2...Two...II

Rest day in the Giro today and it comes on the back of a string of doubles.

Saunier Duval's Ricardo Ricco had registered his second stage win in the Giro on Saturday. Last night Daniele Bennati (pic) took his second stage win and world champion Paolo Bettini came close two stages in a row, and was denied on the line, first by Ricco on Stage Eight from Rivisondoli to Tivoli, covering 208 km. Ricco's first win was on Stage Two.
Stage Nine last night turned out to be the first real big bunch sprint, albeit through dangerously slim and winding roads leading to the end of the longest stage of the Giro thus far (218km) in San Vicenzo.
There was Milram in the picture, pulling their train for Erik Zabel, High Road was there for Mark Cavensih, Gerolsteiner was there for Robert Forster, Danilo Hondo was led-out by Serramenti Diquigiovanni teammate Rafaele Iliano, albeit to no avail. Tinkoff Credit Systems had shown a slight hint that they were gonna put one exciting young sprinter Nikolai Trusov in the picture, but that too didn't work out. CSF-Group Navigare were not in the picture, but sprinter Tiziano Dall'antonia did do enough damage with his shoulders and arms to stop Cavendish from registering his second win.

But young Cavendish must learn to keep focus and not start venting his frustrations by pointing fingers at Dall'antonia, or any adversary for that matter, 10 metres from the finish line when the bunch is pushing in at break-neck speed!! Watch the finish on TV and you'll see.
Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti holds on to the maglia rosa with a 34s advantage over first chaser Matthias Russ of Gerolsteiner and the main contenders are led by Liquigas' defending champion Danilo di Luca at seven minutes adrift. A chunk of that time, I expect, will be eaten up in the first of the time trials over 34 km from Pesaro to Urbino tomorrow. Although Visconti will have to fare really bad to lose the maglia rosa to one of the main contenders (di Luca, Ricco, Contador, Simoni) tomorrow.