Yesterday’s stage in Milan was to be something of a departure from the norm for the Giro, a 165 kilometre criterium around the streets of Milan. However, the day turned into something of a damp squib, as a rider protest saw the stage largely neutralised.

Rider power has been a feature of the sport since the 1960’s and races have been disrupted over issues ranging from safety concerns to drug testing. Trouble at this year’s Giro had been brewing for a number of days, with Lance Armstrong publicly complaining about the high speed descents in the rain. Well before yesterday’s stage, Barloworld’s sprinter Robbie Hunter wondered if a 165 kilometre crit was really necessary, arguing that a 100 kilometre affair would be just as entertaining. Pedro Horillo’s horrific crash on Saturday, in which the Rabobank rider came off the road and fell down a ravine, also no doubt focussed some minds on safety.

Yesterday’s protest appears to have been orchestrated by Armstrong, Di Luca and Columbia’s Mick Rogers. The eventual agreement with the organisers was that the peloton would ride most of the course at a relaxed tempo and only contest the finale of the race. Times would not count toward the general classification, meaning that the race was for the stage win only.

TV viewers may have wondered at what the riders were so concerned about, since judging by the pictures, the parcours appeared perfectly safe. However both Rogers and Hunter both explained afterwards that there were parked cars on the course, traffic bollards and, probably most worrying, parallel tram tracks.

When the race finally did get going, it once again came down to a duel between Mark Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi, with Garmin’s Tyler Farrar trying to crash the party. Cavendish’s Columbia team had the bunch strung out on the closing kilometres and the Manxman was perfectly positioned at the rear of his lead out train. Farrar’s team mates then upped the pace even more, with Bradley Wiggins and David Millar taking some massive pulls at the front. Petacchi meanwhile was playing a now familiar game of sitting on Cavendish’s wheel. However, this time around the Italian lost his position as Allan Davis, Matt Goss and Farrar all began bumping shoulders to squeeze into the Columbia slipstream. The cautious Italian slipped backwards and was unable to accelerate up to Cavendish when the latter made his move. Cavendish’s sprint was perfect in execution and although Davis and Goss tried to go with him, neither got remotely close.