The second mountain stage of the 2005 Giro d'Italia created a new world order, as 2002 champion Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) displaced Ivan Basso at the top of the leaderboard, and now leads the race by almost a minute from his two closest competitors.
Featuring three Cat. 1 mountains over a 218 kilometre-long parcours and over 5,000 metres of vertical climbing, Stage 13 was one for the climbers. However, it was an early breakaway that won the day, as Selle Italia-Colombia's Ivan Parra countered a move from team-mate and mountains leader Jose Rujano on the final climb to Pontives, and stayed away to take the biggest win of his career.
"I am very grateful [my team manager] Gianni Savio gave me the opportunity to be here at the Giro," said an emotional Parra, who held up a picture of his son as he crossed the line in Ortisei yesterday. "I am happy because this victory is the most important of my career, and also because I won in front of my wife and son."
Added Selle Italia-Colombia's directtore sportivo Savio to Cyclingnews: "I am very happy that my team, a small team that is invited as one of only two wildcards, can win one of the biggest and most important stages of the Giro.
"I am also happy for Ivan and Jose [Rujano], who rode very well for third and continues to wear the green jersey of best climber. We work very hard - all year round, I work very hard and the Giro is the event that is most important to our team. I am very proud."
Basso, seemingly invincible on Stage 11, was seen labouring on his bike almost the entire stage, and didn't have the legs to respond to the numerous attacks thrown at him - including Savoldelli's. Despite having the best team around him that lead him to the foot of the final climb, Dave Zabriskie in particular doing an sterling job for his team captain, the 27 year-old Team CSC rider finished five minutes behind Parra, and is now second on the classifica generale.
Previous maglia rosa Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi), who continues to impress, finished 11th on the stage and is just three seconds behind Basso in third overall. The Lampre duo of Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego attempted a two-up break on an earlier climb of the Passo di Sella, but strong team riding from CSC brought them back, with Simoni eventually finishing 10th, just ahead of Di Luca, and is now fourth on GC.
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