Kanstantin the Great, Donna Too

Team Columbia Highroad has sure had a nice little run over the last few stages. And none of it had to do with Cavendish. First young Boss Hogg, Jr. showed us how good he is. And today, Kanstantin Siutsou lept away from the field with 13 km to go and soloed in to take the stage win. As if that wasn't enough, the younger Hogg took the sprint for second over Di Luca, his third consecutive stage finishing second or higher. And Mick Rogers, another Columbia-High Road rider, was fourth on the day. Not too shabby. Once again, the overall GC stays the same. Turn it to Pez for the rest of the story. And for the newcomers in the group, check out CN's 50 Giro Facts You Should Know.

The final four kilometres:




Over in the FGBC Giro d'Italia Pool, Donna demonstrated that her impressive showing in yesterday's stage was no fluke. Once again she had the day's top two finishers--Suitsou and Boassen Hagen. Together with Basso's 25 points for 16th place, that gives her 300 points on the day and another big stage win. Chris A and Dan L, the prince of the cycling pool, tied for 2nd place, but well back of Donna, with 205 points apiece. Those 205 points are enough to enable Chris A to climb back into first place. His total sits at 1418 points. But KK, ever the figher, is just 4 points back. My team, Team Shawarma, has dropped down to third place with 1385 points. But it's Donna's performance that is most deserving of attention in all this. Languishing in the cellar as recently as three stages ago, Donna used her two consecutive stage wins to catapault herself all the way up into the top 10. She now sits in 9th place, less than 200 points behind the overall leader. Nicely done!

You will recall that we decided vicarious racing should count toward the FGBC - RRR FGD Challenge. And true to form, most of the FGBC elected not to participate. RRR has the edge so far, with three teams in the top 20 (KK - 2nd, Mike - 5th, and Brad - 11th. The FGBC has two (me in 3rd and Craig in 17th). Giddy up boys!

Stage 8 Results:

Donna H 300
Chris A 205
Dan L 205
Bill A 195
David S 185
Mike G 185
Andy L 180
Ian H 170
Kevin K 165
Mark S 165
Jonny B 155
Brian S 150
Naomi H 145
Paul V 145
Greg W 125
Brad E 120
Chris H 115
Craig P 115
Dallas S 105
Hal L 105
Jonah H 95
Rachel H 80
John W 70
Adam B 70
Chris O 45
Matt H 45
Miriam H 45
Chris D 0
Jonny G 0
Paddy H 0
Vic P 0
Charlene 0
LeAnn F 0


Overall Standings:

Chris A 1418
Kevin K 1414
Chris H 1385
Ian H 1351
Mike G 1335
Dan L 1290
Mark S 1276
Dallas S 1252
Donna H 1244
Greg W 1218
Brad E 1213
Naomi H 1146
Hal L 1091
David S 1077
Andy L 1066
Jonah H 1063
Craig P 1023
Chris O 988
Paul V 969
Brian S 962
Bill A 942
Adam B 921
LeAnn F 879
John W 852
Matt H 850
Jonny B 818
Miriam H 764
Charlene G 740
Paddy H 725
Vic P 668
Rachel H 666
Chris D 656
Jonny G 623