If Campitello Matese, with its final ascent with peaks of 12% gradient, had to verify Contador's conditions two days after the painful fall of Castiglio della Pescaia, the response from the Molise mountain tells us of a Pistolero who hasn't lost a beat , retaliating blow by blow to the attacks of Aru and the Astana.
Even the Spaniard in the pink jersey had the cunning to also gain a bonus of 2” on his direct rivals at the flying finish line in Sora. He certainly hasn't won the Giro yet. But he certainly didn't lose it as the images of pain at the finish of Thursday's stage led to fear. Aru is his most exuberant opponent who is following him at 4": yesterday he tried at all times to put the pink jersey in difficulty, also launching Landa ahead even if the outcome was a bit contradictory for Astana, because in fact it deprived Aru himself of the possibility of seizing the bonuses provided for the first three on arrival.
The Sardinian had to settle for beating Contador, Porte and Uran in the sprint for fourth place, who finally lived up to expectations yesterday. First and only by 35” was the Spaniard from Movistar, Benat Intxausti, already the pink jersey in the 2013 Giro when he won the Ivrea stage. Behind him Landa at 20”, then the Swiss Sebastien Reichenbach third at 31”. The Giro enters its second week of racing today: before the rest on Monday, awaited as never before by Contador to recover from the beatings, the program offers another demanding stage, classified as medium mountain: 215 km from Benevento to San Giorgio del Sannio , with the climbing of Terminillo and Colle della Molella halfway through and with the insidious climb of Passo Serra about fifteen kilometers from the finish line. Stage in the heart of Irpinia which lends itself to ambushes and repeated attacks.
