Giro recap

The third week hasn't been kind to Euskaltel; it's all pretty much gone downhill after those unforgettable wins last weekend. Antón has mysteriously lost his form just like that, while for all of Nieve's heroic and impressive riding he's likely to finish just outside the top 10 on GC. But I can hardly complain. No matter what happens in tomorrow's concluding ITT it's been a major success across the board. Nieve has been outstanding. His climbing has been a joy to behold, let's just hope he gets his just reward with a top 10 overall tomorrow. He holds a 32-second lead over Sivtsov in 11th, but I'm afraid that's not enough. But then again Nieve has sprung a couple of surprises in his budding career already. Antón purposefully lost time on the road to Macugnaga to save some forces for today's leg-breaker to Sestriere just as I thought he would, but that clever idea backfired dramatically when Antón was dropped unceremoniously once the road started to go uphill. The win atop the Zoncolan makes the Giro an unqualified success for Antón, make no mistake, but he's looking ready for a break to be honest. He looks exhausted and heavy-legged. Miguel Mínguez showed his potential with some excellent climbing today. Climbing like that in your maiden GT in the last week of this ridiculously hard Giro is a good sign. He's the real deal. Oroz was forced to abandon after crashing a few days ago, injuring is already banged-up body. But other than that the team's got a relatively clean bill of health and look set to finish the race with eight riders. Chapeau!