As the peloton approaches the top of the Passo Maloja, the rain begins to come down in earnest. The Giro is no stranger to bad weather. Although the Italian climate is usually very good at this time of the year, up in the mountains it can be a different story and frequently you will see Giro stages go over mountain passes that still have the snow piled up on the side of the road. Indeed, Andy Hampsten famously secured victory in the 1988 Giro after building up a sizeable lead on the Gavia pass during heavy falls of snow.

Today isn’t that bad, but the rain jackets are on. The day’s stage started in Austria, went into Switzerland and once they are over the Maloja, they will be back in Italy. The break has been caught and with thirty odd kilometres to the finish line, everyone is bracing themselves for a treacherous descent.

Diquigiovanni’s Alessandro Bertolini is the first to take his life in his hands, shooting off the front of the bunch almost immediately. The road is waterlogged, but Bertolini is descending like a demon, taking the corners as tight as he can in the rain and then sprinting out of them. He quickly builds up a gap, but has a long way to go. Once the road straightens out a little, pursuers begin to fire themselves off the front. Katusha’s Pavel Brutt and Barloworld’s Robbie Hunter are the first to try. Hunter, a sprinter by trade, can be hopeful of winning the stage from a small group. The tech geeks would probably notice that he’s riding a new, unreleased Bianchi framed, dubbed the ‘Infinito’ apparently.

The pair are then joined by the Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen and Fuji – Servetto’s Davide Viganò. Up front, Bertolini is doing everything he can to maintain his gap, squating down on the top tube, lying over the handlebars, trying to get as aerodynamic as he can whilst rocketing down the descent. Yet soon the five riders are all together and with 10 kilometres to go, it looks like they are going to stay away. Hunter and Edvald Boasson Hagen are the danger men. The South African has the sprint, while the Norwegian is showing great form this year, having already won Gent-Wevelgem. With a kilometre to go, Bertolini makes his move. It’s a long way out, but he doesn’t want all his work to be in vain. Boasson Hagen plays a clever game, waiting for Brutt to initiate the chase, which he promptly does. He rides the Russian’s wheel right up to Bertolini and then launches his own attack, which is so devastating that nobody can stay with him. First Gent-Wevelgem, now this, and he won’t be 22 until Sunday. This young man is going places.