Giro leaders survive cold, foggy mountaintop virtually intact

Chris Sorensen may have grown up in the flatness of Denmark, but he obviously trains in the mountains as the Saxo Bank cyclist beat the peloton to a mountaintop finish at the Giro d'Italia on Sunday.

The cold, foggy finish on the Monte Terminillo tested, but didn't take much of a toll on the overall leaders in the race on Stage 8.

Overall leader Alexandre Vinokourov and the group of rivals led by Cadel Evans all crossed the finish line about a minute after the Dane except for David Millar of Garmin-Transitions, who dropped far out of third place overall by finishing some 17 minutes behind the winner.

The win

The biggest previous victory for Sorensen, 25, was a stage win at the Daupine Libere in 2008. On Sunday's Giro bike race from Cianciano to Monte Terminillo, he joined a 17-man breakaway with about 60 miles left in the 117-mile bike race.

That breakaway gained more than a 3-minute lead at one point, but that all evaporated as they hit the slopes of the Terminillo. While riders dropped off the back of the breakaway group, Simone Stortoni (Colnago) attacked and was followed by Sorensen and a few others.

Previous winner

Sorensen eventually caught up to Sortoni and passed him, sustaining that lead to the finish line. The leaders jockeyed for position a couple of hundred yards back down the mountain. Among them was Stefano Garzelli. The Italian is riding in his last Giro; he won the race to this mountaintop the last time the Giro visited here in 2003.

If you're keeping score, Sunday marked the third win by a breakaway rider at this year's Giro.

Monday's Stage 9 returns to the flatland for a 116-mile race from Frosinone to Cava de' Tirreni.

More reports and results about Stage 8.

Top 10 after Stage 8

1. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz, Astana)

2. Cadel Evans (Aus, BMC Racing) – 1:12 behind

3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita, Liquigas) – 1:33

4. Ivan Basso (Ita, Liquigas) — 1:51

5. Marco Pinotti (Ita, HTC-Columbia) – 2:17

6. Richie Porte (Aus, Saxo Bank) – 2:26

7. Vladimir Karpets (Rus, Katusha) – 2:34

8. Stefano Garzelli (Ita, Acqua Sappone) – 2:47

9. Damiano Cunego (Ita, Lampre) – 3:08

10. Michele Scarponi (Ita, Androni) – 3:09