My weekend in Pink (and Tartan)

So the Giro d'Italia was in Ireland this weekend, though some of the UK press you would be hard pressed to realise that one of the three Grand Tours in the UK was taking place in part of the UK. Indeed some of them devoted more space to another of them coming to Yorkshire 2 months hence than the action going on in Northern Ireland for 2½ of the three days that the Giro spent on Irish roads.

However, that was not the same for Northern Irish media. All the papers had pink headers and front pages and back pages full on pictures and stories from the fans or curious locals who were lining the roads in their thousands as some of the world top cyclists sped past.

This however, is the story of my weekend following a sport I love close to my own doorstep.

Thursday

Although a wheel wasn't to be turned in anger until Friday, the day before any Grand Tour is when the 22 teams are presented to the host city of the first stage. In Belfast this took place in front of City Hall and only a few yards away from the finish line for the first and second stages. Over the last couple of weeks leading up to the Giro coming to town Belfast was becoming more and more pink in shop windows, people's gardens, school playgrounds or wherever. 

Some of you may have seen on Twitter my agonies on the day that the wristbands allowing free access to the presentation led to frustration. However, I have to thank the manager of Visit Belfast for helping me secure tickets.

I had left just down the road from City Hall just before the Gates opened but already there was queue that went around the back, so instead of heading somewhere for food as I had intended I made my way to teh back of that queue.  

We were soon moving very swiftly forward, but by the time I was in the presentation area all the good spots in front of the stage had been taken. However, being a fan I knew how these things work so went over to the side where the ramp was set up for the riders to make their way unto the platform. There was plenty of space there when I turned up. 

As you can see from me in the pink cap I got a prime piece of cycling fan real estate. On my right is Sky superfan Mavis Evans a north Walian, on my left another fan from Cumbria. But beyond Mavis you can see two young fans from Australia, there were also Americans, Belgians, Italians and Colombians not too far away. The person with the blue jacket and iPad was actually the last person who made the front page of the Belfast Telegraph on Friday morning, yes I was that close to being on the front page.

I took some pictures before my batteries in my camera had died, I had no extras (an error I would not make for the rest of the weekend). So most of the GC contenders were not captured on my camera as they rode in after their teams, nor sadly did I capture the three Irish riders Dan Martin (GRS), Nicholas Roche (TCS) or Philip Deignan (SKY), or the only Brit Sky's Ben Swift.

As Deignan is from Donegal and my kilt is Donegal County Crest Tartan there was only one item of clothing along with a Giro d'Italia T-shirt that I was going to be wearing the whole weekend as I followed the race around.



Friday

The eventual winners Orica-GreenEDGE during recon

Team Time Trial day saw me heading first to Titanic Belfast to see the preparations from the team in the morning before their recon sessions. Got to see around the paddock and the various times was stopped for photos myself because of the kilt. But as the roads were getting closed off I headed away from the paddock area and out unto the course. I'd earmarked by spot at the foot of the Newtownards Road (at least for starters).

It allowed me to get a lot of good shots of the teams coming around under the overpass, then sweeping around and unto the Newtownards Road, but also gave me a chance to get them coming back down. The weather in the morning was perfect and dry and the teams went out initially to see the lie of the land and then pushing harder and faster to see how they would ride the TTT on full gas later in the day.

After a while I wanted to get some different backdrops so heading up the Newtownards Road and just as the last few teams were coming past I was watching alongside former Junior Road Race Champion Colm Armstrong, brother to Adam, who in 2008 was second in the U23 to Dan Martin.

But me and my kilt made our way back down a lot of the Newtownards Road and to the Titanic quarter ready for a bit of atmosphere in the pit area.

However, for the evening I decided that I wanted to get to the Stranmillis corner. So before the roads closed I headed off to the most Westerly part of the route. However, when I got there over an hour before the racing was actually to start it was already packed with people (see below). 

I did take a few videos of the action at this point, but with the crowd growing even bigger than from these images I wasn't getting good enough pictures of the sweep around the bend that I wanted. So I moved back along the embankment towards Queen's PEC. It was here that I knew that Garmin had had a major mishap as they arrived well over 7 minutes behind the team in front and with only five riders. But it allowed me to get images like this of Team Sky in the Race:

The day was to be the Aussies with Orica-GreenEDGE taking the honours, but it was Canadian Svein Tuft who pulled on the first Maglia Rosa of 2014 Giro d'Italia.


