In what seems like a repeat of stage nine, stage 11 of the 2012 Giro d'Italia featured a hard sprint into the finish, with a too-sharp corner taking out the favorites. Favorite Mark Cavendish didn't go down in stage 11, but his teammates did, leaving him unable to make his way to the front of the bunch and contest the finish. That left Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giacattoli-Venezuela) to take the win in front of Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), with Tomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge) in third.
Santa Rosa's Team BMC was again in the middle of the pack, with Switzerland's Danilo Wyss coming in ninth. Their GC hope Marco Pinotti now sits in 22nd place, a little more than two minutes behind the leader.
The race had drawn some negative headlines for the route of the final kilometer in stage nine, and they're likely to see similar criticism after Wednesday. Despite not being in the finish, Cavendish did take the lead in the points competition, donning the red jersey after coming into the stage just three points behind Matthew Goss (GreenEdge) who was not involved in the finish. There was no movement in the GC standings, with all of the heavy hitters playing it safe in the peloton.
The GC standings after stage 11:
1) Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team 47:16:39
2) Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda 0:00:17
3) Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:32
4) Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:00:52
5) Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
6) Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:57
7) Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:01:02
8) Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:01:03
9) Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:01:09
10) Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:01:10
Stay tuned to this storystream for previews, recaps, updates and more from the 2012 Giro d'Italia. As always, SB Nation's cycling blog Podium Cafe is your source for quality analysis and insight.