In the first week Cavendish also went on to fight for the sprint in Scalea, whilst the hills prevented him from fighting further into the race. There is also focus on
Mauri Vansevenant who rode into the white jersey after his breakaway at Mount Etna. From there on the team's performance didn't manage to take a step higher, as Cavendish suffered from the loss of Michael Morkov during the opening week and only
Mauro Schmid managed to come close to a win later in the race, in stage 19 - where the Swiss finished second.