Giro stage seven

Yeah, Argos seemed to think the finish line was about 500m closer than it was yesterday. Maybe someone messed with their electronics, like with the plane in Die Hard 2...

Hoping the break will be reeled in, ideally before the sprint points, and Di Luca goes for the hometown stage win - no scruples for me when it comes to picking "riders of dubious standing"!

The gap is now 7:10, making Sella now the virtual race leader.

This might kick start the fun.

Yeah, Vini Fantini don't seem happy that they've not got anyone in the break and Katusha want to keep the pink today so I see that gap coming down considerably.

Break's advantage down to under 4 minutes as they hit the first climb, could well be pulled back ahead of the sprints after all, Vini Fantini still working hard.

On another note... Uran has been quoted on Columbian radio as saying he hopes to finish top 5 and take the pink jersey today. He says he's working for Wiggins but clearly has ambitions of his own too.

Not sure what to do today, another difficult Medium Mountains day!, Dumped my 4 sprinters from yesterday, gone with 2 GC guys, 1 with a look in tomorrow. Given Sammy 'golden shoes' Sanchez a chance & Santambrogio. Stuck with Betancur & my 3 cheap DS.

Should have enough to play with credit wise to bring Sir Wiggo in.

Down under three minutes now - this could be a really good last 40km...

Uran just clipped Wiggo's back wheel at low speed on a climb and ended up in a heap on the floor!

This is all getting abit crazy.....aprt from Hansen being out front, and Sella also away, I haven't got a clue who is there or where they are.

Nibali went down on a decent too

Wiggins is down, Sella went down again, Nibali's been down.

This is mad.

Aparently Wiggins has been dropped on the descent and looks like he may lose time today, he's going to have to work so hard to get back on that it'll surely affect tomorrow too.

This is not going to plan for Sky.

This could be the end of Wiggins hopes.

Only positive it looks like Pirazzi was at the front (hopefully)

Riders dropping like flies... Hansen teaching everyone a lesson in riding a bike!

Wiggins is a good minute behind Nibali and co

Have to say Chapeau to Hansen - this is his fifth consecutive Grand Tour.

2,4,7 and 10 for me

1 HANSEN Adam Lotto Belisol Team 80 4:35:49
2 BATTAGLIN Enrico Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox 50 1:07
3 DI LUCA Danilo Vini Fantini 35 ,,
4 SANTAMBROGIO Mauro Vini Fantini 25 ,,
5 CARUSO Damiano Cannondale Pro Cycling Team 18 ,,
6 EVANS Cadel BMC Racing Team 15 ,,
7 PIRAZZI Stefano Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox 12 ,,
8 JEANNESSON Arnold Equipe Cycliste FDJ 10 ,,
9 WEENING Pieter Orica GreenEDGE 8 ,,
10 HESJEDAL Ryder Garmin - Sharp 6 ,,

3,4,7 & 9 for me

4,6 & 7, not as good a day as I'd hoped.

Wiggins loses a minute, that's huge. When he expected to be level going into tomorrow and up by a couple of minutes by the end of tomorrow to be that far down now is massive.

It's quite possible that having worked so hard today he may not be able to take more time from the rest than he's actually lost today and still behind after the TT.

2nd, 3rd, 4th & 6th Not bad

will i get any points for Intxausti becoming the new race leader???

Yes, top 10 in the GC are awarded 10 points down to 1.

Wiggins not in top 20 for GC.....

GC

1 Benat INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA Spain MOV 27 28:30:04
2 Vincenzo NIBALI Italy AST 29 +5
3 Ryder HESJEDAL Canada GRS 33 +8
4 Giampaolo CARUSO Italy KAT 33 +10
5 Mauro SANTAMBROGIO Italy VIN 29 +13
6 Cadel EVANS Australia BMC 36 +16
7 Robert GESINK Netherlands BLA 27 +19
8 Ivan SANTAROMITA Italy BMC 29 +28
9 Pieter WEENING Netherlands OGE 32 +29
10 Robert KISERLOVSKI Croatia RLT 27 +34

Mountain

1 Giovanni VISCONTI Italy MOV 30 14
2 Emanuele SELLA Italy AND 32 13
3 Stefano PIRAZZI Italy BAR 26 12
4 Adam HANSEN Australia LTB 32 12
5 Willem WAUTERS Belgium VCD 24 9

Pirazzi got the last point on the last climb

11 CARUSO Giampaolo ITA KAT 4:36:56 1:07
12 SERPA PEREZ Jose Rodolfo COL LAM 4:36:56 1:07
13 BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos A. COL ALM 4:36:56 1:07
14 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA Benat ESP MOV 4:36:56 1:07
15 VALLS FERRI Rafael ESP VCD 4:36:56 1:07
16 KELDERMAN Wilco NED BLA 4:36:56 1:07
17 KRUIJSWIJK Steven NED BLA 4:36:56 1:07
18 MAJKA Rafal POL TST 4:36:56 1:07
19 GESINK Robert NED BLA 4:36:56 1:07
20 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel ESP EUS 4:36:56 1:07

Watching it on the tv Wiggins didn't try hard to get back and was virtually creeping down the descent.

So as for tomorrow it wont effect him and to be honest if that little bit of effort does have an effect he is not the rider everyone knows he is.

Is there a bonus prize for scoring the same score on both your Standard & Purist teams with a different mix of riders?

148 points for Purist team

Finally Gavazzi gets the Lanterne Rouge. I've only been keeping him in as he has been trying for it all week. Time to ship him out now.

Weighing up how many changes to make, planned two teams, one with 4 changes, one with 7.

The 4 change team is probably a safer bet as the TT is always unpredictable and there's another road stage on Sunday but the 7 transfer team has Gesink and Intxausti in it...

Decisions decisions.