Italian Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) finally put his legs where his mouth was by setting off on a dramatic escape 50 km from the finish during the descent of the 3rd to last climb. With the help of his teammate, Il Falco Paolo Savoldelli, the two quickly built a lead of over 2 minutes. There was no panic back in the chase group containing leader Alberto Contador (Astana) and all of the other favorites. Most, including me, thought Di Luca's attack was suicide and too far from the finish.

Contador's teammates Antonio Colom and Andreas Klöden bravely brought him to the final climb before the rest of the action commenced. Contador accelerated but couldn't distance anyone. Finally, Italy's Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) put in a full forced effort that no one could respond to. Remember, he was only 41 seconds behind at the start of this stage. Di Luca powered on to finish 2nd on this stage after Belarussian Vasili Kiryienka (Tinkoff Credit Systems), who was the lone survivor of an earlier breakaway. Riccò followed shortly after gasping for each breath. Then the countdown began.

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Alberto Contador (Astana) finally did what most expected of him in this year's Giro. He took over as leader of the race but it wasn't easy and it definitely is not final. Italian Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) won his second straight stage by going into an early breakaway on what proved to be a tough day for Team Astana.

American Levi Leipheimer and German Andreas Klöden were all dropped on the penultimate climb and lost a huge amount of time today. Even Contador got distanced briefly on that same climb but was able to fight back to join the rest of the contenders on the descent just before the final push up to the summit of the Passo Fedaia. Once on that climb, it was mostly tempo until the final 5k when Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) jumped clear. Contador and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) took up the chase and for a moment distanced both Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) and Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni). In the end, it was a game of yo-yo amongst the GC contenders and Contador proved to not have enough and lost some seconds to the others. We hope that he can gain some ground in tomorrow's uphill time trial to the summit of Plan de Corones. The two remaining time trials mean his rivals would have to put some minutes into him to have a chance, so the pressure is all on them.

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Mark Cavendish (High Road) won a relatively uneventful stage 13 in a sprint over yesterday's winner Daniele Bennati (Liquigas).

Two main news points today include Mr. Cocky, Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) attempting a breakaway at km 26. Can we please start the real action? All of this showing off for the camera is annoying. Apparently, Di Luca hasn't learned to conserve energy ahead of this weekend's storm of mountain stages. He may be paying for all of this acting soon.

The second news point is a break in the peloton 5 km from the finish meant contenders Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott), Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) losing a few seconds, peanuts compared to this weekend's possible time gaps. Stay tuned!

Top 10 Results for Stage 13
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road..............................4.11.07
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
3 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
6 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre
7 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
9 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
10 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank

See the complete results here.

Today's post will talk about one of the most important cycling traditions still existing in the pro peloton; what should not happen when the leader of the race (or any other potential contender) crashes.

Team LPR Brakes and Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) seemed to not understand this. When maglia rosa Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) went down in a crash that also involved many other riders including Levi Leipheimer (Astana), Riccò, Danilo Di Luca and Paolo Savoldelli decided to attack. Of course, no one knows whether they knew there was a crash or not but the aggression lasted long enough that race radio would have informed them. Another clue would have been the countless other riders screaming at Riccò, Di Luca and Savoldelli to stop. What's wrong with these guys? Is winning their national tour getting to their heads that they don't think rationally?

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Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) showed today that perhaps he is the leading candidate for this year's Giro. He stormed out of the peloton to claim today's 8th Stage, his second this year. He outkicked compatriot Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) to gain the valuable 20 second time bonus given to the winner of each stage.

While this day ended with another sharp climb, some of the action happened mid-race when Alberto Contador (Astana) went down in a crash that claimed his teammate Steve Morabito. Contador was able to chase back but didn't contest the finish as he was just content on not losing any time. All of the other favorites arrived safely with the same time as Riccò ready for the next big test on Monday.

One has to think whether Riccò will be good enough in the high mountains fully a week from now. If he is this good, will he be able to keep his form? We can assume he will lose valuable minutes to some of the other GC contenders on Astana so his 20 seconds may go a long way.

Tomorrow's stage should be one for the sprinters as everyone would want to save energy for Tuesday's time trial. Monday is a rest day.

Top 10 results for Stage 8
1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott.............................4.41.05
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
5 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) LPR Brakes
6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
7 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
9 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes
10 Félix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld

See the complete results here.

RCS recently announced the official start list of this year's Giro. Arguably the hardest Grand Tour on paper will be off to a rock'n start just based on who will be lining up on May 10th. You can view the start list here.

As you can see, Astana is bringing everyone including the kitchen sink in order to prove they are the strongest stage race team. What will make it hard is the fact that these such riders have not had any formal preparation for this competition. Typically, riders train for months in advance of a 3 week tour so a lot will be unknown. Some good signs include Kloden's recent win at the Tour de Romandie and the early season successes of both Contador and Leipheimer. I'll be watching closely on cycling.tv.

I personally would be interested in seeing how 36 year old Gilberto Simoni does. I've always been impressed with the way he rides in the Giro. Despite his growing age, he always seems to shine in his home tour. Other top picks of course, include defending champ Danilo Di Luca but I personally think he's a one hit wonder in grand tours. Speaking of one hit wonders, you can add Jose Rujano to that list too. Apparently, having pressure is not his cup of tea as he hasn't done sh*t since the '05 Giro.

As I continue to browse up and down the start list, no team really stands out other than Astana. Di Luca's team is untested but they do have 2-time winner Paolo Savoldelli waiting in the wings if DiLuca falters. Saunier Duval-Scott will bring a stacked team including Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli but they can't seem to challenge for the GC so it will be stage wins only. Too bad CSC won't bring Andy Schleck as he would have added another dynamic to the race. But I'll be rooting for the 2 US based teams, High Road and Slipstream Chipotle to do good things. They won't be GC contenders but stage wins are more than possible.

So we have it. A stacked field for the Giro in terms of individual cyclists but no one team seemingly strong enough to control things except for Astana. For most people, this makes for an exciting race. Stay tuned as I follow the race and provide my personal highlights and opinions to all.

Ciao!