Emanuele Sella (CSF) completed a rare double in the Dolomites on Sunday, winning the 15th stage to the summit of the Passo Fedaia with another lone attack just as he did on Saturday when he won the stage to Alpe di Pampeago.
Behind the little Italian, the overall contenders again watched each other closely, with only the climb to the finish inspiring serious attacks and causing some time gaps.
Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) was not at his best because of a cold but accelerated three times and managed to carve out a hundred metre gap.
Sella?s team mate Domenico Pozzovivo finished second at 2-05 and Ricco was third 2-11. Danilo Di Luca (LPR) was fourth at 2-20, Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni) was fifth at 2-27 and Alberto Contador (Astana) was sixth in the same time.
Contador pulled on the pink jersey and now leads Ricco by 33 seconds, with Di Luca third at 55 seconds. Bruseghin, Menchov and Simoni, are all still within 1-26 and so the Giro is still a six-rider race.
Monday?s 12.9km individual mountain time trial to the ski station of Plan de Corones could see those time gaps open even more.
The stage was 'only' 153km log but the five tough climbs in the Dolomites and cold and rain on the last two climbs tested the riders.
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SIX BRITS SURVIVE SECOND DAY IN DOLOMITES
Charly Wegelius (Liquigas) worked hard for his team mates on the terrible Passo Giau and caused the first real selection in the front group. He caused Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer (Astana) to be dropped and sent everybody else deep into the red. Unfortunately neither Franco Pellizotti or Vincenzo Nibali were able to take advantage.
Wegelius was dropped after giving his all and finished the stage in 65th place, 21-12. All the other British riders finished in the main gruppetto at 35-17.
Mark Cavendish (High Road) again used a compact SRM chainset on the climbs and finished 123rd. He is now likely to continue in the Giro and perhaps go all the way to Milan.
Geraint Thomas (Barloworld) celebrated his 22nd birthday suffering in the Dolomites. He was 104th, just behind team mate Steve Cummings, who was 99th, but was happy to survive another day in one of the hardest editions of the Giro d'Italia for years. David Millar (Slipstream) was 119th and Bradley Wiggins (High Road) was 141st.
Britain's Charly Wegelius set a high pace in the mountains
Emanuele Sella does a rare mountains double: winning two consecutive stages in the Dolomites
Albert Contador takes the race lead
All photos by Graham Watson
GIRO D'ITALIA 2008: STAGE REPORTS
Stage 14: Sella wins first Giro mountains stage
Stage 13: Easy victory for super-fast Cavendish
Stage 12: Bennati gets photo finish verdict over Cavendish
Stage 11: Bertolini wins hilly stage
Stage 10: Bruseghin wins Giro d'Italia time trial
Stage nine: Cavendish misses out in sprint
Stage eight: Ricco wins again
Stage seven: Di Luca, Ricco and Contador gain time on rivals
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