Today's stage would have been so much more interesting if the first two mountains were placed in the last part of the stage instead of the beginning. Instead, it will be a sprinter's stage if the sprinters are able to make it back on the long, flat part after the two mountains.
A few riders did want to try their luck, though. Astarloa was obviously disappointed about seeing Suaza win yesterday, so today he tried again. With him was Tschoop, Hulsmans and Veikkanen. Veikannen isn't the best climber, though, so that means he was dropped immediately and catched by the peloton again.
That group didn't last for long too, either. Tschoop had learned something from his teammate, Suaza, and broke away from the two others on the very first mountain. For a long time, it seemed like Hulsmans and Astarloa would make it back, but instead the gap between them ended up being about 1'30.
The gap from P to E1 topped at 7'11 with 100 km to go. After that, the peloton started chasing, and the gap decreased very fast. There was no way, any of them would make it to the finish.
With 20 km to go the adventure was over.
After that, the peloton slowed down a lot. That probably pleased the sprinters a lot since they were now able to make it back. With 12 km to go, many of the sprinters got contact with the peloton again, including Hunter, Hushovd and Bennati.
It ended up being a very weird sprint. Hunter didn't go past his lead-out man. Instead, it seemed like an easy win for Bennati, but for some reason he didn't go past the rider in front of him until the very last meters. Instead, it seemed like a victory for Cunego (!), but then Duque finally woke up and took the win. Cunego and Garzelli fought for the 2nd place, and after several reviews, the 2nd place was awarded to Cunego
