One of the many traditions of the Giro d’Italia is a press release from Gianni Savio’s Androni Giocattoli team on the Monday after the race, which proudly announces the total number of kilometres his riders have spent off the front over the previous three weeks.
Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) may want to consider performing a tally of his own this year, after another day of aggression on stage 18 moved him up one more place in the overall standings (he now sits in ninth place) and set him up for further gains in the next two days in the Alps.
When Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) bounded clear at the foot of the first category Monte Ologno with some 45 kilometres to race, the assumption was that the Spaniard would not be seen again until the finish on the other side of the mountain in Verbania.
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Even after second-placed Mikel Landa (Astana), who crashed before the climb, re-joined the group of podium contenders, they were unable to make any significant inroads into Contador’s lead, yet Hejsedal was somehow able to claw his way back to within sight of the maglia rosa on the approach to the summit.
“He went pretty early but I settled in a little bit just to see what the other guys were doing,” Hesjedal said afterwards. “Then I figured I’d go as well. [Kenny] Elissonde from FDJ got on my wheel but I just rode him off my wheel and then I could see Alberto there, so I just locked in on him and didn’t worry about what was happening behind. I was happy with that.”
From the television images, it initially seemed as if Contador had the freedom of the mountain as he neared the top, and it came as something of a surprise when race radio announced that Hesjedal was now just 10 seconds behind him. Shortly afterwards, however, a bearded figure in lime green appeared in the background of the shot, and he made contact as they crested the summit.
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