Konovalovas Takes Giro Final TT; Menchov Locks Up Overall

Cervelo TestTeam's Ignatas Konovalovas, the Lithuanian national time trial champion, took the 21st and final stage of the 2009 centennial edition of the Giro d'Italia. 

Rain made its appearance on the course in Rome today, and made the going tricky for many riders on the TT course's tight corners and cobbled sections of pavement.

Konovalovas was one of the first riders to set off.  The riders, as in all time trials, started in reverse order of the general classification, with the last-placed riders starting first and race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) starting last on his route to victory.

Luckily for the Lithuanian, he raced on dry roads.  The rain came during the middle of the stage, but it started to move out by the time Menchov made it onto the road.

Interestingly for equipment choices, many riders were not using disc wheels in back.  The 14.4-kilometer course through Rome had roughly 30 tight corners and a very slight uphill section. 

Riders may have been thinking that they did not want to have the weight of a disc wheel in back so that they could accelerate more quickly coming out of the many corners.

The racing for the stage win happened very early.  When the day ended, in terms of the stage win, the winner Konovalovas (Cervelo), second-placed Bradley Wiggins (Garmin), and third-placed Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) all raced on dry roads and could keep a higher average speed than riders who started later and had to ride in the rain.

The Lithuanian winner won in a time of 18:42, averaging a very high 46.2 kph on the twisty, hilly course.

The real drama was taking place behind the eventual stage winners.

GC runner-up Danilo DiLuca (LPR-Brakes) was in a tight race on the road with leader Denis Menchov. 

Menchov had a 20-second advantage going into the stage and was the superior time-triallist of the two, so he looked to have the win locked up, barring disaster.

Other GC contenders such as Levi Leipheimer (Astana), a time-trial specialist by nature, failed to impress, chose to go conservatively around the corners, and slotted only into 27th place on the day.

Other favourites Ivan Basso and Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), and Danilo DiLuca all put in very respectable rides considering their high level of racing in the Giro.

With Menchov, though, was where the suspense was taking place.  The Russian race leader was storming through the course.  He had nearly a 30-second advantage on DiLuca.  He also had the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint. 

With all other riders safely at the finish line, Menchov looked so close to winning the stage and overtaking the time of Konovalovas.

However, Menchov had a heart-stopping fall just 500 meters from the line.  Race announcers were going crazy.  No one wanted to see the likable Rabobank leader lose the Giro after three weeks because of one crash on the final stage, not even DiLuca. 

Very quick thinking from his Rabobank team director following in the car behind saved the day.  All in the span of less than 10 seconds, his team director stopped the car, grabbed a new bike from the roof rack, got Menchov on the new bike and sent him off.

Total disaster was avoided.  Menchov did lose out on the chance to win the stage, ending up in 10th place on the day, but he could not have been more ecstatic at the finish line, having secured the overall title.

Menchov, in the end, beat DiLuca by 41 seconds after a total of 86 hours of racing.  Pellizotti retained his third place overall, at 1:59 behind.