Satruday

A Biciletta Rosa for the Maglia Rosa

The first road racing stage of the day came on Saturday. I was once again hanging around the paddock at teh start. The star of the show was the Bicicletta Rosa for the Maglia Rosa Svein Tuft of Orica-GreenEDGE he had been the first of their team to cross the line in what turned out to be the fastest TTT the evening before, although they had to wait for 20 other teams to take to the course to find that out.

As you can see in this picture there is a guy with a camera pointing in my direction. Little did I know that I also getting filmed for the Orica-GreenEDGE backstage pass. You can see me below about 45 seconds into the video. I'm actually talking to Matt White the sporting director of the team about how he'd kept his promise from the Liege-Bastogne-Liege backstage pass to win the Maglia Rosa in Belfast.



However, when I say star of the show there was also Irish cycling greats Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly walking around who I managed to photograph both of.

I hung around the Titanic long enough to see the Giro leave, here they go on their roll out:

However, I knew where I wanted to be out on the course, so I headed to Central Station to get on a train. I got off at Carrickfergus and header out along the route (taking in a little of the activities that were taking place in Carrick. An hour later with many thumbs up, waves on the as yet unclosed roads I made it to my destination the climb of Knocknagulliach, just above Whitehead.

There were two reasons for this, first it was the closer climb to Belfast allowing me to double up both seeing the start and some of the action. Plus while I was in my Donegal tartan within sight of Whitehead I was remembering how at the start of the last century my Donegal born great grandfather was stationed as a policeman in the town below. It was here that he met a local girl, fell in love and their third child was my maternal grandfather.

Bizarrely on a day when the race was wet we had decent weather and I was able to take my green tweet jacket off from most of the time I was waiting for the race. Then I was able to take this picture of the breakaway. But sadly as I took a snap of the helicopter hoovering above us I got a battery exhausted warning on my camera, and as I started to change them the peleton came around the corner and I missed them.

After the race had passed however, I made my way down into Whitehead, just as the rain started to fall, so I headed into the pub in time to see the race arrive at Whiteabbey and so unlike Friday I was aware of how the race finished without having to ask people on the train.

Sunday


Not to cause offense to the great city of Armagh, but getting there from Bangor in time to see the race head off would have been problematic. However, getting to Dublin and the finish was doable and also would hopefully allow me to witness a bunch finish. So I had booked myself unto the Giro special which was sadly not full to capacity but I met up again with Mavis from Thursday and we were able to catch up on our Giro's so far.

My camera issue today however was that I had left my SD card in my laptop, something I'd realised on the train up from Bangor when I went to show someone the pictures of Tuft's frame from the day before. So I knew I would have to buy a new one when I got to Dublin. Meanwhile on the way down Mavis and I had great fun looking out for the signs of pink that showed us where the route was visible from the Belfast to Dublin line. When we arrived I set off on the hunt for an SD card and she to book into her hotel for the evening.

SD card secured I found a good spot about 270m from the line. But just after the last chicane and opposite Oscar Wilde's house. It was here that I ran into my second Irish cycling champion on the side of the road, only this time the reigning women's road race champion Melanie Spath. It seemed ideal and I was just going to snap on continuous for the duration. Here are the start of the sequence of the lead outs:

Coming into sight Edvald Boassen Hagen (SKY) was leading the way, his team mate Ben Swift was sitting in third wheel.

Ben Swift is just about to exit my shot, but six back just appearing in Marcel Kittel (GIA) in the Maglia Rosso (red jersey)

Here is Kittel making progress but still with a lot of work to do.

I did mange to get the Maglia Rosa who now was Tuft's team mate Michael Matthews, but can you spot him below.

All in all, like the organisers I had a great three days of the Giro in Ireland. My knees may have been suffering on Saturday night after the amount of walking that I had done over the previous two days. I've lost a little bit of weight in my active spectatoring. But I've met some interesting people along the way and am more determined that ever to one day take in some of the famous stages of the Grand Tours in their own countries.

However, I also hope that another Grand Tour will come to Northern Ireland and/or Ireland very soon as a result of the reception that we were able to give the second biggest road race of them all, because when it does I will certainly be there, hopefully this time on my bike.

It's beginning to look a lot like #Giro

On my way into Belfast this morning I was just coming down the step from Central Station when I saw a sight that cheered my heart on this damp day. A Movistar team car was just turning the corner into the turning circle in front of the Waterfront Hall.

However, when I got to the corner myself there was a sight that made this cycling fan's heart sing. There wasn't use one team car but several. Amongst them were those of Orica-GreenEdge, BMC, Tinkoff-Saxo, Columbia, Lampre and many more. I stopped to take a picture of just some of them.

