The final stage difficult stage in the mountains. The 224-kilometre run will cover the Passo Gavia, the super-steep Passo del Mortirolo and the Aprica before arriving in Tirano.
Will Gutierrez hang on to his top 10 position? And will Rujano be able to finish the race with the mountains jersey?
There was a flurry of attacks in the opening kilometers, Arroyo tried to get away in one, but the Astana-led pack would not let any go.
With 180k still to race and the serious climbing looming Rujano decided to try his luck in one.
He has timed his move to perfection and is away in the first move that sticks.
If he takes the points at the top of the Gavia, then the Mountains jersey is his for keeps.
World Champion Paolo Bettini is with the break, and the escapees work well together and the lead builds slowly.
With 12k to the summit, they have 5 minutes on the pack. Kreuziger decides the pace is way too slow in the group and jumps away.
He goes hard and 2.5k from the summit he has made it up to the break.
Rujano, though, has no intention of letting anyone other than the King of the Mountains ride first over the highest mountain pass of this Giro. The 20 points guarantees that he will be presented the jersey for keeps in Milan in a couple of days.
Back in the pack, Astana have gradually been winding the pace up and turning the screw. Gutierrez is over the top with the thinning peloton, and still has a very tired Arroyo and a tired Perez to help him. Erviti has been dropped.
To the lower slopes of the Motirolo, and Rujano has no intention of trying to follow the pace Kreuziger is setting. He will ride this at his own rythmn.
It takes Kreuziger no time at all to shell the rest of the lead group from his wheel.
The pack though are closing fast. The pace is high and with 5k to go to the summit and a gradient of 12.3 percent, Gutierrez is really feeling the pain. Leipheimer alongside him looks very, very comfortable.
3k to go, and despite Rujano's assistance he is slipping backwards.
1.5k to the summit and the pack has splintered. Gutierrez can see his top 10 finish slipping away from him.
Over the top and down the other side, Kreuziger has been caught and Leipheimer is once again proving to be by far the best 'prepared' rider in this race. He is the first of the lead group to attack. There are 30k remaining and only Zaugg in front of him.
On this form, Leipheimer cannot be denied and takes his second stage win in as many days. With tommorrow a time trial, there is every chance that he may finish this race with a hat-trick of stage wins. That I think would bring to four the number of stages he has took this race. Interestingly enough, there are 4 letters in CERA too.
Meanwhile, with 10k to go and with some feeling back in his legs, Gutierrez decides to take some chances on the downhill and try to regain some time.
It is a lonely ride into the finish for the man who held the Maglia Rosa for 9 days and is now surely losing his Top 10 overall position.
Today's course will favour a power time trialist as it dead flat, so Guttierez must be in with a chance of taking 2nd behind Levi Leipheimer.
Here is Jose Rujano setting off. He is going to enjoy the final day of the Giro, decked out in the green of the best climber. Larsson, has already set the best time of the day and we don't expect Jose to get anywhere near it.
It is soon time for Gutierrez to set off and the question we are asking is how far up the rankings can he climb today. The time to beat is 28'58 by one of the best chrono men in the race, Sebastian Lang.
Gutierrez is riding well and thru' the first checkpoint he is just one second off the pace.
With 3k to go, we are just about certain that Schleck has been overtaken on the GC.
Just over 1k to go, and Gutierrez is generating an awesome amount of power. He has had a fantastic Giro, and is signing off in style.
Over the line, and he has taken over 30 seconds off the best time so far.
Will it be enough to win the stage we wonder?
Savoldelli cannot do it. Despite having the best time at the first time check, he comes in 19 seconds down. Kirchen rides his heart out, but comes in 3 seconds behind Gutierrez.
Out on the course though, Dekker and then Leipheimer have gone through the first checkpoint as the fastest riders.
Gutierrez is incredulous, but Dekker comes in 4 seconds faster. Then Levi, oblivious to the rumours and ill feeling swirling around the race towards Astana, furthers lowers the best time again.
The American has won the final 3 stages and after nearly 3,000km in the saddle he has taken the overall victory in the Giro D'Italia!
Thomas Dekker wins the young rider competition and Silence-Lotto just beat Astana to the team competition by a mere 38 seconds.
We can be fairly pleased with our performance. Gutierrez finished 14th overall, won a stage, wore the Maglia Rosa for 9 days and also spent time in the points jersey. He picked up a a couple of 2nd places on stages as well. Jose Rujano finished as the best climber. Fransisco Perez got himself into two breaks that went all the way and managed to take 2nd on one stage. The team also picked up a second on the opening day in the team time trial.
We cannot hide the fact that our biggest dissapointment was David Arroyo. We had hoped that the climber might have been able to get himself into the top 10. His 104th on the overall says it all. He could not handle the fact that the team decided to support Gutierrez and may need to find himself a new team next year.
Anyway, here is the man of the moment. Maybe he will return to the Giro next year after spending some time training in the mountains...
as a spanish team the Giro should be the tgird Grand Tour but yet the KOM jersey, the stage victory all the 2nd places and 14th overall by a rider like Gutierrez are some outstanding results
I'll be looking for Valverde's performance in the Tour and expect the results will be as good in proportion as these were
Similar to yesterday, and on the days final climb the favorites attacked. Garcia Acosta managed to get over the top with Plaza, Gil and Navarro. He sat on conserving energy and when he attacked with just over 2k remaing, the overall contenders looked at each other.
