Robbie McEwen is a puckish little scrapper who’s made a career of knocking the crown off the big dogs. But pulling a hat-trick against the formidable Fassa Bortolo train in the opening 10 days of the 88th Giro d’Italia is something else.

McEwen might as well be called the giant killer of the corsa rosa and the Davitamon-Lotto rider played his David card yet again in Wednesday’s 212km snoozer that started slow, got wet and ended hot across the flats of the Po Valley.

With the ominous Dolomites brooding to the north, the peloton was in no hurry to go anywhere until it charged onto three laps of the 5.2km finishing circuit. Then the knives came out and the elbows were flying as riders scratched their way to line.

McEwen won the fight to grab Petacchi’s wheel and then the Aussie knocked down Goliath yet again by a bike stab across the line to win a gritty, tenacious sprint by a nose. Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) came through third while Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) scooted across fourth.

“I’m happy for the team. I dedicate this win to my teammates who work for me every day,” said McEwen, who didn’t reveal whether he’d high tail it out of the Giro ahead of the mountains. “I followed the Fassa train until the final 150 meters. I didn’t think about anything but going as strong as possible. Thanks to my (bike throw) I was able to beat Petacchi.”Results are posted

Fassa Bortolo did its work, reeling in the intrepid Raffaele Illiano (Selle Italia) with 30km to go. The silver train then controlled the pace on the run into Rossano Veneto, fending off challenges from T-Mobile, Panaria and Gerolsteiner as they tried to muscle in.

But once again, Petacchi couldn’t deliver the knock out blow with his rivals against the ropes. McEwen shot off the Italian’s wheel and the pair bore down toward the line, teeth grimacing and legs pumping to the photo-finish.

“There’s not much I can say,” Petacchi said. “The team did a great job, but I made a mistake and I misjudged my sprint. I started too soon and I allowed McEwen to get around me. His (bike throw) was the difference. Today I lost to a great champion.”

It was McEwen’s third win versus Petacchi’s one, which came Monday after a frustrating opening week for the Milan-San Remo champion who stormed to a record nine stage wins last year.

Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) enjoyed the view from the relative safety of the main bunch to retain the overall lead while the drugs police made their presence felt.

There’s never a dull day in the Giro d’Italia -- even when it is rather dull.

Calm before the storm
With four hard days looming in the Dolomites, obviously no one wanted to burn too many matches before the first real test under fire. The Giro pushes upward in dramatic fashion with Thursday’s 150km 11th stage from Marostica to Zoldo Alto for the first of four challenging stages.

Perhaps it was only fitting that the monstrous Dolomites were precluded by the flattest stage of the 2005 Giro. There was nary a bump in the road from Ravenna to Rossano Veneto and the 185-rider strong peloton was in no rush to break into a sweat following Tuesday’s rest day.

It was also the last stab for the sprinters, who’ve made the opening half of the 2005 Giro the most interesting in years. The world-class field of thoroughbreds now steps aside for the slender mountain goats and GC contenders as the Giro changes gears.

The pace was embarrassingly slow with a bleak average speed of 29kph in the opening two hours and things didn’t heat up until the day’s InterGiro sprint at 109km. Saunier Duval and Gerolsteiner reeled things up on the lead in, but Moreno Di Biase (Selle Italia-Colombia) snuck across first.

Di Biase’s teammate, Raffaele Illiano, seemed to be in a hurry to get home and just kept on trucking. Illiano, winner of last year’s InterGiro competition, shot through the banner and quickly dropped the bunch.

The pint-sized Italian built a lead nearing two minutes as a heavy afternoon shower doused the peloton just to make the long day even longer. Illiano grabbed some nice TV-time for his sponsor, staying away for the better part of 70 kilometers, but was duly reeled in with 30km to go as the sprinter teams awakened from their collective slumber. Heroics aside, Illiano's effort got him a bit of TV time and some tired legs. He finished dead last on the day, the only rider to have finished outside of the main field.

Just as the peloton was showing signs of life, overall challenger Ivan Basso (CSC) had a scare when he got misdirected off-course with another dozen riders coming through a traffic circle.

Basso did his best Lance Armstrong imitation and picked his way across a grassy section of the median before returning to pavement. The off-road jaunt, however, earned the second-place rider a puncture and he was caught off the back just as the peloton was turning on the after-burners.

Team CSC sent its entire team back to bring back its leader (with some help from the Panaria team car as well) and there was no real harm done as the bunch roared into tight, nasty circuit finish.

McEwen retained the points jersey, with Koldo Gil (Liberty Seguros) keeping the KOM jersey and Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner) retaining his grip on the InterGiro classification.

Time for the annual police raid
Just to make things interesting, the Italian police decided to make their presence felt. After some 80 riders were blood tested by UCI “vampires” in separate tests Tuesday and Wednesday (none were found with hematocrit levels above the allowed 50 percent ceiling), the Italian wires reported late Wednesday that national police searched the hotel of an unnamed team looking for a hypobaric tent.

Not officially banned under UCI anti-doping rules, early reports said stricter Italian laws might make the hypobaric chambers illegal. The chambers mimic the effects of training at altitude and thus can enhance red blood cell counts and have been regularly used by top riders, including six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

"I believe one team rider uses it. Personally I've never used it," said McEwen.

