After a short 110km stage yesterday it was back to reality and a 200km+ stage last night.
Stage 8 was described as a sprinters stage, except for the short steep climb just before the finish with a handful of switch backs and tight corners and a gradual incline to the finish line (hardly sounds like a sprinters finale)
It was another race won by an outsider taking their biggest win of their career, this time it was won with a clever breakaway with just over 1km to go on the steep section of the climb, a break that would never be caught. Oscar Gatto from team Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli took a comfortable win over ALBERTO CONTADOR! Cuntador also jumped clear with just under 1km to go and stayed clear finishing a bike length behind Gatto to claim some valuable time bonuses and a drag himself closer to the lead of the race.
It was an interesting time of the race for Cuntador to show his form and steal some time. It looked as though he could have won the stage but seemed happy to roll up behind Gatto in the last 200m. It will make stage 9 interesting to see if Cuntador will attack and try to take the Pink Jersey or will he be happy to see Pinotti, Scarfacedpony or maybe Le Mevel take the Pink Jersey for a few days and give Saxo bank a chance to rest before surely having to defend the jersey later in the tour.
With stage 9 including a hell of a climb up to the top of the currently ERUPTING! volcanoe Mt Etna sure to start shaking things up in the GC race and certainly the KOM classification. SBS are finally showing some of the 2011 Giro live! Sunday night (tonight) at 11:25pm on SBS two is live coverage of the stage.
HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO
STAGE RESULTS
| 1 | Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | 4:59:45 | |
| 2 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard | ||
| 3 | Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre – ISD | 0:00:05 | |
| 4 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team | ||
| 5 | Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | ||
| 6 | Davide Appollonio (Ita) Sky Procycling | ||
| 7 | Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team | ||
| 8 | Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | ||
| 9 | Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Team Garmin-Cervelo | ||
| 10 | Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | ||
| 11 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | ||
| 12 | Elia Favilli (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | ||
| 13 | Russell Downing (GBr) Sky Procycling | ||
| 14 | Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) Team RadioShack | ||
| 15 | Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) Team Garmin-Cervelo | ||
| 16 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | ||
| 17 | Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team | ||
| 18 | Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team | ||
| 19 | Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD | ||
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 8
| 1 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 28:09:49 | |
| 2 | Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad | 0:00:02 | |
| 3 | Marco Pinotti (Ita) HTC-Highroad | ||
| 4 | Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Team Garmin-Cervelo | 0:00:05 | |
| 5 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard | 0:00:13 | |
| 6 | Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD | 0:00:14 | |
| 7 | Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:22 | |
| 8 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:00:24 | |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 0:00:28 | |
| 10 | Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli | 0:00:33 | |
| 11 | Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Sky Procycling | 0:00:39 | |
| 12 | David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:40 | |
| 13 | Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team | 0:00:44 | |
| 14 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana | ||
| 15 | Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Pro Team Astana | 0:00:52 | |
| 16 | Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC | 0:00:55 | |
| 17 | Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 0:01:01 | |
| 18 | Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team | 0:01:06 | |
| 19 | Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:01:07 | |
| 20 | Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:01:15 |
KOM
| 1 | Bart De Clercq (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 11 | pts |
| 2 | Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 10 | |
| 3 | Federico Canuti (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox | 9 | |
| 4 | Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Colnago – CSF Inox | 8 | |
| 5 | Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD | 7 | |
| 6 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana | 6 | |
| 7 | Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Team Garmin-Cervelo | 5 | |
| 8 | Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team | 5 | |
| 9 | Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone | 3 | |
| 10 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | 3 |
SPRINTERS
| 1 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 7 | pts |
| 2 | Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | 5 | |
| 3 | Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 5 | |
| 4 | Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team | 5 | |
| 5 | Sebastian Lang (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 5 | |
| 6 | Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 5 | |
| 7 | Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Saxo Bank Sungard | 5 | |
| 8 | Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre – ISD | 4 | |
| 9 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | 4 | |
| 10 | Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | 4 |
POINTS
| 1 | Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre – ISD | 64 | pts |
| 2 | Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Team Garmin-Cervelo | 48 | |
| 3 | Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 42 | |
| 4 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard | 40 | |
| 5 | Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre – ISD | 38 | |
| 6 | Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | 37 | |
| 7 | Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team | 36 | |
| 8 | Davide Appollonio (Ita) Sky Procycling | 32 | |
| 9 | Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Androni Giocattoli | 28 | |
| 10 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 25 |
TEAMS
| 1 | Movistar Team | 83:48:31 | |
| 2 | Pro Team Astana | 0:00:01 | |
| 3 | Geox-TMC | 0:01:06 | |
| 4 | Androni Giocattoli | 0:01:21 | |
| 5 | Sky Procycling | 0:02:32 | |
| 6 | Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:03:55 | |
| 7 | AG2R La Mondiale | 0:03:58 | |
| 8 | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:04:37 | |
| 9 | Rabobank Cycling Team | 0:07:02 | |
| 10 | Katusha Team | 0:07:08 | |
| 11 | Lampre – ISD | 0:07:23 | |
| 12 | Acqua & Sapone | 0:09:03 | |
| 13 | HTC-Highroad | 0:09:56 | |
| 14 | Team Garmin-Cervelo | 0:10:16 | |
| 15 | Colnago – CSF Inox | 0:12:10 | |
| 16 | Quickstep Cycling Team | 0:13:10 | |
| 17 | Saxo Bank Sungard | 0:15:12 | |
| 18 | Omega Pharma-Lotto | 0:16:48 | |
| 19 | Team RadioShack | 0:23:22 | |
| 20 | Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:26:15 | |
| 21 | BMC Racing Team | 0:32:45 | |
| 22 | Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli | 0:37:25 |
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