Bennati's Back; So is King Andy

One of last year's fastest finishers, Daniele Bennati has had a quiet start to the season. But he's looking pretty good right now. Only Erik Zabel could follow his kick in a chaotic final kilometre today. But Bennati still won by a bike length. Cavendish crashed before the finish and wasn't there. McEwen got boxed out in the twisty run-up and also missed out on the dash to the line. So some of the big sprinters at the Giro didn't contest this one. Still, it was an impressive win nonetheless for Bennati.

And just like Benatti, King Andy is back too. With Hondo and Loddo in the top five, A Predator Posing as a House Pet picks up 180 points and the stage win. As we saw in the TdF Pool last year, Matt likes to stack his team with sprinters. Team I'd Fight Gandhi has four pretty good ones with McEwen, Cavendish, Hondo, and Dean. But McEwen and Dean weren't there today, so they settle for 175 points and 2nd place on the day. Wait until we get to stages 12 & 13, though. Those guys are going to rack up some big points. Any side bets on whether all four of them survive the mountains that follow? You Are Not a Beautiful or Unique Snowflake (Dallas) rounds out the podium with 135 points. Listen Up Maggots picked up 120 points and hold onto the pink jersey for another day.

There were some more casualties in the peloton today. The most significant was Brad McGee, who broke his collarbone and left on a stretcher. His Giro is over. That leaves Jonny B with just 6 riders (DZ, Astarloa, McGee). Dallas, Tomek and Cam are all down to 7. Ricco crashed too and was rumoured to have broken a bone in his hand, but it was just a dislocated finger. Soler must have gone down too (maybe it was yesterday), because he had some x-rays on his wrist. It is not broken and he'll soldier on. Finally, Petrov and Brown got tangled up in the barriers in final kilometre. Both were able to finish and look to be alright. [Update] CN reports that O'Grady broke his collarbone in the same crash as McGee. He still finished the stage, tough guy that he is, but will not start tomorrow. Cam is down to 6 riders as well. Bummer.

Watch the last two kilometres:

Top 20:

221 km - 5:37:01 - 39,523 km/h
1 BENNATI Daniele ITA LIQ 5:37:01 0:00 20"
2 ZABEL Erik GER MRM 5:37:01 0:00 12"
3 HONDO Danilo GER SDA 5:37:01 0:00 8"
4 FOTHEN Thomas GER GST 5:37:01 0:00
5 LODDO Alberto ITA TCS 5:37:01 0:00
6 FERNANDEZ Koldo ESP EUS 5:37:01 0:00
7 DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano ITA CSF 5:37:01 0:00
8 PEREZ ARANGO Marlon A. COL GCE 5:37:01 0:00
9 CAVENDISH Mark GBR THR 5:37:01 0:00
10 GATTO Oscar ITA GST 5:37:01 0:00
11 PAGLIARINI Luciano BRA SDV 5:37:01 0:00
12 FORSTER Robert GER GST 5:37:01 0:00
13 HUTAROVICH Yauheni BLR FDJ 5:37:01 0:00
14 SEROV Alexander RUS TCS 5:37:01 0:00
15 CHEREL Mikael FRA FDJ 5:37:01 0:00
16 HAYMAN Mathew AUS RAB 5:37:01 0:00
17 JEGOU Lilian FRA FDJ 5:37:01 0:00
18 HESJEDAL Ryder CAN TSL 5:37:01 0:00
19 LEVARLET Guillaume FRA FDJ 5:37:01 0:00
20 PASAMONTES Luis ESP GCE 5:37:01 0:00


GC after Stage 3:

