Greig Leach

As I have discussed in previous post, it is a very long shot to succeed in a break away. The odds are even longer on a flat stage like today. Most of the sprinters have few stages that can honestly expect to contend for victory, so they are not about to let a break away succeed. So it was perhaps in vain that Eduard Michael Grosu and Alessandro Malauti both riding for Nippo Vini Fantini along with Alan Marangoni (Cannondale Garmin), Marek Rutiewicz (CCC Sprandi) and Marco Bandiera (Androni Giacattoli) rode off the front of the peloton on a stage that was marked as one for the sprinters.