Giro stage 10: Strange times

With the first rest day out of the way riders grabbed their fancy bikes for the battle against the clock on Stage 10, but by the end of the procession there were more than a few raised eyebrows. Read on.

The stage was taken by a bearded Italian but the headlines were taken by the baby-faced spaniard affectionately known as Alby. Contador, riding on a cracked elbow and not known for his time trialling showed how much he wanted this to be France by storming home to second place. Second. Ahead of team-mate and time-trial monsters Levi and Kloden. Ahead of pretty well everyone with a predilection for pink.

Another suprise was Gibo, who pulled a pretty respectable 10th from a little dark place, and threw himself into contention for his last Giro.

No massive time gaps though, and most riders are looking fearfully up at the hills, where the race is sure to get well and truly busted up. 'Till then, I'm left with a faintly worrying feeling that I've seen a rider ride 'like an extra-terrestrial' in Italy before. Say it isn't so.