Cadel Evans (BMC) stayed with the top contenders and showed some aggression of his own on the mountainous finish of a snowy Col du Galibier Sunday to keep his hold on second place overall at the Giro d'Italia.

Evans made his own attack at 700 metres to go on the way to finishing eighth on the stage won by Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team). Evans crossed the line in the same time as race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team) and nearly all of the top contenders to remain 1’26” off the lead with six stages to go.

"In the conditions, it wasn't exactly favourable for those kinds of attacks," Evans said. "I didn't have a bad day but at least I am back at my level. No time lost but no time gained either." Evans said some challenges of the race have come from an uncontrollable factor: the weather. "As a rider, just to stay healthy is really difficult with the changing weather conditions," he said. "The weather changes quicker than we can change our clothes. The third week of the race comes after a first week that was even harder than expected and a second week that was harder than expected because of the weather."

The Giro enjoys its second rest day of the three-week race Monday before resuming Tuesday with a 238km medium mountain stage. The peloton rode together up the first climb of Sunday's 145km stage which had its finish moved 4.25 km down the summit to Les Granges du Galibier (Pantani Monument) due to snow. BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Fabio Baldato said he was impressed with the support the team provided Evans. "Into the last four kilometres, Steve Morabito and Ivan Santaromita were with him, which was good for his morale," Baldato said. "Then Morabito brought him onto the wheel of Nibali because it was turning from headwind to tailwind. So it was a dangerous moment where someone could have tried an attack."