Italian Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) won a controversial photo finish over Brit Mark Cavendish (High Road) in today's 12th stage. Race officials awarded the win to Bennati after analyzing the photo. What makes it controversial is that a lot of people believe Cavendish actually pulled ahead at the last millimeter when looking at the footage! Maybe there is a reason why Italians have won the last 11 Giro's. In any case, it was a great sprint by, who are clearly, the two fastest finishers in this year's race.

Tomorrow's stage should be ditto. But then again, it is the Giro. So we will see how it unfolds.

It could not be closer! Credit: AP

Then again, the officials are always right. Credit: AP

Top 10 Results for Stage 12
1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas....................................4.05.29
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
4 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
5 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
6 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
7 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Scott
8 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
9 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

See the complete results here.

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) took his second stage of this year's Giro after a closely fought sprint between him and fellow Italian Paolo Bettini (Quick Step). Australian Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) looks to be back in form as he took a well placed 3rd.

It was a relatively uneventful stage except for when Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) tried his luck with an attempt at a breakaway with less than 20 km to go. One has to wonder if he will pay for his futile efforts later when the Giro really gets tough. As a fan, it seems that Riccò is getting to be a bit too cocky. This seems to be all too common for these Italian contenders. Di Luca likes to go back and forth between the head of the peloton and his team car to display how strong he is, Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) likes to complain that the only reason he is getting beat is because Basso is an alien and Riccò seems to love wasting energy on a stage he should be conserving his energy. Based on his past time trialing, Riccò needs as much energy as he can muster on Tuesday. Most pundits think that he'll lose some significant time to the Astana boys and possibly Di Luca if he can discover his time trial form.

We'll have to wait and see as the Giro takes it's next step. Expect a major shake up on GC after Tuesday's time trial.

Bennati outkicks Bettini to win his 2nd stage.

Top 10 Results for Stage 9
1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas......................................5.30.06
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
6 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
7 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
8 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
9 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
10 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale

See the complete results here.

First let me start out by saying that I've backed myself into a corner and have set a precedent that I may not be able to sustain. This will be my 3rd straight post for the Giro and have started to establish daily updates. I'll try my best to continue this routine to at least the end of the Giro.

Today's stage was marked more for its crashes than anything else. A major spill in the middle of the stage brought down favorite Riccardo Riccó (Saunier Duval – Scott), David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle) and teammates Brad McGee and Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC). While Riccó rejoined the peloton, McGee had to abandon because of a broken collarbone. Although O'Grady finished the stage, he had to leave the Giro because of his own broken collarbone. Too bad for CSC.

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) won today's stage by beating 80 year old (seriously, how old is he?) Erik Zabel (Milram) and Danilo Hondo (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli) in a sprint. (Boy that's a long team name!)

Back at the finish, it was confirmed that Riccó broke his finger. There was clearly something wrong with him as he spent the majority of the remainder of the stage at the back of the peloton, staring at his hand whenever Italian TV showed him. CyclingTV's commentators kept commenting on this. They were clearly annoyed at how much of a baby Riccó acted. We'll see how this affects him later on.

Tomorrow's stage is a bit more interesting in that it includes another short but sharp climb before the finish. Look for another puncher to claim the day.

Bennati wins!
Top 10 Results for Stage 3:
1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas.........................5.37.01
2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
3 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
4 Thomas Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner
5 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
6 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
7 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
8 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne
9 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
10 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Gerolsteiner

See the complete results here.