Off the top of the penultimate climb of the day, Yaroslav Popovych seizes his opportunity and attacks. He, Damiano Cunego and LPR’s Gabriele Bosisio are all that’s left of the day’s break. Popovych is once again riding like his old self. Some excellent rides at the Giro in his early years saw him transfer to Lance Armstrong’s Discovery team. Although briefly touted as perhaps the next big thing, Popovych carved out a niche for himself as an incredibly able domestique. Last year he transferred to Lotto to fill the same role for Cadel Evans and was largely anonymous, dropping off the back of the bunch any time the pace went up in the mountains. This year he is back back with Armstrong and directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel at Astana and riding strongly again. Go figure.

Behind him Damiano Cunego is the one who responds. Usually a good descender, Cunego is struggling to bridge the gap. Today is his big hope of a stage win and salvaging something from what’s been a poor Giro by his standards. Indeed, to date, his most notable contribution to the race has been some slightly cryptic commentary in the press. After some earlier comments about riding with a “clear conscience”, he was back in the media again last week, speaking about how fast the race was this year. “Clearly there are others who are going stronger than me. I am giving 110 percent, and evidently it is not enough. But why do I need to worry, it is bicycle racing and there are other things in life,” he said.

Behind them, the race for the overall classification is beginning to come to the boil. The main bunch has already thinned out considerably by the top of the climb and as they approach the day’s final climb at Monte Petrano, race leader Denis Menchov’s Rabobank team are on the front.

Ivan Basso is the first to go, tracked by Menchov and Di Luca. Everyone else looks to be cooked, but as the pace slows riders begin to bridge across. Carlos Sastre, who just a moment ago looked to be in trouble, then makes his move. The first time he gets a response, the second he’s let go. Basso is the only one who tries to follow getting a gap on the chasers but still a fair bit behind the Spaniard.

Bridging up to Menchov and Di Luca is Lance Armstrong. However, his team leader Levi Leipheimer is nowhere to be seen. Inevitably, Armstrong has to drop back to wait for the struggling Leipheimer and try to pace him up the climb to limit his losses. Today is the day that the Giro slipped away from Leipheimer. The favourite almost by default at the start, since there were question marks over the form of many other contenders, the American has proved once again that he isn’t really in the top tier of riders. Armstrong, who looked well off the pace in the first half of the race is now looking ominous and appears to be riding himself into the form that would see him classed as a threat in the Tour, something which is almost unbelievable when you consider his age and the length of time he has been away from the sport.

Sastre meanwhile has caught and passed Cunego and Popovych, who have both finally succumbed to the combination of a tough stage and unyielding heat. The stage win is now his and while his gap isn’t significant, the time bonuses for the win mean that he has taken back 41 seconds from Menchov. With Leipheimer and Pellizotti blowing up, he is now up to third overall. Still 2 minutes and 19 seconds back from Menchov, he will have to attack again in the coming days if he is to take the pink jersey.

Behind him, Menchov and Di Luca catch Basso, who has been trying hard to ride himself back into contention. Basso has proven over the past two days that he is still a force to be reckoned with and finishes the day only 11 seconds behind his wilting team mate Pellizotti in the overall classification. But his riding is stil a far cry from 2006, when he won the Giro Terminator style, with over nine minutes advantage on the second placed rider.

Menchov meanwhile has played a clever game. Putting two team mates into the break meant they could drop back and help him on the approach to Monte Petrano. He doesn’t panic when Sastre attacks, since the Spaniard was three minutes down and he could afford to let him away. Instead, he sticks with Di Luca, who after the collapse of Leipheimer is his closest rival. Any time Di Luca attacks, Menchov rides right up to his wheel. Even at the close of the stage, Menchov sprints past him to take second and extend his gap over the Italian slightly. Di Luca’s peformance though has been unreal. Not a natural in the big mountains or in the time trial, he has stayed up there against all odds again this year. His only hope is that Menchov has a bad day, yet so far the Russian has looked untouchable.