Gilberto Simoni extended his lead on the penultimate stage of the Giro D’Italia with a lone 50km break over the last climbs of the day. Despite pouring rain he attacked off the front “as something of a joke” but pulled clear on the climbs and soloed over the line to re-affirm his command performance of the previous mountain stages.

Meanwhile his previous closest challenger – Dario Frigo – had packed his bags after being sacked from the Fasso Bartolo team for confessions of illegal drug possesion after the mid week police raid.

According to court officials 70 other riders should expect a call from the magistrates after confirmed results from tests of products taken from rider’s rooms.

Among the usual stimulants, dope police were also on the hunt for a new doping substance RSR-13. This experimental cancer drug is still undergoing trials and is extremely hard to obtain. According to Cycling News it’s “an allotropic haemoglobin modifier, RSR-13 works by forcing the blood’s haemoglobin to release more of the oxygen it carries. This is unlike previous blood doping products such as EPO that increase the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity, and it may take a very close reading of the rules to determine if RSR-13 is currently covered by the UCI regulations.”

The drug is also sought after as it dissapears from the blood stream only 5 hours after it’s been taken rendering current tests useless. Obviously one to watch for the future.