ARMSTRONG HAS BEEN DROPPED, LOSES NEAR THREE MINUTES AT GIRO

Photos Graham Watson
Menchov had the gas at the finish

Levi in the lead group with 2K to go...Horner as well. Cunego gone, imagine that....Basso on the front applying the heat. 1.3K to go Sastre Went, however Menchov was the man at the line with Di Luca second.

As for Lance, well, the guy did'nt have a bad day, just and "old" day. A2B thinks Astana must now concentrate on getting Levi and Horner to the podge if it is at all possible, Lance is not gone, but must now assume the role of "help" for his teammates which is what his intentions were at the beginning of this Giro...so do it, and when he blows, like the rest, he must be left for dead. No sense holding teammates back out of respect when they can be at the front supporting the others who are stronger...

YETI'S GRIND MONDAY NIGHT ROAD RIDES

Every Monday night at 5pm, come join the Yeti's Grind road ride which leaves from the coffee shop on Broadway in Eagle.

TODAY'S GIRO FINISH...

1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Farnese Vini

2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo

3 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas

4 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld

5 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana

7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad

8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas

9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank

10 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne

11 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana

12 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana

13 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale

14 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C.

If you had the chance to watch the live stream today, the racing was fairly conservative for the heavy hitters who all stayed together, but a break early on which included Voigt nearly led to a victory for the big German, he was caught by the peleton just shy of the mountain top finish, however Soler threw some heavy blows with an attack just a couple of K from the finish but could not hold on and Di Luca, the new race leader took it at the line. This is going to be a great race, there is no doubt, who's gonna go and when are they gonna go? The next few weeks will tell us.

SOME EYE CANDY...

I"ll take two please.

And in the Giro, the Maglia Rosa has been conveniently spit out the back of the peleton today as the race hits the first substantial climbs....

MORE FROM PUB CRAWL EAGLE, 2009

Slow bike race winners Mire and Turnipseed

Ryan McFreak was in the house stylin the chartreuse fishnets in the "best legs" contest...rockin it.

AND JUST A FEW MORE PICS FROM THIS YEAR'S SEA OTTER CLASSIC PHOTO CONTEST...

I just barely outsprinted this dude in my XC race...

ALESSANDRO PETACCHI DOUBLES UP, HOLDS ONTO MAGLIA ROSA.

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed what is up in the Giro, but Tyler Farrar is there, and now that his team Cap has been hauled off after some misfortune today, we are gonna find out over the course of the next couple of weeks if this kid has any surprises for us this year, he's covered everything thus far, let's wait and see eh? I personally find it an interesting story, two top 5's don't suck.

Meanwhile, Cavendish got caught out in a crash at the end of the stage today and now can only hope to win a few more sprints before he drops out in the Mountains, which by the way begin tomorrow. Today's pile up seems to have created some interesting time gaps which should be swallowed up by the true contenders when we hit the steeps

CHIRSTIAN VANDE VELDE CRASHES OUT OF THE GIRO

Team Leader Christian Vande Velde crashed out of the Giro today as was hauled off to the hospital by ambulance after smacking it down on the deck. CVV tried to regain the race after going donw but realized he was to injured to continue. This is a HUGE blow to the argyled Slipstream crew..