After an exciting stage yesterday, we have another one for you today. We are still in the mountains, and this time the riders will have to go up 9 hills in total. The first 7 of them are placed high up in the mountains, and there's not time to breath. Just after you have passed one hill, the next one starts. This also means that it will be difficult for the helpers to keep up. Will Cunego finally lose his great team of helpers?
The first attack was a pretty ambitious one. Redondo went on the first hill, and if he wanted to win, this would mean he would have to pass 200+ km and 8 hills all by himself -- good luck, I say.
It didn't take long, though, before several riders decided that they would like to pay him a visit. Surprisingly, some of these riders were high up in the rankings. Sella, placed 5th, attacks and is followed by many other great riders. But, as expected, the pink train goes to the front, and the escapees will have to give up.
Near the top, Schleck attacks for mountain points. It definitely seems like he has given up for the overall GC and instead focusing on the Mountain Jersey classification. Or has he? On the 4th mountain top of the day, he launches another attacks - but this time, we are 11 km from the top! He's followed by Pellizotti and Perez Cuapio -- a very strong group to let go! The group easily gets up to Redondo who can't keep up with the strong climbers.
Later on the climb, Marzoli gets away, and same goes for Botero. They do not work together, though, so it will definitely be a tough challenge for them. But later, near the top, we see the reason for Marzoli's attack -- Simoni goes flying up the mountain, passes Botero, who's caught later on the downhill section, and gets up to Marzoli. Redondo is, at this point, also caught. There's 78 km. to go, one mountain excluding the hill finish.
At the foot of the hill, the 3-man-break leading has a gap of 3'03 to the peloton which is down to 25 riders. Marzoli didn't have much to offer and had to let go, meaning that Simoni is now on his own.
The riders in the peloton didn't want to let Simoni be out alone for too long, though. Just at the foot of the climb, Ricco launches an attack along with several other GC-contenders -- and there's absolutely no response from Cunego!
After having thought about it for a little while, Cunego finally decides to attack. It did seem like he didn't have energy for it, but obviously he had! The attacks end up in being a new group of 8 riders: Sella, Lopez Garcia, Gadret, Cunego, Medina, Parra Pinto, Simoni and Carrara. In front them are Garzelli, who had just attacked from the group, and Ricco who's doing everything he can to get to E1.
Soon after the attacks, the 8-man-group are caught again. Cunego instantly knew that he had to do something, so he decided to attack again. This time, only Gil and Iglinsky could respond. Also, on the downhill, the news were that Carrara had been dropped from the group behind Cunego! It seems like he has reached his limit now.
In front of Carrara, the peloton was once again working hard to catch Cunego, and that mission was succesful with 21 km to go. At this point, there's 51 seconds to Ricco, who's still alone, and 3'16 to Pellizotti and Schleck who have just dropped Cuapio. After some hard work, he regains contact with Schleck and Pellizotti, though.
But he does have to pay for that at some point, and with just 4 km to go Cuapio is dropped again. The hill has just started, and it looks like Schleck has completed his mission -- to get nearly all MT-points AND take time on Cunego. Could it be any better?
Just before the hill finish, Ricco is caught by the chasing Cunego-group, and in front, Schleck and Pellizotti has started the sprint. Here, they realize that the hill really is a wall -- it's simply too steep! And the peloton is catching up with them from behind -- will they make it?
Schleck goes totally down with 1 km to go, and instead it looks like Cuapio makes it back, just in time to beat Pellizotti. And wait, what's this? It's the Cunego-group! They catch both Schleck and Cuapio. But it looks dead certain that Pellizotti will win today.
And he does! Pellizotti takes a great win today. Behind him, it's Garzelli fighting with ... Cunego for the 2nd place. And they have even managed to create a gap. This means that Cunego will take time on his closest rivals today! What a defence by him.
