TURIN, Italy, 28 May 2005 — Former race leader Ivan Basso of the CSC team claimed victory in the Giro d’Italia’s tough 18th stage, a 34km time trial from Chieri to here yesterday.
Overall race leader Paolo Savoldelli, the 2002 winner who rides for Lance Armstrong’s Discovery Channel team, increased his lead over second-placed, two-time former winner Gilberto Simoni to more than two minutes with two days to go to the Milan finish.
Basso finished 9sec ahead of Russia’s Vladimir Karpets and 20 seconds in front of American David Zabriskie. Savoldelli finished fourth to give himself extra valuable seconds from Simoni and another rival for the overall title, Jose Rujano of Venezuela.
Simoni conceded 1min 11sec to the leader’s jersey and Rujano, who was impressive in the climb at Superga, was 1min 36sec behind Savoldelli.
Savoldelli, who was 9sec ahead of Rujano and 14sec up on Simoni at the top of the Superga climb, gained time in the descent towards Turin.
Overall, Savoldelli is 2min 9sec ahead of Simoni and about 3min ahead of Rujano overall before Saturday’s final mountain stage.