1 PELLIZOTTI Franco ITA LIQ 11:52:17 0:00
2 VANDEVELDE Christian USA TSL 11:52:18 0:01
3 DI LUCA Danilo ITA LPR 11:52:24 0:07
4 POSSONI Morris ITA THR 11:52:25 0:08 U23 Maglia Bianca
5 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA LIQ 11:52:25 0:08
6 SORENSEN Nicki DEN CSC 11:52:34 0:17
7 SIVTSOV Kanstantin BLR THR 11:52:35 0:18
8 SAVOLDELLI Paolo ITA LPR 11:52:36 0:19
9 NOE' Andrea ITA LIQ 11:52:39 0:22
10 GASPAROTTO Enrico ITA BAR 11:52:42 0:25
11 BELLOTTI Francesco ITA BAR 11:52:42 0:25
12 LARSSON Gustav Erik SWE CSC 11:52:45 0:28
13 KLODEN Andreas GER AST 11:52:45 0:28
14 PFANNBERGER Christian AUT BAR 11:52:45 0:28
15 PINOTTI Marco ITA THR 11:52:46 0:29
16 CONTADOR Alberto ESP AST 11:52:47 0:30
17 BENNATI Daniele ITA LIQ 11:52:49 0:32 Maglia Ciclamino
18 RICCO' Riccardo ITA SDV 11:52:50 0:33
19 MIHOLJEVIC Vladimir CRO LIQ 11:52:53 0:36
20 REBELLIN Davide ITA GST 11:52:54 0:37


Today's Results:

A Predator Posing as a House Pet (Andy) 180
I'd Fight Gandhi (Matt) 175
You Are Not a Beautiful or Unique Snowflake (Dallas) 135
Listen Up Maggots (Arlene) 120
B Times C Equals X (Hal) 115
His Name Was Robert Paulson (Bill) 115
Ikea Nesting Instinct (Tomek) 105
Near Life Experience (LeAnn) 80
Project Mayhem (Donna) 80
Gasoline and Frozen Orange Juice (Paddy) 70
Grade School Girlfriend (Adam) 70
Tonight We Make Soap (Rachel) 60
Chloe's Libido (Johnny M) 50
Chemical Burn (Cam) 15
I'll Take the Parasites (Chris) 15
Skinny Guys Fight 'Til They're Burger (Jonny B) 15
Grande Latte Enema (James) 0
I am Jack's Smirking Revenge (Brad) 0
The Most Beautiful Day of Raymond K. Hessel's Life (Charlene) 0
Stomach Full of Xanax (Laura) 0
Remaining Men Together (David S) 0
OALETTSRFEDTZ (Colin) 0
Controlled Destruction (Ian) 0
A House Full of Condiments and No Food … How Embarrasing (Darryl) 0
First You Have to Give Up (Craig) 0
You Met Me at a Very Strange Time in My Life (Jonny G) 0


Overall Standings:

Listen Up Maggots (Arlene) 524
You Are Not a Beautiful or Unique Snowflake (Dallas) 502
I'd Fight Gandhi (Matt) 438
Tonight We Make Soap (Rachel) 424
B Times C Equals X (Hal) 416
A Predator Posing as a House Pet (Andy) 397
Ikea Nesting Instinct (Tomek) 373
His Name Was Robert Paulson (Bill) 366
Grade School Girlfriend (Adam) 364
Gasoline and Frozen Orange Juice (Paddy) 356
Grande Latte Enema (James) 346
I'll Take the Parasites (Chris) 324
Chemical Burn (Cam) 323
I am Jack's Smirking Revenge (Brad) 313
Remaining Men Together (David S) 287
Skinny Guys Fight 'Til They're Burger (Jonny B) 285
Near Life Experience (LeAnn) 280
The Most Beautiful Day of Raymond K. Hessel's Life (Charlene) 259
Chloe's Libido (Johnny M) 255
Project Mayhem (Donna) 234
First You Have to Give Up (Craig) 225
OALETTSRFEDTZ (Colin) 225
Controlled Destruction (Ian) 200
A House Full of Condiments and No Food … How Embarrasing (Darryl) 167
Stomach Full of Xanax (Laura) 164
You Met Me at a Very Strange Time in My Life (Jonny G) 86

OTT: The Chapin Sisters, Kill Me Now