David Zabriskie (CSC) has won Stage 8 of the Giro d?Italia. Zabriskie took the 45-km time trial from Lamporecchio to Firenze in 58:31. Ivan Basso (CSC) and Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) finished second and third, respectively, at 0:17 and 0:44. Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) remains the maglia rosa, but his lead has been cut.

Zabriskie, an early starter, rode to win. His aim was to give team captain Ivan Basso fast splits to measure himself against. More than two hours passed before another rider, Thomas Dekker (Rabobank), broke 1:00:00. Marzio Bruseghin (Fassa Bortolo) and Sergei Gontchar (Domina Vacanze) also broke 60 minutes, but the two were 0:48 and 0:51, respectively, slower than the American.

Basso posted the day?s fastest time, 11:06, at the first time check (8.4 km). Savoldelli, however, bettered his countryman?s mark by 0:02. At the second checkpoint at the top of Monte Albano (18 km), Basso was 0:20 faster than Savoldelli and 0:10 slower than Zabriskie.

On the descent, Savoldelli, who is nicknamed ?Il Falco? (The Falcon) because of his descending skill, made up time. He led Basso and Zabriskie, by 0:08 at the Intergiro. Zabriskie, however, was the fastest on the run to Firenze. Basso and Savoldelli, who had bigger fish to fry, contented themselves with putting themselves in strong positions as the Giro approached the Dolomites.

In the overall, Di Luca leads Basso by 0:09 and Savoldelli by 0:35.

After the stage, Zabriskie told Roadcycling.com that ?I?m very happy with my victory. I started early, so it was quite nerve wrecking to watch the other guys on TV. On the last part of the course we had headwinds, and I knew that would be to my advantage because of my position on the bike. I?m a time trial specialist, and this is definitely a victory I?ve dreamt about for a long time. I was allowed to take it easy in yesterday?s stage, so I was able to aim for something big today,?

Stage 9 should not change this state of affairs. The 140-km run from Firenze to Ravenna will feature only one climb, and that will occur 90 km before the finish. It all adds up to a sprint finish. Who will win? Robbie McEwen (Davitamon)? Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)? Erik Zabel (T-Mobile)? Check in at http://www.roadcycling.com/ and find out!