Italian Alessandro Ballan jumped off the front in the final uphill riser, then Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov caught and passed him with 7 kilometers still remaining, speeding 14 and then 18 seconds ahead of the peloton. It was justice served for Vino, who nearly won yesterday’s Stage 12 before being passed by two Spaniards, Astana teammate Alberto Contador and stage winner Joaquim Rodriguez a few hundred yards before the finish.

This time, Vino was all alone.

We were happy for Vino, who has put his dope-clouded past behind him and, perhaps more significantly, seems to have adopted a “no-whine rule.” We once joked that “vino” is a synonym for “whine,” but he kept the lip zipped yesterday.

Brit Mark Cavendish took the ensuing bunch sprint, edging out Italian two-time stage winner (in this Tour) Alessandro Petacchi (our crack research team is calculating exactly how many “Alexes” there are in this year’s Tour). We’re still majorly bummed that Tyler Farrar had to pull out yesterday; this would have been the perfect stage for a head-to-head between Tyler and Mark the Mouth, both having lost their main leadout men. Make no mistake, Cavendish proved that he deserves the title of fastest man on two wheels. But that’s only as good as the next sprint, and we hope to see Tyler and Cav square off many times again in the future.

For now we’re looking forward to the next four days in the Pyrenees, starting with tomorrow’s Stage 14 ending in Ax-3 Domaines. Go Andy!

Full results from Cyclingnews.com.

Today’s penultimate stage of the 2010 Giro d’Italia was highlighted by the legendary Passo di Gavia, this year’s edition’s highest point. The 20th stage packed nearly 20,000 feet of elevation gain (over five climbs) into just 110 miles of riding. While none of the stretches was particularly steep by this year’s Giro standards, that’s a lot of stomping on the pedals.

For us mere mortals, consider some comparisons:

Giro d'Italia 2010, Stage 20 profile, including the majestic Gavia Pass

The Terrible Two through the tough rolling country around Santa Rosa features 16,500 feet of climbing — but that’s over a course of 200 miles.

The Son of Death Ride near Los Angeles, billed as the “toughest one-day road ride in the U.S.,” features 17,000 feet of climbing over 138 miles.

These are as brutal as endurance races get, and they can’t touch the suffering inflicted by today’s Giro stage.

For all that, the racing was not as dramatic as yesterday’s stage. Only Cadel Evans mounted a serious attack, and it was too late (over the final climb) to matter. Through most of the course, the leaders seemed content to concede the overall victory to Ivan Basso, who rode inspiringly and convincingly to take the pink jersey yesterday.

So the 2010 Giro is pretty much over, and those of us following it day-by-day on Universal Sports via its (and Italian televison’s) live coverage have to feel a twinge of regret. In terms of pure racing drama, head-shaking unpredictability and climactic twists and turns, this year’s Giro ranks among the great Grand Tours of all time. It didn’t have Lance (who will end his career never having won a Giro) or Alberto Contador, who won it two years ago. But the other big names were there, and the action was nonpareil.

The Giro will be a tough act to follow for this year’s Tour de France, beginning July 3. Let’s hope the Giro’s challenges have put its contenders — Basso, Cadel Evans, Alexander Vinokourov, Carlos Sastre — into peak form to challenge Contador and the others in the Tour, making a real race out of another Grand Tour.

The Giro d’Italia may be wearing the new mantle.

Ivan Basso, riding with his characteristic smile and/or grimace but with the methodical power and grace of a mountain lion on the attack, took the agonizingly steep but incomparably thrilling Monte Zoncolan, the 15th stage of the Giro — vaulting him into third place in the general classification and more than a minute ahead of his closest rival, Cadel Evans.

Spaniard David Arroyo maintained the leader’s pink jersey, but lost more than three minutes to Basso. Tomorrow’s rest day will prove a temporary respite from mountain pain over the final week of the Giro.

For a time Evans managed to duke it out with Basso. But Cadel was out of the saddle much of the time, expending precious upper-body strength while Basso simply ground out the gears in his saddle up the relentless grade.

The middle 6 kilometers of the climb — the day’s fourth — averaged 15 percent — which any cyclist who pays attention to such things knows is a world of hurt just over a few hundred feet. There were 22 percent pitches on the final 3 kilometers. To see world champion cyclists pedaling with the cadence and fatigue of weekend riders climbing was quite a sight. You don’t normally find that kind of suffering, even in the Tour de France.

