Frigo holds on as Caucchioli wins

Frigo's super chase is rewarded with another jersey

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Italian star Dario Frigo hung on to the Giro d'Italia lead after a tremendous chase in the closing stages of stage eight.

Pietro Caucchioli won the stage, which contained two first category mountain climbs and an exciting finish on the rolling hills into Reggio Emilia.

With five kilometres to go It looked certain that Portuguese rider Jose Azevedo was set to snatch the pink jersey.

Frigo was stranded, having lost the help of his Fassa Bortolo team-mates.

Azevedo was in a chase group moving so fast that it made up 30 seconds on Caucchioli in the final 5km.

But Frigo put in a superb effort, forcing the pace on the front of the main pack to limit his loss to just 16 seconds.

It meant Frigo hung onto the lead by just three seconds, with Azevedo knocking ONCE team-mate Abraham Olano down to third.

Caucchioli won the day after being involved in the leading breakaway throughout a stage that started from Montecatini Terme.

The Italian, from the Alessio team, broke away with five others after 18 of 185 kilometres with four hours of racing remaining.

Serious mountain action

He got his reward after an exciting Sunday's racing for the thousands on the roadside.

Caucchioli was one of a group of 10 that enjoyed a lead of 3.5 minutes over the top of the first big mountain, the Abetone, after 43km.

They included Columbian climber Hernan Buenahora, who briefly held the race lead over Frigo.

By the time the Castello di Carpineti climb was scaled that gap had fallen to a minute, with 50km to go.

Jose Arrieta of Ibanesto.com and then Panaria's Mexican rider Perez Cuapio both tried solo attacks.

But each was caught before Caucchioli made his effort count.

Behind, a chase group including Davide Rebellin of Liquigas bridged the gap to the remnants of the break.

ONCE rider Azevedo took his chance with less than 15km to go, alongside an Ibanesto rider.

But Frigo spotted that the Portuguese had taken flight and dug deep into his reserves to ensure another day in the Maglia Rosa - cycling's famous pink jersey.

Pantani crash

Former race winner Marco Pantani escaped serious injury after coming down on a fast descent 30km from the finish.

The Mercatone Uno rider was helped back to the main pack by four of his team-mates swarming around their team leader.

After the brief taste of the mountains this weekend, the race heads back into flatter territory on Monday.

Stage results

1 P Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 4hr 54min 23sec (av 37.705km/h)
2 D Rebellin (Ita) at 33sec
3 F Gonzalez (Col) s/t
4 G Figueras (Ita) s/t
5 U Osa (Spa) s/t
6 J Luis Arrieta (Spa) s/t
7 J Azevedo (Por) 35
8 H Buenahora (Col) s/t
9 J Perez Cuapio (Mex) 38
10 D Di Luca (Ita) 51
11 D Frigo (Ita) s/t
12 V Duma (Ukr) s/t
13 G Faresin (Ita) 53
14 S Honchar (Ukr) s/t 15
A Olano (Spa) s/t

Overall standings:

1 D Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 38hr 47min 14sec
2 J Azevedo (Por) at 0.3sec
3. A Olano (Spa) 14
4 G Simoni (Ita) 15
5 W Belli (Ita) 19
6 J Hruska (Cze) 30
7 O Camenzind (Swi) 37
8 A Noe (Ita) 44
9 G Figueras (Ita) 45
10 U Osa (Spa) 48
11 D Di Luca (Ita) 48
12 S Garzelli (Ita) 59
13 P Caucchioli (Ita) s/t
14 I Gotti (Ita) 1min 0.4sec
15 M Pantani (Ita) 1:11

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