Stage


Stage 8 results: Break succeeds; Saxo Bank's Chris Sorensen solos the final 8 km



15 Big Photos from Stage 8 — sirotti/rcs
Stage 8 results
1  Chris Sorensen (Saxo Bank)    189 km in 4:50:48 (39.0 km/h)
2  Simone Stortoni (Colnago)                + 0:30
3  Xavier Tondo (Cervélo)                   + 0:36
4  Evgeni Petrov (Katusha)                  + 0:49
5  John Gadret (AG2R)                       + 0:55
6  Damiano Cunego (Lampre)                  + 0:56
7  Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone)        
8  Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana)
9  Cadel Evans (BMC)
10 Ivan Basso (Liquigas).
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)

General Classification after Stage 8
1  Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana)          29:01:26
2  Cadel Evans (BMC)                        + 1:12
3  Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)               + 1:33
4  Ivan Basso (Liquigas)                    + 1:51
5  Marco Pinotti (Team HTC-Columbia)        + 2:17
6  Richie Porte (Saxo Bank)                 + 2:26
7  Vladimir Karpets (Katusha)               + 2:34
8  Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone)        + 2:47
Full Results  |  General Classification after Stage 8 — gazzetta.it
Sørensen terrific on the Terminillo — cyclingnews
Saxo’s Chris Sorensen wins stage 8 — velonews
Deen wint eerste bergrit in Ronde van Italië — sporza.be
Sorensen vince sul Terminillo Vinokourov conserva la rosa — gazzetta.it
  Last Km (06:40 italian) — raisport
  Last Km (flemish, restricted to Belgium) —sporza.be
  Stage 8 Highlights (02:09 restricted to U.S.) — universalsports
  Last 2.5 km (10:57 italian) — rai
  PROCESSO 8ª TAPPA: Post-Game Show (48:00 italian) — raisport
Graham Watson stage 7 photos — grahamwatson
  Climb of Monte Terminillo: Part 1 (10:57)  |  Part 2 (10:57)  |  Part 3 (10:59)  |  Part 4 (10:54) — rai
  Stage 8 Highlights (05:39 english) — sbs
15 Big Photos from Stage 8 — sirotti/rcs
  Highlights della tappa (02:48 italian) — video.gazzetta.it

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May 16 update: Well, this is the first mountain stage and there are already huge gaps in the General Classification after the crashes and wind in Holland over the first three days and the mudfest on the run up to Montalcino on stage 7 yesterday.

Stage 8 starts in Chianciano Terme just 8 km south of Tuscany's most famous hilltop town, Montepulciano, and then runs down the center of Italy. There are two cat 3 GPMs along the rolling route to the base of the mountaintop finish (profile) at Monte Terminillo () (16 km at 7.3%, 1168m of gain). Monte Terminillo was last featured in Stage 7 of the 2003 Giro. The key moment that year was when Gilberto Simoni put in a strong attack with 6 km to go to drop everyone except Stefano Garzelli (). Garzelli then went on to nip Simoni at the line. The stage results show that the top nine riders on the day finished within a minute of the winner. However, 26 riders were within 2 minutes of the lead that year going into the stage. This year, the 26th place rider on GC is Bradley Wiggins and he's 8:39 off the lead.

The climbers will be itching to get back some time today. Everyone, especially the GC contenders, will be exhausted from the cold, wet, nerve-wracking effort expended on stage 7, so look for a sizable, non-GC threatening break to get and stay away. There is a good chance the Italians will get their first stage win of this year's Giro which should appease the restless natives. — Steve