I then made my way to Visit Belfast to pick up the wrist bands that will enable me to get into the front of Belfast City Hall tomorrow evening for the team presentations. While I was there I also picked up a back of official merchandise. A T-shirt, cap, bag, noise maker hand and four wrist bands, three in the colours of the Bandiera d'Italia, the other of course in pink for the Maglia Rosa.

Friends will know that I like my wrist bands, so it wasn't two long before I was branded as an Italian. The pink one may wait, I have a lot of pink that I will be wearing over the weekend, so I may not go all out with that wristband just yet.

On the way home there was a queue of traffic heading along May Street, stuck in the middle of this was the Cannondale team, car. I shouted over, "Don't worry it will be easier to get through Belfast on Friday." Which got me a smile from the driver.

But it is certainly beginning to look a lot like a cycling Grand Tour is about to take place on my doorstep.

Pretty in Pink #BradleyWiggins #Wiggo #GirodItalia #Giro

Those readers who know me know I love my cycling. In fact later this month I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Mapping le Tour, a book that covers the maps (another of my fascinations) of the previous 99 runnings of the longest running Grand Tour.

But tomorrow sees the start of the 96th edition of the slightly younger Giro d'Italia. It is the race that contains both last years winner Ryder Hesjedal and the winner of the Tour de France last year Bradley Wiggins. But there are three other previous grand tour winners in the mix Vincenzo Nibali  (Vuelta a España 2010), Cadel Evans (Le Tour 2011), Michele Scarponi (Giro 2011). Plus other contenders who have stood on Grand Tour podium, either as king of the mountains or in the top three in General Classification.

The leader of the next three weeks on the roads of Italy will wear the Maglia Rosa (Pink Jersey) you can follow my thoughts of the day's routes and action over on my sporting almanac.

But in the meantime I think this song is appropriate and as for genre almost Wiggo-esque.

Giro d'Italia Stage 21 the final

Today is the final stage of the 2012 Giro d'Italia. It will feature an individual time trial over 30km of Milan's roads.

Yesterday Joachin Rodriguez managed to take that all important 4th slot which put him 1 point ahead of Mark Cavendish in the points classification and more or less ensures that he wins the maglia rossa (red jersey). As at 30km the time trial is too long for Cav who has been known to surprise in shorter ones. The only thing that might work in the Manx mans favours is a drastic deterioration in the weather after he completes his circuit that affects all the top riders. With three 180 degree turns a slippery road might just be what is needed. Sadly the weather forecast isn't predicting anything other than sunshine. Ironically because Rodriguez is still in the magllia rosa (pink jersey) as race leader Cav will be wearing the maglia rossa into Milan.

So with Matteo Rabottini FAR in the blue jersey as king of the mountains, Rigoberto Uran SKY almost certain with a 2'28" lead over team mate Sergio Henao going to take the white jersey for best young rider, having been out in front of the race for 683km Olivier Kaisen LTB is the king of the breakaway it is down to the battle in the GC.

Rodriguez  leads Ryder Hesjedal GRM by 31 seconds with the defending champion Michele Scarponi next but at 1'51" surely with too much to make up. Hesjedal is the better time triallist of the two leaders, but as we often see when the race win is at stake a man known mainly as a climber will do whatever it takes to hang on and go beyond many people's expectation. It comes down to just over 1 second per kilometre. So if the gap in seconds at the two time checks equates to the distance traveled then this is going down to the wire. If Rodriguez keeps it well below it then he is fighting hard to take home two jerseys, but if Hesjedal is well over it then he has done enough in the mountains to secure his win.

Giro d'Italia Stage 20

Well we have had all the action over the last two days.

On stage 18 the last flat stage of the Giro no sooner had the Eurosport commentary team said that the four man breakaway were too far ahead for Mark Cavendish to even think of the intermediate sprint points that Sky went to the front and brought the gap down exceedingly fast to enable Mark to pick up the five points on the line for that contest. With 18 intermediate points he is second only to break away king Martijn Keizer VCD.

However on the line maybe Mark left it a bit too long to launch his attack as Andrea Guardini FAR launched his attack while Cav was still in the wheel of Geraint Thomas and finished just ahead of the Manx man. The loss of the three points for coming second on Thursday may proof costly to Mark Cavendish's defense of the Maglia Rossa today because of what happened yesterday in the penultimate mountain stage.

There was an attack up the road but that finally got hauled back on the last climb by Roman Kruezinger AST while behind him the main pack got reduced to just six of the GC contenders. Ivan Basso LIQ, Joachin Rodriguez KAT, Rigoberto Uran SKY, defending champion Michele Scarponi LAM, Domenico Pozzovivo COQ but the man those five all had to shake off was the best time trialist of the lot of them Ryder Hesjedal GAR.

