You know it ain't easy, but Mark Cavendish made it look that way again as he won a bunch sprint for Stage 11 at the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.
US-based Team Columbia set up the Brit in textbook fashion as the peloton raced into Arenzano. Cavendish rewarded their efforts by powering across the finish line first; it was his second stage win of this year's Giro.
Danilo Di Luca remained in the pink jersey as the overall leader of the Giro after the stage, but faces a major challenge from US cyclist Levi Leipheimer in Thursday's individual time trial.
Leipheimer is an expert time trialist and is expected to do well enough in the 37-mile ITT from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore to close the 1:40 gap to Di Luca.
Horner out
What follows for Leipheimer is uncertain, however. Lance Armstrong has pledged his support to the cyclist from Santa Rosa, California, but Leipheimer lost critical support from teammate Chris Horner who was forced to abandon on Wednesday.
Horner, who was in 11th place overall, injured his shoulder and knee in a fall on Tuesday's stage. He was going to return to his home in Bend, Oregon, to mend before resuming training for the Tour de France.
Horner was part of Leipheimer's earlier victories this year at the Tour of California and the Tour of the Gila.
Leipheimer could have used the support of both Armstrong and Horner in the mountains during the second half of the Giro. Other Astana teammates, such as Yaroslav Popovych, will have to step up to fill that role.
Levi crashes
Leipheimer went down himself early in Wednesday's stage. He tells what happened on Twitter:
“Not my day, one hand on the bars while drinking and someone dropped a full waterbottle in front of me, hit it straight on w/ my front wheel …
“I went head over heels and lost a lot of skin on the hot pavement, 100 degrees! Crashing sucks!!”
Yes it does.
Farrar No. 2
Wednesday's stage was a rather flat route that ended in the seaside city of Riomaggiore. After a slight descent that saw Armstrong leading briefly, Team Columbia appeared to have little trouble taking control of the peloton as it entered the city.
Cavenish won, followed by Tyler Farrar of Team Garmin and Alessandro Petacchi.
The Stage 12 individual time trial from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore can be seen in a live videostream on Universal Sports.
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