"A tough day, a great experience for a young rider like me"

Those were the words of Astana's Miguel Lopez after Giro del Piemonte. Lopez and his teammates ran all day under a heavy rain and a temperature close to 10 degrees.

After two consecutives victories, the team raced to help the sprinter Andrea Guardini and to prepare the Tour of Lombardy, scheduled in two days. The race was won by Jan Bakelants of Belgium with a late attack while Guardini was dropped on the final climbs, losing more than 8 minutes. Astana had no rider in the group that decided the race.