Michele Scarponi (Lampre) had been looking extremely strong in the first week of the Giro d'Italia but today he struggled in the race's first mountain stage where he lost 1.09 to Vincenzo Nibali and Cadel Evans. Already from the beginning he felt bad in what he describes as a bad day and was glad to see himself limit his losses.

Yesterday, Vincenzo Nibali described Michele Scarponi as the strongest on the climbs in the opening week of the Giro d'Italia and so there were great expectations for the 2011 Giro winner when the peloton hit the mountains in today's 10th stage. However, the Italian was dropped when Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) accelerated on the steepest part and instead of fighting for the stage win, he was left to try to limit his losses.

Assisted by teammate Przemyslaw Niemiec he finished 12th 1.10 behind stage winner Rigoberto Uran (Sky) and 39 seconds behind key rivals Nibali and Cadel Evans (BMC). He is now 5th overall 2.13 behind Nibali but only 9 seconds behind 3rd placed Uran.

Already early in the stage the Italian sensed that he was not as strong as in previous days and despite his disappointment he felt that he had been able to save his overall ambitions by limiting his losses.

"This was certainly not a great day," he said. "From the lower slopes of the Passo Cason di Lanza I had bad feelings, so the result was not what I had hoped for. Considering that I was not at my best, I still think that I defended quite well thanks to the support from Niemiec. A bad day can happen in a Giro for different reasons but now it is important to focus on the next stages and not lose sight of my objectives. The podium is only 9 seconds away and the GC is still open."

Scarponi will get the chance to strike back in tomorrow's mountain stage. Starting at 14.15 you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.