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Contador, Di Luca and Ricco and the mountain

31 May 2008 | 07:20 - By Mike Tomalaris

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One mountain, one time-trial and 21 seconds separates the Giro's top contenders from glory.

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What a Giro this is turning out to be!

Only 21 seconds separates the top three riders and it's the likely suspects who are challenging for the pink jersey.

Full credit must go to Danilo Di Luca today - he is a fighter in every sense of the word.

His drive and determination to take time off Alberto Contador and Riccardo Ricco was incredible.

It all paid off as the "Killer" sits on the heels of both rivals with the final mountain stage to come followed by the time trial in Milan for the finish.

Today we saw the Di Luca of old. It was the first time he delivered the form for which he is famous.

It wasn't the Di Luca who seemingly bombed out on the mountain time trial on the incredibally steep Plan de Corones earlier in the week.

The time he lost on Monday he more than made up in the Alps today.

But if the Giro is to be decided in the race-against-the-clock, will the "Killer" be able to challenge Contador and Ricco?

To his credit he's no slouch in the time trial.

Last year Di Luca was seventh behind TT winner Paolo Savoledelli in the equivalent event.

If you want my honest opinion, I still can't see Contador losing this race despite its closeness.

For the most part today, the Spaniard had plenty of support from his Astana teammates who appeared to last the distance longer than Di Luca's lieutenants who dropped off the decisive climbs much earlier.

Despite trailing behind his challengers, he always looked comfortable and wasn't prepared to take risks in the dodgy conditions.

Above all, I feel Contador will "blow allcomers away" in the the last-day TT.

Remember the exciting Tour de France TT last year when Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer made him fight for every second before he went on to win the event?

You probably can tell I have a liking for Contador - always have since he first rose to prominence at the Tour Down Under as a member of the Liberty Seguros team a few years back and of course, that famous victory on the Champs Elysees last year.

Twenty-one seconds between three brilliant and powerful riders may not seem much to some, but when Contador has control of procedings (as he does), the four seconds may as well be four minutes - he'll be hard to catch!

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Comments (8)

02 Jun 2008 8:39 AEST

cobra

From: monaco

ITT videos

To see the videos go to the top menu - choose Watch Video. From the drop down menu click News and Current Affairs. Then choose World News Australia (in Blue). To the right of this page you can choose the Cycling Tab. Here are all the videos. The time trial ones are down the bottom. SBS - this is extremely convoluted and difficult to find. Surely the Giro deserves it's own page..

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01 Jun 2008 20:14 AEST

Wing Commander Spodlington

From: South West Rocks

Time Trial Video

WTF?? Where's the time trial video????

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31 May 2008 16:28 AEST

Chook

From: Neutral Bay

Video Location

You will find last night's stage and all the Giro videos if you go to: WATCH VIDEO in the top menu bar > WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA > CYCLING...

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31 May 2008 12:51 AEST

Ben

From: Melbourne

Last night

the LPR team. Hopefully Ricco can take some courage pills tonight and go for home much earlier. He, and Di Luca, will need to put some good time into Contador if they are any chance of holding him off... When was the last time someone won a GT without winning a stage, let alone launching a decisive attack?

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31 May 2008 12:49 AEST

Ben

From: Melbourne

Last night

"For the most part today, the Spaniard had plenty of support from his Astana teammates who appeared to last the distance longer than Di Luca's lieutenants who dropped off the decisive climbs much earlier." Surely you jest? Di Luca had 2 men with him... ahead of the main group!! Last night was one of the best stages I have ever seen. I am not a big Di Luca fan, but found myself urging him on and yelling abuse at Sella through the TV for towing Contador up the final climb. Beautiful tactics by

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31 May 2008 11:46 AEST

Blair

From: Sydney

Video

SBS You constantly blab on about your online service, but where is it? I culdn't see the highlights this morning and I can't see it on the website - not on SBS!!!

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31 May 2008 10:37 AEST

stevefunk

From: west perth

video

yeah where is the video coverage? i had a lie in this morning and missed it on t.v. hopefully i`ll try and watch it live on the eurosport webstream tonight, if i can get it to work

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31 May 2008 9:27 AEST

Harry Potter

From: Hogwartz

Please put video on like all the others

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About this Blog

Stay in touch with the ProTour road cycling season with SBS's cycling blog, featuring race reports, video highlights and blog coverage of every race of 2008, as well as details of SBS's racing coverage

Mike Tomalaris is SBS's cycling presenter, who has covered the Tour de France for 12 years. Mike is a keen cyclist himself, and covers a few hundred kilometres a week in a social weekend bunch ride. For cycling fans around Australia, Mike Tomalaris is cycling.