Hernández out; Koldo 7th

It was another day of bad fortune for Euskaltel in the Giro today. A big pile-up right at the finishing line marred today`s stage, with several riders going down. The pile-up proved to be fatal for Euskaltel, with Aitor Hernández fracturing his collarbone and thus will not take to the start tomorrow. Dioni Galparsoro also went down, and was left with severe pains in his back. Though, they hope he`ll recover enough to take to the start tomorrow, but I wouldn`t put my money on it. Just to top it all, Joseba Zubeldia is also having troubles. Joseba has according to Euskaltel director Jon Odriozola hit the deck numerous times, but will fortunately keep on riding. Antton Luengo is also still suffering from his fall in the opening TTT, while Iván Velasco has also hit the deck hard. Today`s bad luck put Koldo`s impressive 7th a bit in the shadows. Koldo is clearly in superb form, and is showing remarkable stability in the sprints. Today he got McEwen`s wheel, but was at the end boxed in a little by an annoyingly rampant Napolitano. I know this hasn`t got anything to do with Euskaltel, but I just wanna say that Napolitano pisses me off sometimes. He`s so careless, and will do anything to get a good position ahead of the sprint. His elbows are all over the place... Well, anyway, Koldo was once again magnificent. And with several sprinters now pulling out, among them Rojas, McEwen, Haedo and perhaps Petacchi, the likelyhood of Koldo winning a stage just keeps on growing. Aupa Euskaltel!