I don't think it should affect him too much. Remember Kirchen in the '08 Tour? Leading out Cavendish on every flat stage but still finishing 7th overall.
Tactics meeting
We've moved from Cagliari on the island of Sardinia to Palermo on Sicily. It's another flat stage, but it has a nasty kick up to the finish. We won't be looking at the sprinters for the stage win today. Vincenzo Nibali won a Giro stage with a similar finish last year, so he's one to watch.
Discovery's Oscar Pereiro was at the head of today's breakaway, which had Bandiera, Grabsch and Brousse in it. Pereiro won himself the climber's jersey during the day.
Pereiro was the last man to be caught. The pack made the junction just under the 5km mark.
The Caisse d'Epargne rider couldn't hang on to his lead, as Pellizotti, Barredo and Lopez caught up with him. In the home stretch, Pellizotti was in the lead.
And Ivan Basso's lieutenant won the stage for Liquigas! Gutierrez' attack paid off though, as he will be the next maglia rosa, courtesy of bonifications for his 2nd place.
Tactics meeting
If yesterday's finish didn't suit the sprinters, this one couldn't be better for them. We're moving eastwards across Sicily in completely flat terrain. Cavendish will probably be strong again. Can Vaitkus come up with something special?
Once again we tried to make some kind of lead-out for Vaitkus, and we were looking good with 3.5km remaining.
Today it became clear that Kreuziger is far from being a competent lead-out man, as Vaitkus was given som ground to make up. The Garmin guys with Bazayev in second position were going fast to the left, but Hushovd and Cavendish were tucked in behind them.
Bazayev held off the fast duo behind him to claim the stage! Garmin's new boys are doing well this season, with Petrov wearing the yellow jersey for a couple of days in Paris - Nice and Bazayev winning in the Giro d'Italia. Gutierrez keeps his pink jersey, but both Cavendish and Bazayev are edging closer.
Tactics meeting
The terrain is still dead flat as we hit mainland Italy. Another mass sprint is inevitable. Jose Ivan Gutierrez will lose his pink leader's jersey if either Bazayev or Cavendish wins today, something which could well happen.
Bazayev nicked his second win in a row after a tight and chaotic sprint. The Garmin man from Kazakhstan is the new race leader! Tomorrow there will finally be some non-sprint action, as we move into the hills of Southern Italy.
Tactics meeting
The 6th stage is the first really interesting stage of the Giro. The peloton will negotiate a couple of climbs, and we should see the first attacks from people who matter in the GC. We'll just see how the stage pans out, and decide what to do once we're in the thick of the action.
An early breakaway went clear, but they were caught just in time for the final climb.
At the bottom of it, Nocentini and Albasini attacked out of the peloton.
A lot of attacks followed on the false flat before the top.
A big breakaway of 14 men established a lead of 1'30 over the pack. In the break were many strong climbers like Cunego, Nibali and Gutierrez. We were represented by Larsson and Brajkovic. Kreuziger, Basso and Scarponi were still sitting in the pack, relying on their teams to bring back this group.
And the biggest favourites were right to do so. At 10km to go, the gap had gone down to 1 minute. At this rate, the break would be caught before the line.
2km before the finishing line, Scarponi had jumped out of the pack to join the breakaway. The rest of the peloton, led by Kreuziger, were just behind, so everybody would get the same time on the stage.
Damiano Cunego, one of the escapees, held on for the stage win! He's back at the Giro and wants everybody to know that! Assan Bazayev hung on to the peloton and will keep his maglia rosa for now.
Tactics meeting
A short stage today, which will be like a warm-up for tomorrow's mountain top finish. The downhill towards the end should make sure a large group makes it to the finish together. Maybe Vaitkus can hang on over the climb and sprint for victory?
David Millar was in the TV breakaway, showing off our colours.
4km from the top of the climb, the race was back together, with Androni and Katusha at the front. Was something being set up for Scarponi or Cunego?
It was of no use though, as the pack caught up after a ferocious downhill chase. It was heading towards a group sprint, but unfortunately Vaitkus hadn't survived the climb.
Who cared about Vaitkus, as it was looking really good for Kreuziger, being led out by Larsson! 41 year old Andrea Noe of Liquigas was in the lead under the red kite, but he couldn't possibly beat the young Kreuziger in a sprint.
Tony Martin came like a rocket towards the end, and Larsson kept the pressure on all the way! Who won? After a quick glance at the photo finish, Kreuziger was declared stage winner! Larsson got 2nd, which made it a magnificent 1-2 for Discovery! In other news, Bazayev actually finished in the first group, and keeps his maglia rosa for one more day.
Tactics meeting
We go into the first mountain top finish full of confidence after our 1-2 yesterday. The first real test for the climbers is quite easy, but we should see the overall contenders fight it out for the first time today. The last two kilometers are flat, so this is very much a Cunego stage.
In the beginning of the stage, Tomas Vaitkus had to abandon after a crash. The race carried on without him, and on the lower slopes of the final climb, the attacks started. Pellizotti, Gutierrez and Scarponi were among the aggressors.
Nibali, Kreuziger & co eventually caught up with the first attackers.
With 3 km remaining, an 11-man leading favourite group had been formed, with Brajkovic and Kreuziger as the Discovery representatives. The group had some very notable exceptions: Damiano Cunego and Ivan Basso were missing. So were also last year's 5th place, Valjavec.
Mauricio Soler, 3rd overall last year, couldnt quite reach the 11 leaders, even though he was encouraged by the devil. He soon fell further back.
On the flat run-in to the finish, Tony Martin launched an attack. Kreuziger tried to follow him.
