David Arroyo moved up to second overall in the crazy stage 11 that saw 56 riders go clear from the top five of the overall classification. Arroyo's Caisse d'Epargne team did its fair share of work that brought pink dreams of several of the favorites, including Alexander Vinokourov, Cadel Evans and Ivan Basso, in doubt.
Arroyo moved up from 11th, where he had steadily been progressing to since his brilliant fifth place in the tough stage seven. Today he made quite a leap from 11th to second, but was matter of factly about it. "I have to be grateful for the effort of the team, which has helped me a lot with the constant work," Arroyo said. Caisse d'Epargne had five riders in the break. Besides Arroyo, there were Arnold Jeannesson, Vasil Kiryienka, Andrey Amador and Alberto Losada.
The day was another one of those rainy Giro stages that the riders had to learn to accept. "The stage was as predicted: long and tough, and we also had to deal with the adverse weather conditions," Arroyo said. "It was cold and it was raining hard." With those conditions there was only one thing to do. "We needed to take the opportunity that we had."
One of the riders who helped him a lot was Kiryienka, who echoed Arroyo's sentiments. "It was a day to suffer and to maximize the gap to the favorites."
Sports director Neil Stephens was also pleased with the opportunity taken. "The fact is that David is a domestique part of the season; today gave us the chance to have him as the leader when the break formed. Riders like Jeannesson and Losada did superb work, but I really want to point out Amador, who has impressed me."