Another downhill run to a long, flat ride to a sprint finish. The Giro di Missouri is overshadowing the Vuelta this week! It'd be great if VN and CN would start publishing maps of the last 2km so we could start handicapping these things. Are there 4 90-degree benders in the last 500 meters? Long, flat, wide homestretch? Makes a difference... and it's not like anything else on this stage will contribute to determining a winner.
Alessandro Petacchi is making news, however. Two straight wins has propelled him to within range of points leader Paolo Bettini, who has leveled off some now that the real sprinters are taking over. Could Petacchi win the jersey after sleeping through the first week? One way to find out... see ya in the last 10km!