The German was too strong though. Tony Martin won on the first mountain of the Giro 2010. He also takes over the leader's jersey.
The nine others in the leading group caught up with Kreuziger, which meant 10 men finished 20 seconds behind Martin. Surprisingly, young Michele Gaia kept up with the leaders to finish 5th. Cunego was in the next group with Gustav Larsson, coming in 1'22 behind. Soler finished just in front of the Cunego group.
But what on earth was wrong with Ivan Basso of Liquigas? Last year's dominant winner finished in a group 3 minutes behind stage winner Martin!
Tactics meeting
Well, the Giro is turned somewhat upside down. Ivan Basso's three minute loss yesterday is a real blow for his GC credentials. He has either completely lost it, or he has other targets than the Giro. Another big favourite, Damiano Cunego, also lost time on the first mountain top finish. Of the three biggest pre-race favourites, only Vincenzo Nibali is going well which means Kreuziger's chances are increasing. Today's stage is a 51km time trial which could damage the hopes of some of the contenders.
Sebastian Lang was one of the first to start the course, and he took the provisional lead.
It lasted until Bert Grabsch beat his countryman by 16 seconds..
The Danish time trial specialist Lars Bak bested the German champion by one second.
Now, how would Ivan Basso do? He is obviously on a mission to bring himself back into contention, as he crushed Bak's time by 39 seconds! Don't write off Ivan the Terrible yet.
Maybe Basso's ride wasn't that good after all? Lars Boom overtook his best time by 46 seconds! Either Boom was extraordinarily good, or Basso is indeed out of this Giro.
If I was impressed by Boom's ride, I was stunned by Gustav Larsson! The Swede thundered through the 51 kilometers to record a time that was 1'02 faster than Boom! If anyone was to beat this, they would have to ride a motorbike.
And Kreuziger didn't have a motorbike. But the King of the mountains on the day (Martin led that competition) finished just 30 seconds behind Larsson, which meant 1'18 better than Basso.
Kreuziger's hopes of getting the pink jersey today were dashed by the holder, Tony Martin. Although he didn't beat Kreuziger, he only lost 11 seconds to our captain. He could do nothing about Gustav Larsson, who had dominated this time trial!
Tactics meeting
After the first rest day, the Giro continues north toward the Alps and the Dolomites. There's still some way left though, so today's stage is flat. Will we see the first early breakaway of the Giro make it to the finish?
David Millar got into the day's main breakaway.
But with 10km remaining it was over for the last two escapees, Millar and Garcia Acosta. The peloton was shaping up for another mass sprint.
Sergio Marinangeli outsprinted both Cavendish and Hushovd today, to take an impressive sprint win. The double hero of a few of days ago, Assan Bazayev, was nowhere near the front.
Tactics meeting
The 11th stage is quite long, with the main difficulty coming at the end. The second mountain top finish of the Giro brings the race up to Terminillo. The climb is 21km long, with an average gradient of 6.3%. It's the first really testing mountain, and it'll be interesting to see how Kreuziger performs on a serious mountain.
The break of the day began the climb 5 minutes ahead of the main field.
Just as the peloton hit the climb, a strong-looking Franco Pellizotti launched an attack.
With 15km to the top, Pellizotti had passed the breakaway, and was the leader on the road. He was 2 minutes ahead of the peloton with all the favourites in it.
8 km from the finish, Soler & Basso had escaped from the favourites group, which didn't contain the pink jersey. Pellizotti led Soler&Basso by 1 minute, while Kreuziger and the other favourites were 30 seconds behind these two chasers.
Basso is obviously not strong at the moment. He had disappeared completely with 5 km remaining. Kreuziger and Nibali were closing in on Soler, who was the second rider the road behind Pellizotti.
Soler was passed by the two former Liquigas riders 1.5km away from the top.
Nobody passed Pellizotti, who had climbed Terminillo all on his own. Great stage win for the Italian! His winning margin over 2nd placed Nibali was more than a minute. Pellizotti has most definitely taken over leadership in the Liquigas team after Basso's poor performances.
Kreuziger struggled towards the end, while Soler recovered and managed to keep up with the fast pace of Nibali.
Kreuziger was even caught by Pozzovivo on the line, but our leader was now in the pink jersey because...
..Tony Martin finished 44 seconds down on Kreuziger, together with Brajkovic, Basso and young Michele Gaia, who performs well on a mountain top finish yet again.
You're thinking of his Romandie win? Well, he was in great shape then as well, but he doesn't hit red form level until the middle of the Giro. As you can see from his Giro stage win, he was 95, which is one level below maximum.
I think he will be able to keep a good form throughout the Giro
Tactics meeting
Yesterday, Pellizotti and Nibali showed that they'll probably be Roman's biggest rivals for the overall win. If he can limit his losses in the mountains, Tony Martin can also be dangerous in the final time trial. But today, Roman Kreuziger will keep his pink jersey without anybody trying to take it. The stage is as much as 235km long, but it's completely flat.
Riders like Lastras, Kroon, R.Feillu and Romandie stage winner De Lis were in today's breakaway. We were happy to let them go, meaning a less stressful day for us as race leaders.
None of the escapees wanted to sprint against Romain Feillu, so 20km from the finish, the first attacks occured.
Saxo Bank's Karsten Kroon got a gap of 1 minute when he had 14km remaining.
Nobody managed to close it, so the Dutchman won the stage! A good result for Kroon, who failed to defend his Ardennes wins this season.
10 minutes after Kroon received the cheers from the crowd, Hushovd led the peloton over the line.
