Jens Voigt continued his aggressive style in Giro d'Italia. The German CSC rider made an attempt to escape the peloton within the final three kilometers.

When Voigt decided to try his luck the peloton was just catching up to Mikhail Ignatiev (Tinkoff) and Voigt was hoping this would keep everyone busy enough for him to get away. But the peloton reacted promptly knowing very well that Jens Voigt is a force to be reckoned with. So in stead the pace was increased even further.

"It was in the cards that today's stage was to be decided in a bunch sprint so the agreement was that we would wait and try and make it in a big break. Only three guys escaped so it would've been a waste of time and effort because the sprinter teams had things under control. Jens made an attempt anyway just to test if they were worn out towards the end, but unfortunately that was not the case. On tomorrow's route there should be room for a few more attacks and of course we're gonna try our best to be there," said Team CSC sports director Kim Andersen after the stage.

High Road dominated the sprint finish at the Giro d’Italia in Locarno on Wednesday with a perfect lead out from the team and a rare one-two finish by Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish. It was the last stage for the sprinters before the Giro d’Italia ends in Milan on Sunday and High Road made sure they won it.

In the centre of Locarno the riders each did a strong turn on the front before pulling off to let their team mates through in a perfect example of team work. Frantisek Rabon worked on the front and then strong time trialists Marco Pinotti and Adam Hansen took over before world pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins lead the peloton to the final kilometre. Tony Martin then made sure Greipel and Cavendish were safely round the two left hand corners.

Greipel lead out the sprint as Cavendish carefully watched Bennati. Greipel was very strong and accelerated all the way to the line as Cavendish sat up and began celebrating High Road’s double success.

Greipel had worked hard for Cavendish in the other Giro sprints and so it was a well-deserved payback for the 26 year-old from Rostock.

"I think Cavendish was happy that I won. I did a good job for him when he won and finishing first and second is great for the team," Greipel said.

"I think High Road is the fastest lead out train here in the Giro, we’ve shown it many times during the race. Rabon is really good Pinotti and Hansen are both national time trial champions and Wiggins is world pursuit champion. Tony Martin is also one of the fastest and most talented young time trialists and then me and Cavendish are both fast sprinters."

The high Road riders hugged each other and celebrated what was a special day for the team because Gerald Ciolek also won opening stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt race in Germany.

Mark Cavendish was genuinely happy that Greipel won the stage.

"First and second is unbelievable," Cavendish said.

"It wasn't something we made up, we didn't decide it going into the sprint, but there were two of us in the last two hundred metres and Andre is really fast, so it was perfect."

"I was just watching Bennati and if he'd started to sprint I'd have gone as well. I owed Andre this for the job he did the other day. He deserved to win."

The battles between the sprinters of this Giro have always been carried out in respect of fair play and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) continues on this path. "The High Road team did a huge job. I wouldn’t have won anyway because I didn’t have the “legs” to keep up with Greipel and Cavendish. It’s okay, I’m only sorry that I didn’t experience the emotion of racing in the Giro until now."

The battle for the overall isn't decided yet. "Everything will be decided on Friday. The Mount Pora climb was right for an attack, but also Gavia and Mortirolo will be good for those who have the energy ", said defending champ Danilo Di Luca, one of the potential members of a possible Italian anti-Contador pact."You can talk a lot about alliances, but on the road everyone defends their own interests,” the Contador responded, annoyed. "Do you think that Di Luca will be happy if Riccò wins or vice versa?"

Today, Ricardo Riccò had a difficult day, just like Paolo Bettini."I haven´t had a good day. I spent the night coughing, and it went on during the race. I guess I´m paying the price for the bad weather of the previous stages. I hope I feel better tomorrow and for the rest of the Giro. Of course I´ll keep trying; the Giro isn´t over yet. I´m 41 seconds behind Contador, and I can still find my opportunity to reduce this time gap. I´m saying this from the bottom of my heart, but my head also knows it can be done. Some people remind me of the time-trial in Milan and the need for a time difference of at least 2 minutes; this is my goal, indeed, but even if my difference is much smaller, nobody can know how it will end. With the "maglia rosa" at hand´s reach, I´d grow wings! Anyone can have a bad day, and this includes me and Contador as well. We´re men, not robots."

The Giro d’Italia heads back to Italy today for the 18th stage from Mendrisio in Switzerland to Varese. The 147km stage starts with two laps of the circuit that will be used for the Mendrisio world road race championships in 2009, and ends with two laps of the of the circuit that will be used for this year’s world championships in Varese.