Time and again they tried to go but the Canadian former mountain biker was always the first man unto the wheel. In the end he went off himself and only Scarponi could keep his wheel initially. Then there were two slightly behind Rodriguez and Basso, but Pozzovivo and Uran were tailed off as a third pair as all six appeared to be on their limit. But then Hesjedal puuled away from Scarponi and for a while it looked like he might catch Kruezinger up the road, but he just ran out of time to bring him back finishing 19 seconds after the Czech rider.

Down the hill Rodriguez was determined not to loss too much time or even worse his maglia rosa before they exited the mountains. He actually caught Scarponi on the line to take third place. For Cavendish fans it means that the Spaniad needs to be no better than 5th today and the jersey is almost certainly Cav's as neither man is liable to score points in the 30km time trial on Sunday.

Today's stage is key for a number of classifications.

First there is the blue jersey (king of the mountains) this will be decided today. Matteo Rabottini FAR after his amazing breakaway on Sunday still holds the lead in this on 65 points, next man is Stafano Pirazzi on 44 who may have been hoping for better today with the big riders. There are five climbs a category 2, two category 3s, a category 1 and the final climb is a Cimi Coppi (outsdie classification) to the highest finish ever in the Giro at Passo Dello Stelvio. It is 22.4km of a climb to 2757m.

The intermediate sprint comes before the category 1 climb, so the way that Mark Cavendish and Sky have been riding this tour there is just the possibility that he may be able to take the 5 points there. If he does it would put him 18 points ahead of Joaquin Rodriguez would have to finish in the top 2 if he wants to win the maglia rossa, if the points aren't taken by Cav  anywhere in the top 4 would see that jersey pass to the Spaniard.

Finally there is the GC. Rodriguez leads by 17 seconds from Hesjedal, probably thankful there were no time bonuses yesterday.  Scarponi at 1'39" and Basso at 1'45" will have to get clear from Hesjedal in order to stand a chance of winning after tomorrow's time trial. Rigoberto Uran at 3'21" is the best young rider, his team mate Sergio Henao is 9th but second young rider on 5'47" so 2'26" down on that classificatoin a contest between the two Sky riders. So the white jersey should be Skys as Gianluca Brambilla is next a further 2'31" down.

Today is tough especially that last climb. We saw the leaders on the limit today and reaching for the barriers as soon as they crossed the line. Expect more of the same today as they leave everything on the road.

Giro d'Italia Stage 18

With Joaquin Rodriguez winning the stage into Cortina d'Ampezzo yesterday Mark Cavendish is still in the maglia rossa (red jersey), just by one slim point over the wearer of the maglia rosa (pink jersey) there is one flat stage left and two on the mountains. So that crash caused by Ferrari may well prove vital in deciding where this jersey goes.

Today is the last flat stage before the final Time Trail into Milan on Sunday, indeed if anything it is downhill most of the way as we finish 900m further down than we start. There is just one thing that Mark has to do today to keep hold of that jersey at least for one more day, stay upright and win points. There is just 149 km of racing today from San Vito di Cadore to Vedelago. The last 5 km of straight and flat with no major bends on the run in. Sky will have to deliver Cavendish to the front at the right time, there are less printers around now, but they will need to keep him save from the number of have-a-go wannabes, who may not be used to going wheel to wheel in such a finish.

The one thing in Marks favour is that there are 29 points for the line in a flat stage opposed to 25 on a mountain. A win today would extend the lead to 30 points. It would mean that Rodriguez point opportunities are down to 25, 20, 16, 14, 12, 10 etc for the last two days in the mountains when others will want and have to take it out of him. Whether he marks his rivals or goes off after minor riders who can climb will determine the points competition.

But first Mark Cavendish has to win to make it exciting.

Giro d'Italia Stage 17

Well I got yesterday's stage all wrong. The peleton decided to extend their rest day another 24 hours and let a group get over 12 minutes ahead of them when it was too late to haul that back. So in the end the 10 of them made their move on the final climb.

Today though is a day for the GC contenders.

It starts with a small hump, it might have been categorised in Denmark but not today. At the bottom of that descent is the first of today's two category 2 climbs, which takes up above 2000m at a relatively gentle start. Relative compared to what is to come on the other three climbs. But from them on if you aren't climbing sharply you will be descending sharply.

