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.

Riccò saluting the crowd. Can he keep this up?

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.

An exciting finish ended a very sad day for Americans and the Slipstream-Chipotle team on the 2nd stage of the Giro. One of America's best riders, David Zabriskie, crashed out today with a broken L1 vertabrae. News reports describe the injury as not serious. But it's a disappointing blow for his team as he would have been a serious contender for the time trials to come.

Italian Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) won today's stage after outsprinting his rivals including Davide Rebellin and defending champ Di Luca. Italian Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), 4th on today's stage, took over the pink leaders jersey by 1 second over American Vande Velde. The top 6 riders were able to gap the rest of the peloton and were able to gain some valuable seconds over other contenders like Astana's Klöden, Contador and Leipheimer. The big loser of the day was Columbian Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) who lost 54 seconds up the final short but steep rise to the finish.

I'm personally impressed with Riccò's win because he hasn't shown his form as of late. He's had some bad luck in the early season thanks to crashes, but clearly he's been training aggressively. I'm not too worried about the few seconds Astana lost because these sharp climbs are more suited for a punchy rider. All 3 of Astana's leaders are more suited for the long climbs of the higher mountains.

Tomorrow's stage 3 should be more for the sprinters. It'll probably be the typical long break away that gets absorbed a few kilometers from the end giving way to the speedsters. This being Italy, the stage will probably start out very slow. One of the biggest differences between the Tour de France and the Giro is the pace of the race. While it is not unusual for the average speed of a 100 mile stage to be around 30 mph at the Tour, Giro stages would be lucky to average above 20 mph for the first half. Something has to be said for the Italian way of life!

Riccò giving the winners salute. Credit: REUTERS
Top 10 results for stage 2:
1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott..........5.48.35
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
5 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes
6 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
7 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Française des Jeux.............0.07
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas.............................0.08
9 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott
10 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana

See complete results here.