 After the transfer, the first stage in Italy was a team time trial, a race where each member of the squad races against the clock together, and the team's time is taken for the fifth rider to cross the finish line. Liquigas – Doimo was the winning squad, and had a time gap over Vinokourov's Astana team that was sufficiently large enough for Vincenzo Nibali to become the fourth race leader in as many stages. At last, there was stability in the race leadership, as Nibali comfortably retained over the next two stages, both of which featured breakaways taking the day's honors while the peloton finished together. Stage 7 was a major one, incorporating stretches of gravel roads near the finish. The day on which this stage was run also happened to have very heavy rainfall, making the course muddy and dangerous. Much like had happened in the Netherlands, a great many riders crashed in this stage, perhaps chief among them Wiggins and Sastre, who both lost more than four minutes. Nibali also crashed, and upon seeing this, Alexander Vinokourov, Damiano Cunego, and Cadel Evans broke free of the leading group. Evans won the stage, one of many riders to cross the finish line covered in mud, and Vinokourov took back the race leadership. Through the first mountain stage and two flat stages that followed, the overall standings did not change much, and Vinokourov retained the jersey.