It may be proof that the post-doping era has finally taken root in the Giro, because the slumped shoulders and saliva ropes and sunken cheeks and vacant expressions of the final climb testified to real sacrifice. During the height of the doping era riders would show hardly any signs of true suffering, and there was always the sense that their physical limits had less to do with god-given genetics than whether they were juiced that particular day.

Among the top three favorites of this year’s Giro, Evans is the only rider with unimpeachable credentials. Basso and Alexander Vinokourov both have been banned from the sport — and now returned — after testing positive. Evans has maintained from the beginning he was never part of the doping circle of cycling, and his results have never given any reason to doubt.

So far this year’s Giro has been “clean” (full testing cannot be completed till after the race is over), in contrast to the Landis-Lance eruptions going on over in the U.S. Let’s hope the Italian classic stays that way.

The champions of this year’s unbelievably exciting Giro — and the public who has followed them — deserve to have their victories and legacies unbesmirched in one of the most memorable Grand Tours of all time.

What a grand Grand Tour this year’s Giro is proving to be!

The breakaway, which caught No. 1 Alexander Vinokourov and No. 2 Cadel Evans watching each other instead of the split group, put given-up-for-dead contenders Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and Carlos Sastre (Candil) back in the hunt. Especially given the punishing mountain stages ahead, the Giro officially is a wide open race again.

Sastre took third, behind Russian Evgeny Petrov (Katusha) and Quick Step’s Darlo Cataldo. Petrov took the stage with a dramatic sprint on the final uphill section of the stage. Overall the lead group had nearly 13 minutes on the race leaders at the start of the day.

So now Riche Porte of Saxo Bank is the race leader, by a stunning margin over Vinokourov and Evans, who trail by 10 and 11 minutes respectively. Oh and a headline Vino would like to have back: “Alexander Vinokourov Growing More Confident by the Day of Giro d’Italia Success.” Ouch!

One can only wonder how the two leaders let top-caliber riders in a huge pack take off without them. This isn’t a matter of fitness or capability, it’s simple on-road intelligence.

You know that if the greats of the past were in a similar situation, all the way from Eddy Merckx to Bernard Hinault to Greg Lemond, there’s no way a former Tour de France winner and top contender in last year’s Tour would’ve been allowed to slip off the front.

Heck, if Lance Armstrong were in this year’s Giro, there’s no way it would have happened.

But there you have it. Inexplicable things happen in bicycle racing, and today’s stage will be remembered for a long time as one of those crazy strategic brain cramps that — if it costs Vino and Evans a shot at winning the Giro — prove anything can happen, even in the controlled environment of Grand Tour racing.

VeloNews and CyclingNews will have full results as they emerge.

Despite the goop, the finish was dry and thrilling as somehow out of the pack we found Cadel Evans, No. 2, and Alexander Vinokourov in the pink jersey battled out the slight uphill finish, only to be passed in the final seconds by HTC’s Matthew Goss and fellow sprinters Filippo Pozzato (KAT) and “Rainboy” (from Wenatchee) Tyler Farrar (GRM) for the top 3 places.

It’s supposed to get colder and wetter around here this week, but nothing will compare to the images of pro racers going 30 miles an hour, bunched together, in driving rain on slick pavement. Thankfully no major crashes, and hopes for better weather to come!

Now it’s off to Versus to await this afternoon’s undoubtedly more pleasant (weather-wise) second stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Flat flat flat (the terrain, let’s hope not the tires)!

As we’ve said practically from Day 1, this year’s Giro d’Italia has been a joy to watch, setting a new standard for early-on stage racing thrills and spills. VeloNews provides a nice retrospective of Week 1.

Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong awaits tomorrow’s start of the Tour of California while expressing doubt that 2010 will be a banner year for The King. The problem is simple logistics: He’s not getting into racing form so far this year. He’s missed some big spring classics and not doing the Giro so he can compete in the Tour of California, a far lesser event. And then there’s all the promotional stuff, and a new baby on the way, and on and on…

We’ve all been there. So perhaps Lance can be forgiven if this story is true.

This is what happens when you start the Giro somewhere else than Italy.

Stage winner: Wouter Weylandt of Quick Step.

Overall leader in the pink jersey: OMG it’s … Alexander Vinokourov! of Astana! Making a statement!

Sigh … we’ll never hear the end of this one.

The Tour de France 2010 is shaping up as the biggest Dopers Reunion since the Lebowski Fest! Now if we can only get Floyd Landis back into the peloton, we’d be tempted to sponsor Team Rehab. And what’s Tyler Hamilton up to these days???