Giro organizers said they were waiting for an official report on the matter before issuing a formal response to the raid.

"At the moment we are not aware of the matter," said a visibly angry Angelo Zomegnan, the race director, in reference to a question as to whether the rider or the team itself would be thrown out of the race.

"We only know about it through the press, and what McEwen said, that the hypobaric tent was seized. This is not an illegal piece of equipment under international rules but Italian law does not permit its use. Teams compete under a code of ethics and I understand that we have the second problem since the start of the race when we had to bar a rider." Davitamon-Lotto director Herman Frison restricted himself to one terse comment.

"It's ridiculous," he said.

Shoot-out in the Dolomites
Di Luca, meanwhile, enjoyed much of Wednesday’s stage safely tucked inside the protective cocoon of his Liquigas-Bianchi teammates. He finished safely in the bunch to retain the maglia rosa by nine seconds ahead of Basso heading into Thursday’s decisive climbing stage.

“This is my fifth day in the maglia rosa, so I am very content,” Di Luca said. “Tomorrow will be an important stage for me. We’ll have to see how I can manage and then we’ll know what I will be able to do in this Giro. The final podium? If I maintain this form, it’s possible.”

Thursday’s summit finish to Zoldo Alto and Saturday’s even more difficult stage culminating with another summit finish to Ortisei will surely send riders flying off the back at alarming speed. By the time the peloton grinds over the Stelvio in Sunday’s 14th stage, the world will certainly know who won’t be winning the 88th Giro.

Most of the favorites are brimming with confidence – or is that bluster? - something that’s sure to change for anyone who gets shelled on the four-day run to Livigno via 14 rated climbs.

Di Luca by far has been the most resilient and surprising rider of the Giro. After storming through the spring classics, the blonde-haired bomber changed his program to race the Giro, in part to defend his ProTour leader’s jersey.

The idea was for Stefano Garzelli and Dario Cioni to be leading the boys in lime green, but that might change if Di Luca can make it through the Dolomites still in the maglia rosa.

Team boss Stefano Zanatta says Di Luca’s “winning attitude” is contagious and the team is motivated to demonstrate it can play with the big dogs come crunch time.

Even more confident is Team CSC. Following Basso’s strong demonstration in Sunday’s Florence time trial, when he took some serious time out of Cunego and Simoni, the big red machine is champing at the bit to navigate the 27-year-old through the potentially dangerous Dolomites landmine.“The team really got a confidence boost after the time trial and everyone is ready to take their turn when necessary,” said Team CSC sport director Alain Gallopin. “Now we enter the second phase of the Giro, which includes several difficult stages, but after the time trial success, it's hard not to be optimistic.”Lampre-Caffita, meanwhile, has promised to tag-team Basso on the highest climbs. Simoni (10th at 2:11 back) and Cunego (fourth at 1:15) have officially buried that hatchet, promising to work together and deliver victory for the team with the tacit agreement of backing the strongest rider on the day.The purple-clad posse believes Basso could find himself isolated in the steepest terrain. Dave Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde are expected to step up nicely, while Frank Schleck and Peter Luttenberger should be there on the steepest ramps.It’s Paolo Savoldelli (third at 0:35) who might find himself without much help on the most challenging terrain, however. With the early of departure of Tom Danielson with knee pain, the Discovery Channel captain will have to lean heavily on Canadians Ryder Hesjedal and Michael Barry, both making their Giro debuts.But Savoldelli’s strong opening half bodes well for the 2002 champion, who could play the wild card role in what looks to be a shootout between CSC, Liquigas-Bianchi and Lampre-Caffita.“Basso came here to win the Giro, Paolo came here to start the resurrection of his career," said Discovery’s Sean Yates. “CSC came to win the race, Lampre came to win the race. The battle will be between CSC and Lampre. Lots of attacks will follow, plus another time trial is down the road. It will be an interesting race and we can sit and follow, profiting from other people's work and pounce when we can.”Being opportunistic has been the trump card of this Giro so far. With a dozen contenders hunting for glory, don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Results - Stage 10
1. Robbie Mcewen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 5:29:21 (36.726kph)
2. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Fassa Bortolo, at 0:00
3. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, at 0:00
4. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, at 0:00
5. Paolo Bettini (I), Quickstep, at 0:00
6. Isaac Galvez Lopez (Sp), Illes Balears, at 0:00
7. Robert Forster (G), Gerolsteiner, at 0:00
8. Filippo Pozzato (I), Quickstep, at 0:00
9. Clerc Aurélien (Swi), Phonak, at 0:00
10. Mirco Lorenzetto (I), Domina Vacanze, at 0:00

Overall, at after 10 stages
1. Danilo Di Luca (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 44:51:40
2. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, at 0:09
3. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, at 0:35
4. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, at 1:15
5. Dario David Cioni (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 1:27
6. Stefano Garzelli (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, at 1:35
7. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Fassa Bortolo, at 1:38
8. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), Domina Vacanze, at 1:39
9. Markus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, at 2:10
10. Gilberto Simoni (I), Lampre, at 2:11

FULL Results

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