Today’s stage traveled 180 km from the town of Vasco to Pestocostanzo. This was not a flat stage by any measure, but the only challenge for these guys is said to be the climb to Pietransieri, which comes 23 km from the finish.

Ricardo Ricco stated before the start of today’s race that he wanted to make a big move today - a solo crossing at the finish. It’s said that he likes to talk big, but has not had the results to back up his statements.

The race started just after noon and there were numerous attacks and breakaways. Vasil Kiryienka (Tinkoff Credit Systems) got away first at km 8 but was captured. He then got away again at km 14, this time with a large group of others.  By km 21, it was just him with Gabriele Bosisio (LPR Brakes) and Filippo Savini (CSF Group Navigare). Others were able to bridge until there was a solid group of seven consisting of Kiryienka and Bosisio along with Emanule Sella (CSF Group Navigare), Joan Horrach (Caisse d’Epargne), Fortunato Baliani (CSF Group Navigare), Simon Spilak (Lampre) and Félix Rafael Cárdenas (Barloworld).

A couple of riders dropped out around km 70. I wonder sometimes why some of these guys even start - do they wake up feeling bad, but think that they’ll go out and give it a try? Are there extra financial benefits for starting a stage?

The racers were split into three groups today. The leaders, a chasing group and the main gruppo around the race leader.  The chase group was as large as 36 riders earlier in the race, but by km 140, there was a group of 7 chasers just under 3 minutes back with the peloton  over 6 minutes back.

Bosisio, Cardenas and Sella crossed the first intermediate sprint in that order. Astana was still leading the chase at the front of the gruppo, with Diquigiovanni and Saunier-Duval Scott in there as well. At the base of the climb to Pietransieri, the gruppo was still 5 minutes and 14 seconds behind the leaders.

With 20 km to go, Spilak and Horrach had dropped out of the lead group. Sella, Kiryienka and Bosisio are still going strong. LPR started to ramp up the chase, hoping to put Di Luca on the podium today, but it was a little late given that most of the remainder of the race is uphill. The gruppo did overtake the intermediate group of chasers, however.  That’s when things really started to get interesting, with some riders from the gruppo trying to bridge, while others in the lead run out of gas and drop out. Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step), and then Leonardo Piepoli were just a couple of notable riders that made moves. Di Luca and Alberto Contador (Astana) started to show signs of life as well.

Sella, Bosisio and Kiryienka were the first riders over Pietransieri. Di Luca, Piepoli, Ricco and Contador were now chasing a little over two and a half minutes behind; for a while, it looked as if this group could possibly overtake the leaders. Piepoli was said to be doing most of the work. This was surprising as he seemed to be lagging earlier in the race.

With just 4 km to go, Bosisio was still hanging on to the lead. He had about a 1 km lead over the chasers.

Bosisio stayed up front all the way to the end. Kiryienka, Sella, Cardenas, Di Luca, Ricco and Piepoli crossed next in that order. Visconti finished four minutes back, but will hold on to the maglia rosa. Matthias Russ (Gerolsteiner) is still in second. Bosisio is the big mover of the day; he now sits in third, but is nearly 6 minutes back from Visconti. Danilo di Luca is now in 4th, and Alberto Contador breaks into the Top 10, almost 8 minutes back in 9th place.