Horrach wins, Sella soars

In 22nd place at the start of the day, Sella was fourth overall just four minutes On the descent from the day's second and final climb with less than ten kilometres left in the race Italy's Sella (Panaria) and Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval) attempted to break from a lead group of six riders, but crashed terribly twice, hitting the deck hard on the winding mountain descent.

Ever the opportunist, Spain's Horrach (Caisse D'Epargne) took advantage of their falls to split from the group of six break-away riders and claim victory by five seconds.

"I struggled on the last climb but got back on during the descent and gave it everything to try and win," Horrach said.

"I thought my chance had gone when Mori and Sella opened a 12 second gap but when they crashed I went past them. I suppose I was lucky that they were unlucky."

"You never forget your first win, it's like your first kiss, but this win is special because it's my first victory in a major stage race," he said.

Dutch rider Addy Engels finished in second place in the same time as Sella, who was Friday's big winner.

In 22nd place at the start of the day, Sella was fourth overall just four minutes and 21 seconds behind Basso heading into the final week of mountain stages as the Tour of Italy climbs into the Dolomites.

Serhiy Honchar (T-Mobile) was the hardest hit of the previous G.C. contenders dropping from third-place out of the top-20 and finishing a full 6:37 behind the peloton (nearly 14 minutes behind the day's winner).

Either Sella or Mori appeared headed for victory on the descent of the Valico Guaitarola, attacking from a group of six with 15-km left in the race and building a 15-second lead over the four chasers.

With about 7-km left to ride disaster nearly struck as the two men sped down the winding drop as Sella flew off of his bike crashing into the barrier in a split position.

At the same moment, the lead-man Mori spilled off of his bike over an embankment.

"I knew that the descent could have been dangerous," Sella said after the race. "On a tight turn, Mori fell in front of me, and I couldn't do anything to avoid sliding on the edge of the road."

Though both men were quickly back on their bikes and riding, the falls gave the chasers enough time to catch the two.

On their chase, Mori and Sella experienced a second terrible tumble less than two kilometres after the first.

This time Mori hit the ground going around a corner, and Sella, blind to his compatriot's misfortune, crashed right into Mori, who had just missed getting hit by a race-motorcycle.

The two men battled to return to the lead-group in the final five kilometres, but were out of energy when Engels prematurely launched the sprint, and Horrach reined him in to easily pull away from the pack and claim his first Giro stage-victory.

"It's infinitely a pity, because we had a 90 percent chance of disputing the victory between the two of us," Sella concluded.