[10.05 17:23] The 224 kilometer long stretch between Amsterdam and Middelburg formed today’s third stage of Giro d’Italia and similar to yesterday’s wild ride on the narrow and windy roads of Holland, the trek offered a lot of drama. An endless number of casualties from crashes characterized the stage and Cadel Evans (BMC) lost the overall lead to Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) due to a crash. Today’s sprint was won by Quick Step’s Wouter Weylandts ahead of Graeme Brown (Rabobank)

Team Saxo Bank’s young Aussie comet, Richie Porte once again hurdled through crashing riders and road furniture and is now remarkably on second place overall.

Some of the overall favorites lost so much time that their chance of getting back to the top of the rankings is minimal. Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) lost 7.59 minutes, Bradley Wiggins (Sky) lost 3.59 minutes while Cadel Evans (BMC), Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) lost 46 seconds to Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana).