With 800 meter left of the Passo dello Stelvio, Giro d’Italia leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) attacked and succeeded in regaining 14 seconds on the time he'd lost the day before at l’Alpe di Pampeago to Ryder Hesjedal, who is second in the GC.

Rodriguez, who isn't considered a good time triallist, wished to gain as much time as possible before the final 30-kilometer time trial in Milan today. If he loses to much time to Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), he may lose the overall victory. After yesterday's stage, Rodriguez has an advantage of 31 seconds over Hesjedal.

“I’ve got to fight against myself and limit my losses as much as possible," Rodriguez said at the press conference yesterday.

“I really want to win this Giro d’Italia because it’s something I’ve worked hard for. Ryder [Hesjedal] is the one under all the pressure because he’s got to make up the time. The final time trial isn’t like the first one. Our coach Sebastian Weber has studied the course and he thinks that I can do it. I trust him because he’s always been right so far.”

It will be hard for Joaquim Rodriguez to win now, but of course there is always a small chance that he can take the victory.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Katusha’s sport director Valerio Piva told Cyclingnews. “We said that one minute lead was needed and one minute was an optimistic prevision. We’re not there! But Joaquim is going well. He has really improved against the clock. He’s got a nice bike for that. We’ve done everything we could to put him in the right condition. Now we’ve got a few reasons to dream of the best outcome: the course isn’t straight, there’ll be sprints after curves and Joaquim is good at that. To wear the pink jersey is a huge advantage. He’s got a great heart as well. To win the Giro is a dream… It’s possible!”

“I’m happy that we’re here at the top of the Stelvio with the pink jersey. It means that we’ve done a good race.”

Valerio Pivo asked Rodriguez to attack during stage 20. Indeed he had asked him to do it before the Passo dello Stelvio, but the Katusha rider had no regrets after the stage.

“I attacked late on because I wanted to see if Basso and Scarponi could stay with me,” he said.

Andy Schleck will be presented with the yellow jersey as the winner of the 2010 Tour de France on Tuesday.

Schleck finished second in the race nearly two years ago, only beaten by Alberto Contador, but the Spaniard lost the victory when the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided to ban the rider for testing positive for traces of Clenbuterol.

Contador will return to competition in August.

Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team) is in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he will undergo medical examinations. The former world champion abandoned the Giro d'Italia on the sixth stage and believes that a viral infection may be the reason for his poor performance so far this season.

“Thor wanted to put in a good performance this spring but bad luck and sickness threw a spanner into the works. In the Giro he gave up because he had absolutely no strength left in his body,” said BMC team owner Andy Rihs, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

Hushovd “doesn't know exactly what's wrong, because he trained hard last winter, but he does not feel good. He fears that a virus has been ravaging his body for a while. So he is now undergoing various tests to find the cause.”

The Norwegian had stomach problems under Paris-Nice, but could finish the race. He also missed Milan-San Remo and abandoned the Volta a Catalunya due to illness. He then suffered bad luck at Paris-Roubaix, which he hoped to win but sadly he crashed and came in as 14th.

The victory of today’s stage 20 of the 2012 Giro d’Italia was a happy one for Vacansoleil-DCM. Thomas De Gendt took the biggest victory of his career, when he won atop the Stelvio on the queen stage of the Giro d'Italia. Damiano Cunego of Lampre took second place and Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finished third.

“I did not expect that,” De Gendt said. “I attacked on the Mortirolo, because the descents is very dangerous. All the pieces came together. [Matteo] Carrara was was still in the lead. He helped me a lot." “And I know the Stelvio very well. I have trained there for six years. I've climbed it 20 or 30 times. It's very nice to win on my mountain."

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) still remains in the the maglia rosa. The Spaniard finished over three minutes back, but finished thirteen seconds ahead of Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda).

The five tough climbs today really helped to show who can still win and who is done in the GC. The favourites didn’t do much until the final climb, but it still became a problematic climb for some riders. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) for example lost contact in the final kilometres.

De Gendt didn’t make it up to the podium today, but moved up from eighth to fourth.Basso is currently down to fifth place. Hesjedal defended his second place, which means he still has a good chance of taking the overall title after Sunday's time trial.

The Giro d’Italia ends tomorrow, who do you think will win?

Stage 19 of the the 2012 Giro d’Italia means we are coming closer to the end of this fantastic race. It really doesn't feel like long time ago since I was in Herning, Denmark, for the start of this race.

Today's tough stage was won by Astana’s Roman Kreuziger, who crossed the line 19 seconds clear of Garmin-Barracuda’s Ryder Hesjedal. Kreuziger had wished for more over the last three weeks, but a stage win restores some of his plan.

