Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) has won just about every major mountain climb in Spain, including a stage victory in the 2004 Vuelta a España, but the veteran Italian climbing specialist had never won in the Giro d’Italia.

Piepoli, 34, has spent much of his 12-year career racing in Spain and all of his wins since 1999 have come on Spanish roads. The featherweight Italian changed that with an emphatic victory in Saturday’s rainy and cold 13th stage over the Colle San Carlo high in the Italian Alps.

Piepoli was the only rider strong enough to follow Ivan Basso (CSC) when he turned on the turbos on the steep 10.5km climb to tighten his grip on the maglia rosa with a week left of racing.

With the top contenders fighting to limit the bleeding in Basso’s wake, Piepoli dropped the cautious pink jersey on the perilous six-kilometer descent to claim his first Giro stage of his career.
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Piepoli and Basso were the day’s big winners in the second incursion into the mountains in this year’s Giro. The losses were significant among the overall challengers, who now seem to settling into a war for the remaining podium spots.

The day’s biggest loser was the diminutive José Rujano (Selle Italia-Diquigiovanni), who attacked early on the final climb but mysteriously abandoned the Giro just three kilometers from the finish line.

Last year, Rujano lit up the Giro a stage-win and third-place overall, but got caught up in a nasty contract dispute between Selle Italia and Quick Step, which he is set to join June 1.

“José said he was feeling badly and that he couldn’t brake and that he wanted to stop,” team manager Gianni Savio told TuttoSport. “His withdrawal is even a mystery to me.”

On a day when all eyes would be on Basso, Piepoli was given freedom to chase the win and wasn’t forced to wait for team captain Gilberto Simoni. Piepoli was forced to hold back to help Simoni in stage eight, but he had the green light and made the most of it to dedicate the victory to a friend who died racing on these same roads.

“I am very happy to win this stage because this is where my friend Diego Pellegrini lost his life 13 years ago,” Piepoli said. “It was on these same roads in the Giro della Valle d’Aosta when he died and he was only 21 years old. This victory is for him and his father, who is a big fan of racing and whom I am sure will be happy with this victory.”

Basso took no chances on the wet and twisting 400-meter zig-zagging drop off the snow-covered San Carlo summit and rolled across the line 44 seconds slower than Piepoli.

“I am truly satisfied. I’ve made another good race,” Basso said. “It was too cold (on the descent) and I decided not to risk anything, but I am very pleased with how things turned out.”

José Enrique Gutiérrez (Phonak) continued to show surprising resilience and caught the wheel of two-time Giro champ Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval) on the upper reaches of the climb to top out at 1:24 back. The pair risked all on the descent and trimmed the difference to Basso by 35 seconds, good enough to keep Gutiérrez in second place while Simoni jumped up to fifth at 8:00 back.
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With his lead now at 3:27 to Gutiérrez, Basso didn’t need to risk a fall. With the fearsome Plan de Corones and the Motirolo looming next week, the Italian takes comfort knowing that he’s been able to carve out important gaps in both of the serious climbs the Giro has faced so far.

Team CSC set a brutal pace topping 50kph on the flat run up to the climb to reel in a six-man breakaway. In the break were: Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre), Jose Serpa (Selle Italia), Christian Knees (Milram), Benoit Poilvet (Credit Agricole), Olivier Bonnaire (Bouygues), Jose Julia Cegarra (Caisse d'Epargne). Bruseghin was the best-placed at 12:50, but they never got more than six minutes’ head-start and Bruseghin and Serpa were the last two standing when Basso and Co. reeled them in.

Once on the Colle San Carlos, Iñigo Cuesta and then Carlos Sastre took turns on the lower flanks to soften up the bunch. Rujano made a half-hearted move before Basso made the decisive attack after coming through a brutally steep section with 15 percent grades with about 7km to go up the climb.

Only Piepoli could grab the wheel, which is where he stayed as Basso set the tempo all the way up the climb before Piepoli snuck past to grab the points at the summit and then drop like a rock toward victory.

If Basso looked untouchable, his rivals struggled up the cold and wet climb, the first of a string of brutal climbs the Giro survivors are set to face in the coming week.

Defending champion Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) slipped but he was able to recovery some lost terrain on the backside of the climb thanks to his unequalled descending skills.

Savoldelli remained in third place overall, but lost 2:36, along with 2004 Giro champion Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital), and slipped to 5:30 back.

Cunego and Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) both forfeited more time and saw their chances of a podium look more unlikely. Cunego is now eighth overall, but almost nine minutes in arrears while Di Luca sunk to ninth at 10:36 back.

Cunego, for one, has already conceded he won’t be winning this year’s Giro.

