Danilo Di Luca outsprinted Riccardo Riccó and Damiano Cunego to claim his first victory in the Giro this year and the leader’s pink jersey. 'Killer' made the best of his team Liquigas's effort in the final climb, when they dictated the pace of the peloton and, thanks to Vincenzo Nibali and Franco Pellizzotti, made the decisive selection in the final mile of Wednesday’s stage.

Di Luca has never been rated among the top two or three favourites to win a Big Tour event like the Giro, despite finishing fourth in 2005 because almost all the experts and fans (including myself) always thought of him as a Classics rider who didn’t have the strength to maintain his top form for a three-week event.

In the past Di Luca himself acknowledged that he probably wasn’t strong enough to win the Giro, but on Tuesday he revealed something important: “I slightly changed my preparation for this year because I want to try to win the Giro - and I know that I could not do it if I followed my usual schedule.”

So it seems that it won’t be like in the other editions of the Giro, when Di Luca’s top form only endured in the first week of racing and he usually had a rough time in the last week. We’ll see if this “slight change” can bring him a great change in his chances of winning his first Big Tour.

He certainly looked strong on Wednesday when he sprinted with 200 metres left in the stage. Riccó and Cunego didn’t have the strength to outpace him, they just had to follow him until the finish line was behind their backs. They were the only two riders who were given the same time as Di Luca, with Andy Schleck from Luxembourg claiming fourth place ahead of Stefano Garzelli, both timed three seconds behind the winner.

The remaining 14 riders who were with the top finisher arrived seven to 15 seconds behind Di Luca, with Gilberto Simoni losing another 15 seconds (35 with the finish bonus) to Di Luca and Cunego falling more than two minutes behind the pink jersey. Paolo Savoldelli finished with three of his teammates 34 seconds behind; this is not good news for the Astana rider, but it is not so bad as it can seem because 'The Hawk' has been known to find his top form only after at least a week of racing. So I do believe that he’ll rebound strongly.

Two other riders didn’t look so well: Yaroslav Popovych ended his race with the same time as Savoldelli and he’s now more than a minute and a half behind Di Luca; he can outpace the Italian in the time trials but he surely has to show a better form in the next mountainous stage. If not, it's bye-bye baby.

A rider who has already said goodbye to the general classification, clarifying that he’s here only to make road under his wheels, is Dane Michael Rasmussen. The former King of Mountains at the Tour de France arrived with the sprinters almost a quarter of an hour behind the leaders, so he’ll only look for a stage win somewhere in the Alps.

So, the first uphill finish didn’t tell us anything about who is going to win the Giro this year - but it certainly told us something about who won’t win this year (Rasmussen) or who was given an emergency warning (Popovych and to a lesser degree Simoni). We can also say that these two young riders should be closely observed during the course of the race -  Nibali and Riccó will be the Italian hopes for future tours but they are ready also for the present.

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