It was enough to give him a gap and by the time the favorites made their moves it was too late. Acosta held on for victory!
David Arroyo also managed to get away on the final climb and he came in 53' behind the leaders. The peloton came in almost two minutes down on Acosta.
Obviously, this was going to be one for the mountain men. We managed to get Losada in the break of the day. A puncture yesterday means he is well down on GC.
At the foot of the final climb, the escapees have a minute's lead on the pack and a slim chance of making it.
In the break, Losada is not as strong as Scott rider Alberto Fernandez who comes agonizingly close to hanging on for the stage victory. It is not to be though, and Koldo Gil steals it from him on the line.
Result
1 Koldo Gil Liberty Seguros 2h24'45
2 Daniel Navarro Astana Cycling Team s.t.
3 Alberto Fernández Scott - American Beef s.t. 9 Alberto Losada Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
11 Jose Vicente GarcÃa Acosta Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
We don't expect any of our guys to do well in this and they don't. Losada briefly has the fastest time and Garcia Acosta blasts thru' the early part of the course, but against the likes of Andreas Kloden we don't really stand a chance.
The final stage has a profile that will be very tough for a guy like Garcia Acosta. We'd be more than happy with another stage victory, and again manage to get Losada in the break.
It's only a small group, but the pack have no intention of letting them get too big a lead. The break comes to nothing, though Losada's work in breakaways this race end in him taking the mountains jersey without really going after it.
Acosta tries to follow the attacks on the second to last climb, but blows. Arroyo is even worse and completely collapses.
In the shootout between the favorites in the final kilometer, it is Koldo Gil, who is once again too strong for Navarro. Ruben Plaza fails to stay with these two and loses the final overall to Gil.
So, all in all, not a bad race for us. We took one of the stage wins, the mountains classification and got a decent position on the overall.
And now, for me, it is on to the Dauphine Libere and the 3rd of our major sponsor goals for the season.
I will be doing my best to take the overall and looking down the startlist I am helped that my TdF rivals Contador, Evans and Sastre all look to have opted to ride in the Tour of Switzerland.
Sanchez, Dekker, Kreuziger, Soler and perhaps Moreau will be my main rivals.
I am in pretty good shape going into this race and hope to take the overall. It will be easier with the absence of the riders I've already mentioned, but Dekker proved at the Giro that he is developing into a rider capable of winning these kind of races.
The team:
Stage One
We begin with a short prologue and the goal for the team is to simply limit any losses.
I am one of the first 40 riders to go, and as I set off, Lovkvist has set the time to beat at 8'40.
I ride well, but as I cross the finish line, I am 6' down and have the 4th best time of the day, so far.
Lovkvist still has the joint fastest time but, World Champion Fabian Cancellara is powering to the line. Will he beat it?
The answer is 'yes' and by 8 seconds.
It looks as if this will be the winning time - only Dekker still on the course might beat the Big Swiss.
And Dekker shows that he is holding onto his Giro form pretty well. He takes nearly 6 seconds from Cancellara, and is 22 seconds faster than me over the distance.
The uphill drag to the finish will suit me better than Rojas, so I will be trying to take the victory here.
A fairly big break eventually manages to get away and we have Luis Pasamontes in it, so the rest of the team have a quiet day.
It is Rabobank who do the lions share of the work at front, as they try to keep the break close. 100k to go and the lead is around 6'30".
60k to go and Rabobank are having to work hard in bringing it back as the terrain begins to get very lumpy.
Inside the final 25k, and with the pack closing rapidly, the strongmen in the escape decide it is time to jettison the dead weight.
Pasamontes is strong, but with less than 10k to go and Acqua and Sapone now driving things along it looks as if today will not be a day for the escapees.
The pace is high, and the luck is with me. Alongside me, Kreuziger hits the deck and somehow I manage to avoid coming down too.
I lose speed though and as the sprint goes off I should be in a better position.
I'm not sure if the near crash and the loss of speed is the reason, but I have little in my legs today for the sprint and struggle to make an impression.
Thomas Dekker takes the stage for back to back wins and looks to be in good enough condition still to cause me worry over the overall.
Kreuziger and Moncoutie are the biggest losers today - and I think they can both be discounted now as threats on the overall.
There is a hilly finish to this stage and it should suit my abilities, so I'll be looking to do something today.
Pasamontes looks good in the KOM jersey he won yesterday after work in the break.
A break gets away and we send Arnauld Coyot up front to help Rabobank in the chase. We'd like to keep the break close today.
As the race enters the hills Euskaltel move up and increase the pace. There is 15k or so to go and we are at the bottom of the last major climb. The break is just about brought back and Schumacher launches himself out of the pack. It is time for me to make my move too.
At the summit and our small group is just about up to the break. Moreau and Cancellara look to have made it too.
Dekker, obviously is feeling great, and moves to the front on the flat before the final rise and he tries to ride us all off his wheel.
Schumacher attacks on the final rise. I follow him again and over the top, there is a gap back to Dekker. I am tired, but decide to ride hard into the finish and try and pick up a few seconds on this stage.
Dekker, it is who chases furiously. Schumacher is the only one who can stay with him.
As the race flattens out in the final 2 kilometers, Schumacher blasts away from Dekker and sweeps past me to take the stage victory. Dekker shows his first signs of weakness and I know how he feels, as it is all I can do to hang onto Schumacher's wheel as he powers to the finish.
Unfortunately, the race organizers see fit to give Dekker the same time as me. I hope it will not matter in the end.
and nice graphics 
