The Giro d'Italia is one of three Grand Tours on the cycling calendar. It is airing daily on Universal Sports through May 29 and during the race daily recaps can be found here on this blog.
Today's Stage: The first mountain test for the field, though it turned out to be a mild one as the stage was short and climb not very steep.
Who won today's stage? Bart De Clercq attacked going up the final climb and held on, barely, as the race favorites came barrelling up the mountain after him.
What matters in the GC race? Peter Weening somehow held the pink jersey, an accomplishment for a lightly regarded climber. Michele Scarponi assumed the lead among the favorites with the time bonus gained from his second place finish on the stage.
Biggest surprise of the day: Co-surprise between De Clercq and Weening. Yesterday, I wrote that Weening had no chance of keeping the pink jersey. He did. Nobody would have batted an eye about a rider like De Clercq winning, but the way he did it was impressive, attacking on the final climb. Conventional wisdom held that a rider of his stature would have to win out of a long breakaway that stayed away, not a late-race mountain attack.
Biggest disappointment of the day: No GC contenders really attacked. They went after the time bonuses at the end, but nobody decided to unleash an attack and see where everyone stands.
Other items of note: Nobody of little note such as Marco Pinotti or Christophe Le Mevel ost any time today either meaning the pink jersey could easily change hands tomorrow.
What is coming tomorrow? A long, flat stage with an uphill finish. A sprint is possible, but I doubt it will come to that. Breakaway possible on the day before the major Mount Etna climbing stage.
Any GC changes tomorrow? Only possible on time bonuses. If Weening didn't crack today, he won't crack tomorrow. Pinotti, Kanstantin Sivtsov, Le Mevel and Scarponi are all in range of taking the leader's jersey on time bonuses though.
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