A little odd to give this stage a mountain rating, it would have been more suited as a hilly stage, id have thought.
Piepoli took the first mountain points, in what would be his only attack on a day in which Saunier Duval would later announce that they will be selling Piepoli at the end of the season.
A Bouygues rider went clear, and noone joined him so the intermediate sprint was of interest to us.
Bettini, then Bennati, then McEwen for 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
At the final slope Andy Schleck led the first attack.
All the favourites followed, well not all - Piepoli just couldnt be bothered. Lazy.
Cunego led Simoni and Schleck over the summit but wheres Di Luca? He's in the third group on the road, about 1 and a half minutes behind the leading trio.
They descended well and kept up the pace. Cunego was the best sprinter and punched the air in delight.
He knows he may have just won the Giro with today's move,
Di Luca's group caught the 2nd group in the sprint, but time was still lost. And Piepoli? Thanks to his teammates his losses were not as big as they deserved to be. He has lost almost any shot of a podium place now though.
1
Damiano Cunego
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
5h09'50
2
Gilberto Simoni
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
3
Andy Schleck
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
4
Luca Mazzanti
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 1'27
5
Andrea Tonti
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
6
Joan Horrach
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
7
Giuseppe Guerini
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
8
Tom Danielson
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
9
Cyril Dessel
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
10
Danilo Di Luca
ASTANÁ
s.t.
11
Patxi Vila
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
s.t.
12
Rubén Plaza
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
13
Sérgio Paulinho
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
14
Kim Kirchen
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
15
Sandy Casar
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
s.t.
16
Ivan Parra Pinto
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 3'14
17
Axel Merckx
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
18
Remmert Wielinga
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
19
Michael Rogers
TEAM MILRAM
s.t.
20
Leonardo Piepoli
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
21
Maxime Monfort
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
22
Felix Cardénas
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
23
Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
24
Iker Camaño
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
25
Pietro Caucchioli
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
26
Vladimir Efimkin
ASTANÁ
s.t.
27
Vincenzo Nibali
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
28
Guido Trentin
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
29
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
+ 5'25
30
Wladimir Gustov
TEAM CSC
s.t.
31
Leonardo Bertagnolli
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
32
Mauricio Soler
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
33
Dario Cataldo
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
34
Andrei Mizourov
ASTANÁ
s.t.
35
José Luis Rubiera
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
36
Alex Ardila Cano
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
37
Vladimir Miholjevic
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
38
Ryder Hesjedal
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
39
José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
40
Addy Engels
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
+ 6'15
41
Patrik Sinkewitz
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
42
Matthieu Sprick
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
43
Hubert Schwab
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
44
Xavier Florencio
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
45
Rik Verbrugghe
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
46
Marco Velo
TEAM MILRAM
s.t.
47
Maxim Gourov
ASTANÁ
s.t.
48
Pierrick Fédrigo
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
49
Ruben Elvira Lobato
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
50
Amaël Moinard
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
That stage really sorted out the Giro. Cunego is a big favourite to win. 2nd is wide open while Piepoli will take 4th if Schleck cant catch up with him.
