Ignatiev on stage 18's escape

22 year-old Olympic points race champion Mikhail Ignatiev was back to business in the Giro d'Italia by taking part in yesterday's escape. 'Misha' grabbed the Trofeo Fuga Gilera and the Intermediate Garibaldi sprint in stage 18.

"I don't think it was a suicidal move, we had a very good selection of riders in our small group, and there was a measure of hesitation in the peloton for a while," noted Misha to Tinkoff's Press Officer Sergey Kurdyukov. "Unfortunately, there was lack of determination at the front as well. I tried to cheer them up, made a couple of strong pulls and they seemingly woke up and started working hard enough but then... I had a bout of stomach pain.

The seven man move disintegrated on the final two circuits; Misha, with pains, was with group of three that was gapped by Maxim Gourov's accelerations. "It was the worst moment possible for a thing like that ... and between then and the finish I thought only about hanging on to the main pack.

"I'm pretty positive about the points I collected for the two classifications. My track experience helps me at the intermediate finishes, although there's a clear difference between sprinting for points on the track and on the road."

Misha is looking ahead to stage 20's time trial. "Stage 19 is not cut out for me, I'll have yet another survival day, so I'll try to save whatever is left in me for the time trial."