Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez of Androni Gioccatoli finished off a solo attack, out-pacing a chase by Adriano Malori, Alex Dyachenko, Michel Golas and Cesare Benedettl to take the win in today's Giro d'Italia stage to Porto St. Elpidio. Malori held on to take the overall lead, holding a nine-second advantage over Golas and beating him for bonus seconds as well. The up-and-down transitional stage saw a sluggish peloton content to let the race get away from them. Garmin-Barracuda had little answer in its defense of the maglia rosa, as Ramunas Navardauskas slipped backward on the climbs and its other well-placed riders remained in the peloton, which finished another 51 seconds back.
Sprinters Tyler Farrar (Garmin), Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) all left the Giro following a crash earlier in the day. Overall leader Ramunas Navardauskas suffered on the climbs and saw his race lead go up the road. The day was otherwise low on drama as the race heads to bigger climbs over the weekend. Rubiano Chavez, meanwhile, capped an outstanding first spring with Androni, where he was second in the Trofeo Laigueglia, tenth in the Giro dell'Appenino and 11th in the Giro del Trentino. Malori, meanwhile, is the time trial champion of Italy but a rider with few results in the climbs. His stay in the maglia rosa may be brief. Results:
Stage:
- Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez, Androni
- Adriano Malori, Lampre, at 1.10
- Michel Golas, OPQS, s.t.
- Alexandr Dyachenko, Astana, s.t.
- Cesare Benedetti, NetApp, s.t.
- Malori
- Golas, at 0.15
- Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0.17
- Rubiano Chavez, at 0.30
- Christian VandeVelda, Garmin, at 0.32