall, 1:07 down on the lead.

Viviani’s ride got the result the team wanted. He pulled on the Red Jersey as Points leader after the stage. Wearing the jersey, he said, 

“The disappointment of yesterday became a push this morning to try something to take the jersey. I had no aims for a stage win; I knew the finale was too hard, but I was motivated for intermediate sprint. I’m not a rider who gives up – I wanted prove how determined I am.”

Basso, ever the sage veteran, was satisfied with his result.

“This was not the stage to shake the classification, but you have always to be focused. The rhythm in the finale was high. I kept at the front of the race to avoid any risks, especially on the final descent. It was a good day, another step.”

Stage Six of this year’s Giro travels 247km from Sassanno to Monetcassino. As the name suggests, Montecassino is at the end of a climb. And it’s a pretty hard one, a second-category hill. Cannondale will again work for Viviani to set him up for points at the intermediate sprint in Maddaloni, then put Basso in good position on Montecassino.