Favorites on rise at Giro d'Italia after Stage 10

Although Giovanni Visconti held onto the overall lead of the Giro d'Italia after Tuesday's individual time trial, you could see the favorites climbing in the standings.

Despite a fractured elbow suffered on Saturday, Alberto Contador finished 2nd overall for the day, climbing from 8th into 4th place, 6:59 behind the leader. Astana's Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer also made big gains, as the German rose from 15th to 6th overall and the US's Leipheimer rose from 22nd to 14th.

More changes are expected in the leader board on Wednesday, after a 123-mile mountainous stage between Urbania and Cesena. There are four mountain passes, including Monte Carpegna which features a 14% section and the short, but not so sweet Sorrivoli.

Time trial

Tuesday's 25-mile individual time trial had three short, but tough, climbs to break up the rhythm on the time trial specialists.

Italy's Marzio Bruseghin of Lampre won the day, followed by Contador with an 8-second slower time. Kloden's time was 12 seconds behind teammate Contador.

Also doing well were former Giro winners Paolo Savoldelli on Team LPR in 5th place, Denis Menchov of Rabobank in 6th place and Gilberto Simoni in 10th. Defending champion Danilo DiLuca did not fare so well, finishing in 19th place, 2:11 behind.

Among US cyclists at the Giro, Leipheimer (also Astana) did the best, finishing in 9th place at 1:01 behind the winner.

As a team, Di Luca's Team L.P.R. looks the best right now, with three in the top 10. Astana has 2.

The Top 10 are:

1. Giovanni Visconti (ITA), Quick Step in 43:12:02
2. Matthias Russ (GER), Gerolsteiner, at 3:31
3. Gabriele Bosisio (ITA), Team L.P.R., at 5:50
4. Alberto Contador (ESP), Astana, at 6:59
5. Marzio Bruseghin (ITA), Lampre, at 7:52
6. Andreas Kloden (GER), Astana, at 7:54
7. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Liquigas, at 8:04
8. Paolo Savoldelli (ITA), Team L.P.R., at 8:09
9. Riccardo Ricco' (ITA), Saunier Duval, at 8:32
10. Danilo Di Luca (ITA), Team L.P.R., at 8:33

US cyclists:

14. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, 9:10
18. Christian Vandevelde (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 9:46
96. Jason Mccartney (USA), CSC, at 48:40
162. Jonathan Patrick Mc Carty (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 1:29:36
167. Danny Pate (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 1:32:41

Full details at VeloNews and CyclingNews.