In The (Time) Zone by David Olle, Italy, +39 333 5959 217 (twitter feed @DavidOLLE)

Stage 9, May 15, Messina - Etna 159 km
Well the news of the day is that race leader Pieter Weening went backwards, and out of pink almost as fast as Contador went forward on the volcano, and into the pink jersey.  Meanwhile, here in the French alps, we rode Alpe d'Huez today, and it snowed when we were at the top.

Barring some natural disaster, like a volcano eruption, Alberto Contador will win this year's ‘Giro d'Italia' on one leg.  (That's a little Italy pun, ha-ha).
Stage 9 results
1  Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank)           4:54:09
2  José Rujano (Androni)                   + 0:03
3  Stefano Garzelli (Acqua&Sapone)         + 0:50


General classification after Stage 9
1  Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank)          33:03:51
2  Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC-Highroad)      + 0:59 
3  Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo     + 1:19 

Skippy report:  At last year's Giro, I remember saying that these were the golden days of Australian cycling.  This year's Giro is backing me up.

Cuisine Report:  Enjoyed a ‘chocolate chaud' at ‘La Garde'today, Alpe d'Huez corner no. 16.  Not quite stiff enough to hold the spoon upright, but after a little bit of snow on top of the Alpe, and a very cool descent, it was well received. 

Tomorrow:  Monday May 16, rest day