Pink jersey wearing Spaniard, Joaquim Rodriguez was inconsolable this afternoon after learning his victory in the Giro was for nothing when he was told that there was no time bonus' being handed out on the line. Rodriguez who has made the most of those bonus' earlier in the race, claimed he wouldn't have tried had he not known he could steal back a little time by winning.
He crossed the line with his rivals Ryder Hesjedal and Ivan Basso locked on his back wheel in a group of five who had left all the pretenders in this event for dust over the multiple hard climbs.
Indeed, today's Giro stage looked like a nightmare. And it probably was to the likes of Mark Cavendish and his fellow band of sprinters when they climbed out of bed this morning. You see, to a sprinter when you draw back the curtains, you want to be looking at flat lands for as far as the eye can see. To look out your window and be surrounded by the Alps of Northern Italy and Southern Austria is not good at all.
There is however little pressure on those guys. They can form their group at the back of the race and plod home just inside the time limit. It's at the sharp end of the general classification where you look out the window at the mountains and the butterflies begin to churn in your stomach. This is the part you've been training all year for. These are the decisive stages of the 2012 Giro d'Italia.
I get the impression that the only reason the likes of Rodriguez didn't try to increase his GC lead over a man like Hesjedal who will be good against the clock on Sunday, was because of the descent into the finish. Rodriguez probably aware that no serious gaps could be gained was happy to sit on the back of the group all the way up the final climb and down into the finish before nipping around for the victory. He will save his legs I am certain for the two summit finishes on Friday and Saturday.
The win keeps him in the race lead and for the top three the status quo was maintained. A virtual downhill day going by the profile awaits the peloton tomorrow much to the delight of everyone, before those two super hard days. What is still to come, even if it doesn't bring with it some time bonus' will be more than enough to put a smile back on little Joaquim's face.
