Just another transitional stage today... all that happened was another day of futility for Paolo Bettini; Emanuele Sella and his pavement pal Manuele Mori hit the deck twice while taking part in the day's decisive break; Serguey Gonchar dropped six minutes to the gruppo maglia rosa after touching the floor himself; and Joan Horrach soloed briefly out of obscurity to take the day's prize.
Sella and co. got away because CSC didn't think there was anyone worth chasing in the break, and they were basically right: Sella's move still leaves him the best-placed of the break at 4:21 to Basso. Gonchar's wounds were the only real development worth noting -- a former champ relegated from third overall to 21st, ten minutes down.
Oh, and another continental pro Adolfo Garcia Quesada took the honors in Catalunya today. Yesterday's shock winner Carlos Castana (Kaiku) was under attack but comes out with over a minute on his lead, still looking good for the overall.
Links on the flip:
- Get your race reports from today's Giro stage: Pez... BiciRace... CyclingNews... VeloNews (including the curious byline "VeloNews Interactive" -- but surely that doesn't mean what I think it means); oh, and the Paceline looks at Triki and Savoldelli's day in the saddle.
- If you're still hung up on yesterday's ITT, read Sam Abt's take.
- Not sick of CSC yet? You might be after the O'Grady interview, followed by the Sunderland Diary, in addition to rather complete coverage of every bland utterance passing Ivan Basso's lips.
- The day's best read from (who else?) Pez: Gino Bartali's place in Giro climbing history.
- On a vastly different note, read about the 7-Eleven reunion honoring Davis Phinney.