Not in the pink of condition but all’s well that ends well

“Today was the first day at the Giro when I didn’t feel that great. It is a pity that Contador rode away but he proved to be the best of us. When he attacked I knew that I didn’t have the legs to respond. It was a good idea to keep my cool and let Scarponi do the job. He eventually paid the price for it,” Roman said.He gradually began to feel better and what´s more, he went on to attack with 3km to go. “Too bad I didn’t create a bigger gap but even so, I showed that I have what it takes to attack and aside from Contador I got to the finish with the best ones. I have to be happy with my performance today and I reassured myself that I´m in good shape. I would like to give credit to my team, especially Masciarelli who helped me out a lot at the finale. Now I look forward to the rest day that is going to come in handy after those hard stages. I remain confident for the upcoming stages in the Dolomites,” Roman said.9th stage (Messina-Etna, 169 km): 1st Contador (Spa/Saxo Bank) 4:54:09, 2nd Rujano (Ven/Androni) +3, 3rd Garzelli (Ita/Acqua e Sapone), 4th Nibali (Ita/Liquigas), 5th Roman Kreuziger (Cze/Astana), 6th Ardoyo (Spa/Movistar), 7th Sivcov (Bel/HTC-Highroad) +50, 8th Anton (Spa/Euskaltel) +59, 9th Gadret, 10th Dupont (Fra/AG2R) +1:07, … 23rd Menshov (Rus/Geox) +2:16, 26th Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +2:21.