Marco Pinotti pulls through

By Gregor Brown in Locarno, Switzerland

Italian Marco Pinotti is pulling through the 91st Giro d'Italia. The 32 year-old of Team High Road – last year in the maglia rosa of race leader for four days – has been suffering with stomach aches, though he was able to help the team pull off its third stage in the race on Wednesday.

"I will see how I go. In the last three days I have had stomach aches and I am not feeling so well," confessed Pinotti to Cyclingnews the morning of stage 17, which was won by team-mate André Greipel. However, the 'ingegnere' (engineer) from Bergamo is suffering. "I have had nausea; I don't know what it could be ... I was not able to go well on the climbs."

With the big mountains coming on Friday and Saturday, he cast doubt on finishing in Milano, "I am thinking day by day."

The three Dolomites stages left an impression on Pinotti, specifically the Plan de Corones time trial. He had only once-ever ridden the 5.25-kilometre final gravel run. "I did it two years ago, in vacation on a mountain bike, so I knew what to expect. It was not really the course, but afterwards, the time to arrive to the hotel... also for the other tapponi. This Giro will be noted by its number of transfers."

Pinotti felt that Giro d'Italia Race Director Angelo Zomegnan put on a good show for the fans. "He is a good manager, who can make a good product for the public," commented Pinotti, who, following the stage, faced a four-hour transfer on the race's 'rest day,' Tuesday. "We arrived at two o'clock," he added. The team then unpacked and went for a training ride near Sondrio.