Yesterday’s stage to Bergamo seemed unlikely to be one that would affect the overall classifcation. Although fairly lumpy, the terrain wasn’t severe enough to encourage a shake-up and the general consensus was it was likely to favour the stars of the hilly classics, since the stage covered similar territory to the Giro di Lombarida. Race leader Danilo Di Luca was in with a shout of adding a second stage win this year, while Stefano Garzelli was no doubt eyeing this up as an opportunity and Philip Gilbert probably saw it as an opportunity to bring home a much needed win after failing to register one in the spring classics campaign. Most eyes though were fixed on Damiano Cunego. The fact that he has won Lombardia three times was ample enough evidence that this was perfect stage for him.

The Italian has been having a bad Giro and was sitting three and a half minutes back in the overall classification. Having won the race in 2004, he hasn’t looked like repeating the feat, despite a number of good placings. He ended up voicing his frustration on Wednesday, when he made some thinly veiled comments about some of his rivals, claiming that he was riding with a “clear conscience”. “There’s a stage result that has punished me sometimes and then there’s a stage result, let’s say, in life, where everyone has to look at themselves in the mirror. I’m not the only who does the right thing but I do it. We’ve already seen some result rewritten when races have been archived and that hurts,” he said.

It’s not the first time he’s made these suggestions, having had a bit of an exchange earlier this year with Ivan Basso. Cunego began to make a big deal about the fact that he was riding clean last year, even sporting a temporary tattoo at the Tour de France. Previously though he had raised eyebrows due to his past association with Dr. Luigi Cecchini.

Back to yesterday’s stage, everything seemed to be going to plan for Cunego, with his Lampre team coming to the front at the business end of the stage and reeling in the day’s break. On the day’s penultimate climb, the Colle del Gallo, Cunego then sprang free in a small group containing Garzelli. However Mick Rogers and Franco Pellizotti then combined to casually toss a hand grenade into the race by also positioning themselves in the escape.

Rogers is Columbia’s man for the overall classification. A three time world time trial champion, he is capable of riding a good stage race but was a bit of an unknown quantity coming into the Giro. He has missed much of the past two years due to injury, but has begun to look like he is coming back to form this year and has been tipped as a darkhorse for the general classification and started the day third overall, just 36 seconds down from Di Luca.

Pellizotti meanwhile led Liquigas at last year’s Giro and finished a strong fourth. With Ivan Basso now on the team, the two officially are class as co-leaders, but most observers would class Pellizotti as Plan B. Basso’s primacy was underlined on stage five, when he and the other leading contenders rode away from Pellizotti on the the Alpe di Siusi. Nevertheless, he remained only 1:27 off the lead in the overall classification.

While the presence of Pellizotti and Rogers in the break didn’t seem to bother the other favourites, Astana’s Levi Leipheimer decided that he was leaving nothing to chance and attacked out of the peloton to bridge across to the group. This was now a very dangerous escape and a furious pursuit was mounted. Di Luca’s LPR team had to bury themselves at the front to protect his maglia rosa, assisted by Rabobank’s Laurens Ten Dam, who was riding for his team leader Denis Menchov. The break was duly caught, destroying Cunego and Garzelli’s chances of a stage win. With the bunch clearly wiped out from the pursuit, Kanstantsin Siutsou launched an opportunistic attack to solo home for the stage win, the second in the row for the Columbia team.