Cycling: The first real mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia brought the expected change at the top of the overall standings. Twelve years after ex-mountain biker Cadel Evans (BMC) received the Maglia Rosa for the first time, he was able to celebrate in pink again in Montecopiolo. A fifth day rank was enough for him. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) secured the stage win. For the Italian it was already the second success in this Giro.
With the local mountain of Marco Pantani, who died ten years ago, the Carpegna, the eighth part of the day was steeped in history. And indeed, a preliminary decision should be made on the first of the two difficult climbs of the stage. Until then, a leading group around the Colombian Julian Arredondo (Trek) had dominated the race. In addition to him, last year's mountain classification winner, Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani-CSF), ensured the pace at the top. However, they were able to extend the lead over the field to little more than four minutes. On the Carpegna both therefore decided to leave their competitors behind, with Arredondo clearly having the better legs.
The Colombian tackled the last thirty kilometers solo after breaking away from Pirazzi with a powerful acceleration. At the end of the day he was happy about the blue jersey of the best climber. The day's victory, however, made other among themselves.
After the teams of the overall favorites steadily reduced the gap to the leaders on the Carpegna climb, dropping Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) in the process , Frenchman Pierre Rolland (Europcar) seized the initiative before the final ascent. With just under two kilometers to go, he caught up with Arredondo and carried a small lead over the group containing Evans and Ulissi into the final kilometer. However, when Daniel Moreno (Katusha) upped the pace 500 meters from the finish, his chances were effectively over. Moreno himself prompted Ulissi's surge, and only Robert Kiserlovski (Trek) was able to challenge him. The Croatian ultimately finished second. A gap opened up behind the two leaders. Dutchman Wilco Keldermann (Belkin) secured third place in the sprint, finishing six seconds behind.
Since Matthews couldn't stay with Evans' group, the Maglia Rosa passes to the 2011 Tour de France winner. Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) is currently second in the general classification, and Poland's Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) is third. Besides Matthews, Michele Scarponi (Astana) also lost significant time and will therefore no longer be in contention for the pink jersey.
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