Kreuziger won the young riders jersey at last year’s Giro and this year, he was considered to be among the favourites for overall victory. However, today, he was starting over 12 minutes behind the leaders, which means he will not win the race. However, he can be happy as this stage was described as the toughest one of the entire race.

Hesjedal finished ahead of his fellow rivals in the GC and is really in a nice position to secure overall victory on Sunday. He took thirteen seconds out of Joaquim Rodriguez’s lead and is currently 17 seconds behind him in the GC. He also extended his own lead over Ivan Basso and Michele Scarponi.

Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) finished 44th, 11:53 behind Kreuziger, but he is also a domestique, which means his goal is to help his team mates. He is still 25th in the general classification. Fantastic!

Marianne Vos suffered a broken collarbone in a crash at the Parkhotel Valkenburg Classic today. The Rabobank rider was taken down on the decent of the Fromberg by a race motorcycle, according to rabosport.nl.

At the moment, the rider had been in a two-rider breakaway together with Sharon Laws (AA Drink-Leontien.nl). After the crash, she rejoined Laws after a long chase. Behind her, Vos's teammates Annamiek van Vleuten and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Emma Pooley (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) were chasing. Van Vleuten later left her breakaway companions (with 3km remaining).

The race was a great chance to test the route of the 2012 UCI road world championships, included the ascent of the Cauberg. Sharon Laws tried to attack on the Cauberg climb, but never came far away from the world's number one Marianne Vos.

In the end, Annamiek van Vleuten took the victory. Vos finished second ahead of Laws. Not bad. How could she possible do such thing with a broken collarbone? Unbelievable.

When Alberto Contador's ban ends in August, where will he race? Team Saxo Bank is interested (of course). But it seems like Omega Pharma-QuickStep is interested as well.

In February, when CAS handed Contador a ban for testing positive for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France, Saxo Bank had to revoke the rider's contract. Since then, Contador has said that he wants to return to his former team.

Despite this, Omega Pharma-QuickStep's team manager Patrick Lefevere hopes to sign the rider when his ban ends.

"I'm always interested in a free rider with great potential," Lefevere told the Gazet Van Antwerpen. "I stated this to Contador's management and have been trying to pin a date for an interview. We are no strangers to each other. I am trying to get an interview in June but I expect no result."

One problem could be to fit Contador into the team's budget and his squad, but Lefevere said he would find a way.

"The money does not grow on our backs, but as a champion we would make additional funds available for Contador," he said. "And also for those few riders who he likes to be with him. We also have a few guys who know what climbing is. Plus after this season there will be places free, because two of my riders are out of contract."

When it comes to sprints, Mark Cavendish is one of the greatest and it's not often that we see him being defeated. At the finish of stage 18 of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, however, Farnese Vini-Selle Italia's Andrea Guardini took the stage win. Team Sky set up Cavendish perfectly beftore the sprint but sometimes a good lead out isn't enough and yesterday, Cavendish was denied a fourth stage win in the race.

The 22-year-old Italian's victory surprised Cavendish. The British world champion wasn't happy, he grimaced and punched his handlebars when he realised that he had been defeated, but he was mostly angry with himself.

"I wasn't angry with him [Guardini], I just don't like losing to anyone," Cavendish said.

"He had more energy than me and was simply the fastest rider out there today. In the middle section of the sprint I lost some of my strength. If I hadn't been knocked over by Roberto Ferrari at the end of stage three I'd be in a better position than I am and now I need to fight to hang on to the [red] jersey."

Later the same day, he wrote on Twitter: "Pretty angry to be beaten when my team set me up like today. I was lazy and left the sprint 50 metres too late. Andrea Guardini was fast!"

It took almost three weeks, but Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) has finally delivered, winning stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia. Today, he finished ahead of Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) and Roberto Ferrari (Androni).

Stage 18 from San Vito Cardore to Vedelago was less than 150km long and the flat and downhill roads suited the sprinters. It was their last chance of taking a stage. It could easily have become Cavendish's fourth stage win in this year's Giro, as many other sprinters like Matthew Goss, Mark Renshaw and Theo Boss have already left the race. Cavendish snapped up the maximum points at the day’s intermediate sprint, but when the finish line came closer, it became obvious that the team's lead-out train was missing something. Perhaps, Bernhard Eisel and Geraint Thomas missed Peter Kennaugh, who left the race yesterday.

In the final kilometer, Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Saxo Bank took over the work in front. It still looked like Cavendish could win, and he wished to do so, but so did the 22-year-old Andrea Guardini. When Cavendish started his sprint, Guardini launched his. He went on the right, sprinted around Ferrari and then in the final meters, Geraint Thomas started to get tired as Cavendish struggled on the left.

