CYCLING:Former mountain biker Ryder Hesjedal took a big step towards becoming Canada's first winner of a Grand Tour yesterday when he cut Giro d'Italia leader Joaquim Rodriguez's overall advantage to 17 seconds.
Grimacing with pain as he pulled free of his rivals on the relentlessly steep final, 7.7-km ascent of Alpe di Pampeago, Hesjedal (31) finished 19 seconds down on lone winner Ronan Kreuziger of the Czech Republic, with Rodriguez third, at 32 seconds.
“This was the day the other contenders were supposed to drop Ryder, and Ryder ended up dropping us,” Spaniard Rodriguez reflected to reporters with a rueful grin after the arduous, 198km mountain stage.
While Kreuziger took his first Giro stage win by attacking on the fourth of five classified climbs, Hesjedal’s late attack, 1.5kms from the finish, was enough to go clear of all the other big contenders.
Italian Michele Scarponi’s lone pursuit of the Canadian allowed him to leapfrog double Giro winner Ivan Basso into third place, one minute 39 seconds back.The Giro finishes tomorrow with an individual time trial through the streets of Milan.
