Stage 7 © 2009 Gazzetta dello Sport

Milram, Garmin, Columbia, Barloworld stay in power at the front of the pack.

1555 CEST Mauro Facci won the Hot Spot "Sprint" at Saint Moritz. Huzarski came in second ahead of Klimov. The only one really sprinting there was Alessandro Petacchi, who got two precious points for his Maglia Ciclamino bid as the peloton came in 01'50" behind.

1600 CEST The escapees ride alongside the Silvaplana lake, their lead further shrunk to a hundred seconds.

1605 CEST News came through that, due to poor weather conditions, the OVERALL times of the riders will be taken three kilometres from the finish. A recent choice of the race organizers. Danilo Di Luca might even lose half an hour to the pack in the last three thousand metres, and still he would retain the overall leadership.

The team cars of the four escapees have been stopped. Their lead is under the minute. Bye, bye, mates, you're going to get caught soon. It is NOT raining on the race now, by the way. But it's still soooooooo cold up there. And some water is falling back at the finish line instead.

1615 CEST It's raining heavily on the race now, with the Maloja summit only 1000 metres away.

The fugitives are about to get caught. Facci puts in a last attempt to stay clear as long as he can.

The peloton is sooooooo meaan: they didn't even let poor Facci have a KOM sprint victory as little prize for his efforts. THE PACK IS TOGETHER AGAIN!

1620 CEST Manuel Quinziato of Liquigas-Doimo drives the bunch over the top of the climb ahead of Franco Pellizotti and Stefano Garzelli. The Maloja was sooooooooooooooooooooo steep that no riders got really dropped there.

But now comes a tricky, dangerous and selective descent, with plenty of turns and switchbacks, especially in the early miles, and the wet road to make it harder.

1620 CEST The descent is starting to break the field apart. Alessandro Bertolini (Ita - Diquigiovanni-Androni) launched the first attack and opened up a gap. He gained over two minutes on the bottom of the field already.

This descent is food for Paolo Savoldelli. But Il Falco is a former rider now, busy looking after his small building company. We might well find the 2002 and 2005 Giro winner at the Bergamo finishing line tomorrow, anyway ...

1625 CEST Bertolini is acting like a true Savoldelli too. His advantage ballooned to 53 seconds in the space of just 6 kilometres, He's not new to great performances on wet and/or dangerous descents though. The bunch is not trying hard to bring him back. They chose to avoid taking risks, Marco Pinotti punctured. A Garmin man leads the first part of the pack, while his teammate Cameron Meyer is probably one of the slowest "wet descenders" in the Giro peloton.

1630 CEST The most difficult part of the descent is over, but the peloton is still taking it easy. Bertolini keeps a comfortable advantage.

1635 CEST The Italian veteran, a pro since the 1993 season, extended his advantage up to the minute with 25 km to go. The guy is over one hour down in the GC, so LPR have no interest in wasting their legs in a chase. That's all up to the sprinter's teams now.

Pavel Brut (Rus - Katusha) tries to get away from the pack. The route is easier now, and the pace is high, so that Bertolini lost a dozen seconds. But when the descent gets more difficult, the Italian puts the pace up and does better than anyone else.

1640 CEST Bertolini lead Brutt and Barloworld's Robert Hunter by 48 seconds as the race is about to move onto Italian soil. Boasson Hagen and Vigano' also rode way from the pack.

The two main pursuers are making significant gains, Bertolini's lead is under 30 seconds.

A quartet of chasers formed as Boasson and Vigano' joined Brut and Hunter. THEY ARE IN ITALY, now.

1645 CEST Bertolini was joined by his four chasers. FIVE in the lead. Why is the Italian Tv showing SCARPONI's name as part of he lead quintet instead of Bertolini's? Did they make a mistake or what? hmmm ...

The rain abated again, thankfully.

1649 CEST Ten to go. Andriy Grivko attacked the peloton and is just 20 seconds down to the leaders, with the bunch a further dozen secs behind.

1650 CEST Eight to go. The gap is getting bigger. Grivko is down to 30 seconds, and the Liquigas-led peloton at 40" or so. Petacchi is not hungry for risks, so LPR is not giving it everything in the chase.