the killer

In my excitement I neglected to remember that today's Giro stage had been changed, but despite dropping the Col de Vars and the Col d'Izoard due to the possibility of landslides, it was still a real brute of a stage. Fittingly the 262km monster was won by race leader Danilo Di Luca, with the Killer showing great form, riding away from the leading pack on the stage's final climb and finishing in typically strong fashion. As for the other GC contenders, none were too far behind, with Menchov, Pellizotti and Sastre finishing 10 seconds back and Leipheimer, Basso and Rogers finishing 29 seconds down. Lance was also in this group and appears to be riding himself back into good shape. Garzelli's solo effort, alone for some 150km or so before being caught, was to the delight of the tifosi and an apt performance for a stage designed to celebrate Coppi's otherworldly feat in 1949. I still like Levi for the overall, only 1.40" back with the TT's to come...