Gilberto Simoni, leader of Saunier Duval, finally attacked on the steep slopes of the Zoncolan and managed to leave pink jersey’s Danilo Di Luca behind. But his attack was not made in his usual way, springing onto the pedal like a natural climber like he his, but he simply quickened the pace when there where still eight kilometres to the finish line until he remained alone fighting his way up against the most difficult mountain in Europe.

But he made a mistake. He didn’t have the strength to carry on with his rhythm all the way to the top and there were still five kilometres to climb when he was reached by Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, who was with Simoni’s team-mate Leonardo Piepoli, who showed once again that he’s the best climber in this year’s Giro. The trio then went together, overcoming all the members of the early breakaway and Simoni claimed victory ahead of Piepoli, an important win for his morale but one that did not change much in the general classification.

Di Luca and Damiano Cunego were the last to lose contact from the would-be leading trio but they never drowned on the slopes and maintained the head well above water level, losing 40 seconds in the middle of the climb and then maintained this gap until the finish, with Di Luca sprinting to arrive fourth 30 seconds behind Simoni. Instead, two riders who drowned on the steep slopes of the Zoncolan – that reached a maximum 22 per cent% midway through the climb – were former second-placed Eddy Mazzoleni and youngster Riccardo Riccó, both of whom lost more than two minutes.

After 17 stages Di Luca now has a more than comfortable lead on the now second-placed Schleck (2 mins 24 secs) and I don’t think he’s going to waste it the Time Trial scheduled for Saturday near Verona. But the fight is still on for the other two places on the podium, with Schleck having a four-second advantage over Simoni, a little over a minute on Cunego and less than 90 seconds on Mazzoleni who, on paper, is the strongest “chronoman” of the lot.

Only Di Luca can now lose this Giro. The only difficult stage left is the Time Trial, although something may happen on Friday because that stage is a little bit tricky with the Passo Ballino to climb with only 14 kilometres to the finish line. The two other firm favourites for a podium finish are Schleck and Simoni but I won’t rule out Mazzoleni yet  - even though I don’t know how much fuel he has left in the tank.