Stage 20

The road

At the start

Basso in pink, the Gavia to cross

The Mortirolo gave Basso the maglia rosa and he leads David Arroyo by 51 seconds, Nibali by 2:30 and Scarponi by 2:49. Today is the last mountain stage and the biggest: five climbs out of Bormio, four above two thousand metres, ending with the 2,621-metre Gavia, the Cima Coppi, and a descent off it Arroyo has every reason to gamble on. Tomorrow is a time trial, and he will find nothing there.

How it was won

1. 1102 km to go

   Attacks on the Forcola

   Pinotti, Sastre, Vinokourov, Lloyd and Cunego jump away on the Forcola di Livigno, the first of four passes over two thousand metres. Cunego, whose whole Giro has gone like this, is dropped on it and slides back to the bunch.

2. 274 km to go

   Whittled on Eira and Foscagno

   Two more passes and the escape keeps shedding men. Behind, a twenty-strong group of favourites stays together and waits for the Gavia.

3. 330 km to go

   Simoni, one last time

   Five kilometres from the summit of the Gavia, Gilberto Simoni pulls clear with Johann Tschopp. It is the last mountain stage of the last Giro of a two-time champion, and for a few kilometres between walls of snow he leads the race.

4. 425 km to go

   Cima Coppi

   At 2,621 metres the Gavia is the roof of this Giro, and the prize for cresting it first is the one thing Simoni has left to win. Tschopp outsprints him for it, quite heartlessly, and then drops him on the descent.

5. 514 km to go

   Nobody gambles behind

   A slalom down the Gavia in Arroyo's style might have put Basso under real pressure. The Spaniard, 1:15 down with a time trial to come, decides to save his risks for tomorrow and hands the day away.

6. 6At the line

   Tschopp at the Tonale

   Tschopp holds on for the first Swiss stage win in the Giro since Zulle. Behind, Evans shatters the favourites' group a kilometre too late and takes second at 16 seconds, and Scarponi jumps clear of Basso and Nibali to move within a single second of third overall.

The result