“It was truly a hard stage and now I’ve given up too much to try to win the Giro,” he said. “I had a bad day and now I have to be patient. There remains some very difficult stages and maybe something can turn around.”

Race NotesBefore the stage, three-time world time trial champion Michael Rogers (T-Mobile) pulled the plug on his Giro after suffering from a tooth ache, his team said. Rogers was using the Giro to ride into shape ahead of July’s Tour de France. Ukrainian teammate Serguei Honchar decided to push on despite crashing in Friday’s 12th stage.Others not taking the start were Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), who left the Giro with three stage wins in his pocket, while Marcos Serrano (Liberty Seguros-Wurth) was the third rider on the day not starting. Not finishing were Tomas Vaitkus (Ag2r) and Rujano.In the other major classifications, Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) remains on top of the points standings with 86 points, but Savoldelli is getting close with 79. Basso also leads the mountains competition with 21, but Piepoli nudged up to fourth with 10. Discovery Channel remains atop the heap in the team standings.

The Big 7
With 13 of 21 stages in the books, here’s a look at how the top seven contenders rank in the General Classification in the chase for this year’s overall Giro d’Italia title. Last year Paolo Savoldelli topped Gilberto Simoni by just 28 seconds in the final overall standings.

1. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 44:31:52
2. Jose Gutierrez (Phonak), at at 3:27
3. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery, at 5:30
5. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, at 8:00
8. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, at 8:58
9. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 10:36
17. Jose Rujano (Ven), Selle Italia, DNF

The North Americans
With 12 of 21 stages in the books, here’s a look at the overall rankings for the seven North Americansracing in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

7. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel, at 8:35
95. Patrick McCarty (USA), Phonak, 1:05:41
91. Julio Perez (Mex), Panaria, at 49:31
138. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 1:39:15
147. Peter Mazur* (Pol), Saunier Duval, at 1:19:47
151. Moises Chavez (Mex), Panaria, at 1:40:29
169. Aaron Olsen (USA), Saunier Duval, at 1:51:45
172. Jason Mccartney (USA), Discovery Channel, at 1:55:07

*A reader recently reminded us that Mazur is a Canadian racing with a Polish license, so what the heck, we'll include him, too.

The road ahead - Stage 14
This 218km stage has received scant publicity in a race that contains so many mountains, but in other times it would be classified as one of the more challenging. After crossing the Great St, Bernard Pass (via the tunnel just under the summit), the stage descends into Switzerland for a long run up the Rhône Valley to Brig, where the riders face the well-engineered but difficult Simplon Pass. This climbs for 20km at 6.6 percent, with a maximum pitch of 12 percent. The summit may be 46km from the finish - but more than 40km of that is fast downhill. Once again, an early break has a chance of surviving.

Results-Stage 13
1. Leonardo Piepoli (I), Saunier Duval, 5:21:12
2. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, at 0:44
3. José E. Gutierrez Cataluna (Sp), Phonak, at 1:19
4. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, at 1:19
5. Michele Scarponi (I), Liberty Seguros, at 2:09
6. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 2:09
7. John Gadret (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, at 2:13
8. Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (MEX), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, at 2:18
9. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, at 2:36
10. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, at 2:36

Overall after stage 13
1. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 49:53:36
2. José E.Gutierrez Cataluna (Sp), Phonak, at 3:27
3. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, at 5:30
4. Wladimir Belli (I), Colombia - Selle Italia, at 7:35
5. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saunier Duval, at 8:00
6. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 8:14
7. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel, at 8:35
8. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, at 8:58
9. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 10:36
10. Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col), Phonak, at 11:12

Overall Points
1. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Innergetic, 86 Pts.
2. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 79 Pts.
3. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 78 Pts.
4. Gutierrez Cataluna José E. (Sp), Phonak, 76 Pts.
5. Olaf Pollack (G), T-Mobile, 68 Pts.
6. Stefan Schumacher (G), Gerolsteiner, 46 Pts.
7. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 43 Pts.
8. Joan Horrach Rippoll (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 39 Pts.
9. Leonardo Duque (Col), Cofidis, 36 Pts.
10. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), T-Mobile, 36 Pts.

Overall KOM
1. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 21 Pts.
2. Staf Scheirlinckx (B), Cofidis, 13 Pts.
3. Gutierrez Cataluna José E. (Sp), Phonak, 13 Pts.
4. Leonardo Piepoli (I), Saunier Duval, 10 Pts.
5. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 10 Pts.
6. Manuel Juan Manuel (Sp), Quick Step-Innergetic, 9 Pts.
7. Fortunato Baliani (I), Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, 8 Pts.
8. Sandy Casar (F), Francaise des Jeux, 7 Pts.
9. Rik Verbrugghe (B), Cofidis, 5 Pts.
10. Sylvain Calzati (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 5 Pts.
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