The riders of the Giro d’Italia have now finished with the first full week of the race.  The rest day in the Marche region will come just in time for the tired bodies that have already plowed through nine stages with great aplomb.  The 225 kilometer stage on Sunday from Benevento to San Giorgio del Sannio, including some difficult climbing, confirmed this fact.  

While the favorites continued to watch and mark each other, even with a few attacks thrown in, it was Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) who managed to grab the stage at the end of a long breakaway.  Alberto Contador retained his pink jersey. 

For the IAM Cycling team, they could be happy that both Stef Clement and Sébastien Reichenbach were in the group of favorites, while Matteo Pelucchi, Roger Kluge and Aleksejs Saramotins managed to reach the finish before falling outside the time limit.

Clément Chevrier (23) is taking part in his first grand tour, but can still be very lucid when analyzing this first week of racing. 

“The hardest part about the Giro d’Italia is that the big teams are racing every day.  I mentioned this today to Michael Rogers.  Astana, Tinkoff and Sky have not taken breaths between blows to each other.  And the fact is that we must be prepared to cope with this sort of racing.  Aside from that, we have not been lacking in challenges since leaving San Lorenzo al Mare.” 

The young rider, and great long-term hope for the Swiss team, has still managed to finish today’s stage in spite of experiencing a scare after five kilometers. 

“I crashed early, and because the attacks were fast and furious from the start since we were heading directly toward a climb, I had to chase in the cars for a long time before I could latch back on.  I spent one of my most difficult days on the bike, and I was beginning to think that I wouldn’t make it within the time limit.  Fortunately, things calmed down and I managed to reach the finish line within the required time.”

Kjell Carlström, directeur sportif for IAM Cycling along with Thierry Marichal, confirmed what his young rider said. 

“The goal was to go in the breakaway.  Sylvain Chavanel and Jérôme Pineau found an opening with the first break, but that was pulled back.  And then Sky, Astana and Saxo-Tinkoff engaged in a big tussle.  We were not able to put someone in the break that eventually got away, but we are ready to get back to battling on Tuesday.  Monday’s rest day won’t be too much time to recover.”