Will Bradley Wiggins make history by becoming the first British rider to win the Tour de France this year? The Briton and his Team Sky colleagues have been extreme training on Mount Teide, the third highest active volcano in the world, and the training there has provided him with a mental and physical edge, Wiggins says.

In cycling, there is often talk about how different riders form have been achieved. It's sad. Training, food and talent is actually enough to make you win a Grand Tour. There's no reason to listen to people's talk, especially not for the riders.

“It’s disappointing if anybody doubts me - that’s what happens when you start winning in this sport,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“Traditionally, it is difficult for some people to get their heads around such consistency and progression. It’s so much easier for critics to start casting doubt rather than to appreciate what we are doing here and how everybody at Sky is working like dogs in a very focused way, especially up here on Teide. They don’t see how the modern sport is developing. They don’t want to.

“People will think what they will think but I’m not the slightest bit bothered. I don’t read the cycling press and I don’t Twitter anymore and let people know my business. I’m a cycling recluse really and love it.”

Last year, Wiggins finished third in the Vuelta a Espana before heading to the road world championships in Copenhagen, where he won silver in the time trial and in the road race, he helped Mark Cavendish win gold.

The 2012 season hasn't been bad either. He became the first Briton to win Paris-Nice and then took victory in the Tour de Romandie. He seems to be ready to tackle the Tour de France and make something that no other British riders have ever done.

“I did 32,000 metres of climbing around Teide during a two-week camp last month and, by the time we finish this latest fortnight, I will have done another 32,000 metres,” he said.

“From April 1 this year to the day I line up for the Tour de France prologue on June 30, I will have done 100,000 metres of high-quality climbing. There is no other environment that can beat Mount Teide. We ride our bikes, get a massage, eat and then sleep. The we get up and do it again. And again. We have altitude, heat and virtually empty roads most days. Everything is geared to one thing, achieving the fitness and form required to win the Tour de France.

“I’m not nervous about the Tour anymore, just excited. I’ve learned to be a team leader, which I struggled with initially. Being the focus of a big team and the individual so many amazing riders are working their butts off for is not easy. I could only be comfortable with that once I had been able to prove to them with big race results, and setting the tone in training, that I am worthy of their support. I have done that now and I am confident in my fitness. I know what I am capable of."

Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) has surely had a great Giro d'Italia so far and the Italian general classification contenders says that the Canadian may win the 2012 Giro.

Yesterday's stage winner, the Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) is another one who believe the Canadian has a great chance of winning the race.

"Hesjedal is the hot favorite now. With the current time gaps, it's impossible for me, for [Ivan] Basso or [Michele] Scarponi to beat him after the time trial."

"Today in the climbs, Hesjedal is the rider who impressed me the most," said Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox). "Unfortunately, there was no way to get rid of him."

The Italian riders hoped that the Canadian wouldn't be able to follow on the Passo Giau, but Hesjedal was strong. Basso got his teammates to increase the rhythm in order to prevent attacks and in the end, Roman Kreuziger (Astana) was the rider who had the biggest problems. Hesjedal is considered the best time triallist of all GC contenders and the riders must do something, or he will get a great chance of taking the maglia rosa after the 30km race against the clock in Milan on Sunday.

"Have you seen how easily he came across to me when I accelerated?," Basso said. "Today's confirmation is Hesjedal's favorable position for winning the Giro. This stage has given some signals ahead of two harder stages to come on Friday and Saturday. The overall classification has moved a little bit but not as I wanted because of Hesjedal."

Basso had hoped that he and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) would team up towards the top of Passo Giau, but Scarponi was cramping and instead, six riders went away and contested the stage victory.

"I'm sorry," Scarponi said. "I knew the final downhill pretty well. I could have invented something. In those difficult moments, I just managed to save myself.

"I got dehydrated. I drank a lot, though, but probably not as much as I should have. Hesjedal is respected and feared. We've failed to putt him in difficulty. These hard stages are difficult for everyone but now that Hesjedal has showed that he can overcome them, he's in a perfect position: the time trial favors him."

When Joaquim Rodriguez crossed the finish line in Cortina d'Ampezzo earlier today, he hugged Ivan Basso and told him why he needed to win stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia. It wasn't because of the time bonuses, as no such were given.

Exactly one year ago, Movistar rider Xavier Tondo died while he was training in Sierra Nevada with his teammate Benat Intxausti, who is currently sixth on the general classification at the Giro d'Italia.

"I wanted to win today because it's a special day," said Rodriguez. "Xavi was a great friend of mine. I've known him since we were kids."

