Giro 2 : Bad performance of Euskaltel

Instead of the classical sprinters stage, the Giro's first real stage was a classic with a tough climb at the end. I'm proud to say that Dioni Galparsoro was the first attacker this year. He got away from the peloton at 16 kilometres but he didn't get further than the beginning of the first mountain. Then the break of the day with Loosli and Roy got away. They had a maximal advantage of 10 minutes but at 45 kilometres before the finish they got caught again because they didn't work together. So the peloton rode together to the last climb.

It was ex-winner Danilo Di Luca's team LPR Brakes that made the pace. On the first ascent of the end climb they cut the peloton in half. I think I saw 3 riders of Euskaltel in there. With a group of approximately 80 riders started the last climb but only the big guns could follow the pace of LPR. It was Joaquim Rodriguez who was the first to attack and he seemed to be able to take the victory but in the last metres he was caught by Riccardo Ricco. Di Luca became second, Rebellin third. The yellow jersey has been taken by Pellizotti. The first Euskaltel rider to cross the finish was Alan Perez on a disappointing 60th place.

Tomorrow we will get a sprinters stage. Koldo hasn't done much effort today so we might get to see something good tomorrow.

Results
1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 5.48.35 (35.629 km/h)
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
...
60. Alan Perez +0:54
68. Ivan Velasco +0:54
82. Markel Irizar +1:12
124. Josu Agirre +5:37
125. Iñigo Landaluze +5:37
129. Aitor Galdos +5:37
147. Koldo Fernandez +11:01
163. Lander Apperibay +11:40
189. Dionisio Galparsoro +11:40

General Rank
1 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 6.15.16
2 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle +0.01
3 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC +0.07
...
77. Alan Perez +2:02
78. Ivan Velasco +2:02
89. Markel Irizar +2:20
125. Aitor Galdos +6:45
126. Josu Agirre +6:47
128. Iñigo Landaluze +6:50
151. Koldo Fernandez +12:09
170. Dionisio Galparsoro +12:48
181. Lander Aperribay +13:43