Giro d'Italia Stage 20: Basso retains pink by taking 3rd. Bbox get first Giro win with Tschopp

It was a career-best win for 27-year-old Swiss Johann Tschopp of the Bbox Bouygues Telecom team after a brave solo ride to the peak of the Passa del Tonale at the conclusion of today's penultimate stage of the Giro d'Italia.

16 seconds behind was a fast-closing Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) who had attacked his exclusive maglia rosa group with 3km to go, thereby grabbing back some precious seconds and a time bonus. Unfortunately for Evans, the maglia rosa himself, Ivan Basso of the Liquigas team managed to finish only 9 seconds behind and also with a time bonus so it is likely that unless the 2nd-placed Spaniard Aroyo can take 1:15 out of him, the Italian's lead is unassailable going into tomorrow's short final time trial.

The day took in five major climbs over 178 tortuous kilometres including the highest of this year's Giro, the Passo do Gavia at 2,618m, all adding up to an immense 6,320m of climbing. With hours to spare, the organisers considered routing the race away from the Gavia, such was the depth of snow still lying at the peak. As it happened, the riders stuck to the originally scheduled route but the scenes more resembled an installment of Ski Sunday than pictures from one of the most important bikes races in the world, in May.

Giro d'Italia Stage 20 Top 20 Result

 1  TSCHOPP Johann       SUI    BTL  5:26:47  0:00 20" bonus
 2  EVANS Cadel          AUS    BMC  5:27:03  0:16 12" bonus
 3  BASSO Ivan           ITA    LIQ  5:27:12  0:25  8" bonus
 4  SCARPONI Michele     ITA    AND  5:27:12  0:25
 5  ARROYO David         ESP    GCE  5:27:28  0:41
 6  NIBALI Vincenzo      ITA    LIQ  5:27:30  0:43
 7  GADRET John          FRA    ALM  5:27:35  0:48
 8  MOLLEMA Bauke        NED    RAB  5:27:37  0:50
 9  RIGHI Daniele        ITA    LAM  5:27:44  0:57
10  KIRYIENKA Vasil      BLR    GCE  5:27:49  1:02
11  VINOKOUROV Alexandre KAZ    AST  5:28:13  1:26
12  VOECKLER Thomas      FRA    BTL  5:28:26  1:39
13  CUNEGO Damiano       ITA    LAM  5:28:26  1:39
14  KRUIJSWIJK Steven    NED    RAB  5:28:26  1:39
15  SARMIENTO Cayetano   COL    ASA  5:28:26  1:39
16  KISERLOVSKI Robert   CRO    LIQ  5:28:26  1:39
17  PINOTTI Marco 	 ITA 	THR  5:28:26  1:39   2" bonus
18  TROFIMOV Yury 	 RUS 	BTL  5:28:29  1:42
19  PORTE Richie 	 AUS 	SAX  5:28:29  1:42
20  WEGELIUS Charles 	 GBR 	OLO  5:29:00  2:13

Giro d'Italia Top 20 Overall after Stage 20

 1  BASSO Ivan           ITA    LIQ  87:23:00   0:00
 2  ARROYO David         ESP    GCE  87:24:15   1:15
 3  NIBALI Vincenzo      ITA    LIQ  87:25:56   2:56
 4  SCARPONI Michele     ITA    AND  87:25:57   2:57
 5  EVANS Cadel          AUS    BMC  87:26:47   3:47
 6  PORTE Richie         AUS    SAX  87:30:25   7:25
 7  VINOKOUROV Alexandre KAZ    AST  87:30:31   7:31
 8  SASTRE Carlos        ESP    CTT  87:31:55   8:55
 9  KISERLOVSKI Robert   CRO    LIQ  87:37:06  14:06
10  PINOTTI Marco        ITA    THR  87:38:00  15:00
11  CUNEGO Damiano       ITA    LAM  87:39:45  16:45
12  MOLLEMA Bauke        NED    RAB  87:42:09  19:09
13  GADRET John          FRA    ALM  87:45:28  22:28
14  KARPETS Vladimir     RUS    KAT  87:48:09  25:09
15  ARDILA Mauricio      COL    RAB  87:55:23  32:23
16  GERDEMANN Linus      GER    MRM  87:57:31  34:31
17  CIONI David          ITA    SKY  87:58:35  35:35
18  KRUIJSWIJK Steven    NED    RAB  88:00:13  37:13
19  EFIMKIN Alexander    RUS    ALM  88:01:41  38:41
20  DUPONT Hubert        FRA    ALM  88:07:43  44:43