When Rodriguez and Tondo were young, they sometimes rode together as their respective home towns of Valls and Parets-del-Vallès are one hundred kilometres apart.

Xavier Tondo was someone really special. He was a strong man who once received an email, which offered several doping products, including EPO, human growth hormone, Nandrolone, and Clenbuterol, all at low prices. Did he delete it? No. Tondo gave the email to the police. The cycling sport needs more people like him. But Xavier Tondo was also a great cyclist, his team mate and his fans really liked him.

Before the stage started yesterday, the Movistar riders showed up at the start in Falzes with a medal to pay tribute to Xavier Tondo, who used to say that his dream was to ride for the same team that once was Miguel Indurain's.

"It's not that I think of him today, one year after his death, I'll keep thinking of him all of my life," Rodriguez said at the press conference. "I don't like to talk about him," Rodriguez added, with tears in his eyes. "I also dislike hearing some people talking about him as if they knew him but they actually didn't. He's in my heart, that's all. I don't want to talk about him, thanks."

Fränk Schleck visited hospital today for further medical examinations of the injuries that caused him to abandon the Giro d'Italia. Schleck crashed and suffered pain. Rumours have mentioned that the RadioShack-Nissan rider perhaps had planned all along to leave the race early, but says this wasn't the case.

“It's not in my nature to give up.”

Schleck and team general manager Johan Bruyneel had a long discussion before he left Italy. Obviously both are disappointed at the moment, but it seems like they will now work together for good results in the Tour de France.

Examinations on his shoulder showed “a hematoma in both my neck and the articulation that I dislocated. These are putting pressure on the nerve system and are the cause of the pain. Besides this, I still have the inflammation in the left leg, from overcompensating the painful shoulder with a cramped position on the bike.”

On the team's website, Schleck also said that he was “sad to be home again. I was called there very last minute, but I let it sink down and I grew into the race. My third place on one of the first hard stages gave me confidence. If you check my results of the last years, you will see that I have rarely abandoned a race. It's not in my nature to give up. When I go to a race, I want to do well, and why not win?”

He tried to win it, even after his crash, “until I couldn't do it anymore. I can tell you: abandoning is not easy.”

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) won the stage 17 at the 2012 Giro d'Italia ahead of his closest rivals in the general classification. Today's stage was the first in the Dolomites.

The leading group of about 25 riders didn't stand a chance as they started the final big climb of the stage. In the end, a breakaway group of six riders went for the final 25km. All of the six riders were already placed well in the GC, but today they got a chance to take further time to some of their rivals.

In the end, Rodriguez crossed the line in Cortina d'Ampezzo ahead of Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Domenico Pozzovivo (CSF-Colnago). The victory meant he retained the pink jersey after the tough mountain stage. Rodriguez remains 30 seconds clear of Hesjedal and 1’22” ahead of Basso. Scarponi, Uran and Pozzovivo all moved up in the ranks.

Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) finished the stage in 31st position, 11:26 after Rodriguez won. He moved up to 25th in the general classification.

Robert Wagner of RadioShack-Nissan believed he would be returning to racing soon, but now he must postpone it. The German had to undergo a minor surgery on his left knee, which made it hard to race the Bayern Rundfahrt.

Wagner has not raced since Milan-San Remo in mid-March, due to knee problems. He had a small surgery on the right knee, but since then the problem has not disappeared. He wished to return to the Bavarian race, but the recent surgery made the start impossible.

“The Bayern Rundfahrt is my favourite race, too bad that I can't start there,” the 29-year-old told Radsport-News.com.

Wagner hopes to make his comeback at the Berlin ProRace on June 10, as part of the German national team.

“I already have the okay to start there.”

“I am on the bike again, but it is more rehabilitation than training.”

Rabobank hasn't yet won a stage at the 2012 Giro d'Italia and now they will be racing the remainder of the race without Theo Bos. The Dutchman withdrew this morning ahead of stage 17.

The team's riders Mark Renshaw, Graeme Brown, Tom Leezer and Dennis van Winden have already abandoned the race, which means that Rabobank have just four riders left.

From now on, the sprinters will not have many opportunities to do something as the last part of the race is dominated by climbing, His withdrawal will allow him to focus on other targets later in the summer.

"If he continued, he would need a long time to recover," a team spokesman said. "He is primarily a sprinter and therefore the rest of the race will not suit him."

So far this season, Bos has taken two stage wins at the Tour of Turkey and a victory at Dwars door Drenthe .

Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh and Orica-GreenEdge's Daryl Impey are also reported to have withdrawn this morning.

