Solo breakaways sometimes win. It's a bold move that you have to totally be committed to... And one where you truly place all your eggs in one basket. Michele Scarponi of the Diquigiovanni team broke away 50 km's into the race with four other riders. The Hochkrimml climb reduced it to two. Himself and Vasik Kiryienka. Kiryienka suffered from a puncture on the final decent and lost touch with Scarponi; cramping up from the effort of chasing him down and the hours of tough riding in the breakaway. This left Scarponi in a great postion to solo it to the finish line by taking advantage of a tired peloton.

I don't think we will see much of Michele Scarponi for the rest of the tour, or at least for the next few stages. It will take him a few day... or maybe the rest of the tour to recover from such a big day out on the bike. A bold sacrifice that, in this case, was totally worth it.
 
Quoted from SBS's website: "Have I got a message to give?" the Italian joked afterwards. "Yes - not to start a breakaway with 200 kilometres to go. It's a long way!"

Allan Davis took 3rd place in today's stage.