Already?!?!

Stage 3 may turn out to be really big. It's not because Schumacher won the stage and took the pink jersey (and congrats to him), but because Alessandro Petacchi crashed. He cracked his knee cap and couldn't start stage 4 on Tuesday. We're accustomed to seeing Petacchi abandon a race, but usually it's the Tour, not the Giro. Usually it's while he's winning, not trailing. Usually it's because he's too wimpy to ride uphill, not because he's really hurt. The injury also makes him doubtful for the Tour, so he might not get the chance to abandon that race. Tough break.

That makes it much easier for McEwen to win the points competition. He celebrated that thought by winning stage 4. Really, so long as he doesn't get injured or sick, McEwen is a colossal favorite to win this. The only chance is if a guy like Bettini limits damage on the flat roads and picks up a lot of points in the mountains. Finishing second in stage 4 was a step in the right direction.

Schumacher still holds a slim lead, but stage 5 is the team time trial, so he's probably going to cough up the race lead. Discovery has the pole position, so Salvodelli might end up in pink again.