Lars Bak's win in the twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia has really meant a lot to how other teams see him. Bjarne Riis says that his young Team Saxo Bank riders could learn something from Bak and Team Sky has said that it would have liked to have signed him. The now 32-year-old Dane is currently riding for Lotto-Belisol.

Lars Bak won the stage from Seravazza to Sestri Levante with a solo attack out of an escape group. Bak took off with 1.5km to go and took his biggest win of his career.

The Dane rode for Riis' teams for five years, from 2005 to 2009. His former team manager became impressed, but also hopes to see more riders doing the same as Bak did when he won.

“I would like to see even more riders – even among my own – have the same sense of fight as Lars Bak. He says to himself: Now I'm going to go out and do it. Lar Bak did it and fought for it until he got his way. That's what it takes,” Riis wrote in the Ekstra Bladet newspaper.

“The young riders in the field can really learn something from a guy like Lars Bak. He continues to push himself – and if you have the will, the results will come sooner or later. That's how you should ride a race, I think.”

Carsten Jeppesen, Team Sky's director of Operations, said that he would like to see his compatriot on the team.

“The only thing I really would like to change on this team right now is that I wanted a Dane. I would really have liked Lars Bak on board. I'm a little put out that we failed to obtain him, as he would fit well into our our team both as a person and as a rider,” he said.

Jon Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) took a solo win at the sixteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia. The 23-year-old Basque rider had already escaped out of a 10-man breakaway group on the final climb, and finished 16 seconds ahead of Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giacattoli-Venezuela) and Stef Clement (Rabobank).

The peloton took it really easy during the day and let the escape group take a 13 minute gap. The peloton crossed the finish line nearly nine minutes after Izagirre. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) continues to lead the Giro d'Italia.

The victory today was Izagirre's second win of the year. He won the time trial at the Vuelta a Asturias last month.

Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) finished 16th, as he helped Thomas De Gendt during the stage. De Gendt finished 15th today. Lagutin is now 29th in the GC, 10:35 behind Joaquim Rodriguez.

Most GC riders and domestiques probably want to be fresh before the tough mountains to come in the last week. It will be a fun week to follow the race.

FDJ-Big Mat's Arnaud Démare abandoned the Giro d'Italia on Saturday's stage 14 to Cervinia. The 20-year-old French sprinter was happy to have stayed on the race for that long, but was still disappointed with his performances in the sprint stages. His best placing was fourth on stage 3 in Horsens, Denmark.

"I'm not particularly happy with the outcome of my Giro," Démare wrote on his race blog on the L'Equipe website. "I didn't get the feeling to have done a single sprint for my true worth. I'm leaving this Giro feeling frustrated because I wasn't able to take advantage of all my capabilities. I'm a bit sad to leave like this, and I feel bad for my teammates who worked so hard for me during these two weeks."

The 2011 U23 world champion has had a successful start of the season, having won four races. Racing the Giro d’Italia was something very special to the sprinter.

"I expected to suffer on this Giro because it's the first time I rode a race longer than one week, but I didn't think I'd come this far. Two weeks of racing is a lot for me but it should have left me the time to seize some opportunities. It's a pity.

"I realise only now that my season start was very lucky. I didn't really realize that winning four races during my first year amongst the pros had that much value. The Giro taught me this."

Still, Démare felt frustrated.

"When your legs hurt on the finish line you can't blame yourself, but I don't want to be satisfied with [top ten placings]. Everybody says that I'm young, that I have time and that I shouldn't shoot ahead. But I don't care about my age, I race to win. Why shouldn't I be ambitious at 20 years? I don't want to hear that sort of argument."

After Fränk Schleck abandoned the 2012 Giro d'Italia, RadioShack team manager Johan Bruyneel has questioned whether the Luxembourger's injuries were sufficient enough to pull out of the race.

Schleck pulled out of the Giro after less than 30 kilometers of stage 15 with a shoulder injury and Bruyneel admitted that he was 'disappointed' in Fränk Schleck.

"I can not say much ... but I am surprised and disappointed by his statement. This morning I had hoped that he could finish on the podium, I was convinced that his condition was good enough to finish among the best," Bruyneel said according to nieuwsblad.be.

The morning before Schleck abandoned, rumours said that the rider would like to abandon the Giro in order to prepare for the Tour de France in the company of his brother Andy. Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Bruyneel, Schleck and Kim Andersen held a meeting on the matter on Saturday night, but Bruyneel said the story did not have substance.

The Schleck brothers are surely disappointed about how things have worked out so far since the the merger of Leopard Trek and RadioShack. The team truly looked like a dream team, but what looks good on paper is not necessarily fantastic in reality. But is this some way of telling Bruyneel that they are not satisfied? What do you think?