There are two category 1 climbs the first is the steep climb up the Passo Duran, the second the Passo Giau is followed by a 18km steep descent to the finish. So watch for the attack on the climb in the hope to get ahead and stay ahead on the way down. If there weather is wet there may well be spills on the way down as people try to get back or stay in contention on the run down into Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Giro d'Italia Stage 16

We are back after a rest day. Probably needed as much by commentators and fans after stage 15 and the finish.

Matteo Rabotinni (FAR) had attacked on the big category 1 climb of the day some 93 km from the end, but there was a small group between him and the peleton, but this included Damiano Cunego (LAM) who had taken the virtual lead on the road. On the final descent he had crashed on a slippery turn but got back on his bike and carried on. The peleton were closing in on Cunego and soon had defended the maglia rosa.

Eventually they captured this groupetto and there was just Rabotinni The on the final climb the gaps came down and with about 2km to go the attacks started to come from the main group. First Roman Kruezinger (AST) then Michele Scarponi (LAM). Then a group of four broke clear in the chase Joaquin Rodriguez(KAT), Scarponi, Rigoberto Uran (SKY) and Ivan Basso (LIQ).

But when Rodriguez set off on a final burst he went alone. He caught Rabotinni with about 500m to go. But the Italian wasn't going to let the Spaniard have it all his own way. He dug in got the wheel and then coming into the last bend he retook the lead he had held for over 90km and crossed the line for a spectacular win.

Today's stage from Limone sul Garda to Falzes/Pflazen is a medium mountain stage but with no categorised climbs.

Mark Cavendish has been contesting sprints when there are points available so depending on the situation up the road he may well be going for whatever is left at Ora/Auer. There are a couple of steeper kicks towards the end of the stage. The last of which is in the last 5km.

It is not impossible that Cavendish might still be with the peleton at the start of that climb. It is also not impossible that Sky will be able to get him to the top in a reasonable position. There is then a little over 2km to the finish.

 It is one of those days that there may well be a sprint finish and it will just depend what 'sprinters' are there. With more and more of them falling by the wayside including Matt Goss before the stage started on Saturday it is the sort of stage that if Cavendish in the maglia rossa (red jersey) can be with the head of the race at the top of the final kick he could stamp his authority on that competition with another strong performance.

I'm not saying that he will as that climb is steep in sections including a 12% gradient for a bit. But I do remember Cav shocking the field in the Tour de France with a sprint on after a climb to win one of his 20 stages so in the back of my mind there is an outside possibility of something like that today, as there is only one more flat stage, on Thursday, but three more high mountain stages he'll need to do something to keep the in form Joachim Rodriguez as bay in that contest.

Giro d'Italia Stage 15

Sorry I've missed by previews of the last few stages, I've been a little bit busy in real live.

But on Friday on Stage 13 we actually had a broad straight finish for a flat stage. Matt Goss was getting the lead out towards the end and had the jump on Mark Cavendish. But when the sprint came to the left of the road Cav was boxed in, freewheeled for a couple of beats before the gap opened for him again as Matt Goss returned to the centre. He took the opportunity kicked again for the line and in the end won by a bike length. With only one flat stage remaining he leads the points competition by 31 points. Providing he can get over the Alps over the next few days he may well be adding the Maglia Rossa to the Maillot Verte and the rainbow world champs jersey inside 12 months.

Yessterday in the first of the mountain stages from Cherasco to Cervinia in the wet there was action on the climb up to Cervinia, there was a group of three up the road but then Ryder Hesjedal broke out of the group containing the contenders including Scarponi the defending champion and Rodriguez who was in the Maglia Rosa. Scarponi did try and get across but was pegged back by the rest, then Rodriguez also tried but he too fell short. At the line Hesjedal may have been 20 seconds behind Andrey Amador Bikkazakova who won the stage, but most importantly the Garmin rider was 26 sec ahead of the main group. It was enough to lift him back into pink.

Today's stage from Busto Arsizio to Lecco Piani dei Resinelli starts out fairly innocuously but then with 100km it becomes either uphill, or down. The first of these is the category 1 Valico di Valcava the only cat 1 on today's stage. But 14km of descent there is a bump that is uncategorised, before a category 3 then two category 2s including the final ascent to the finish.

With tomorrow being a rest day some of the GC contenders might be waiting to make an attack on the final 8km climb. Or someone might try their luck on the previous one which is 9km long. Somebody may well aim to leave everything out on the road today knowing that there is a day's rest tomorrow and a medium mountain day on Tuesday before the return to the high mountains on Wednesday.

Giro d'Italia stage 11

After Joaquin Rodriguez fast climb through the narrow streets of Assisi we have what after yesterday's medium mountain stage is a 'flat' stage with more climbs.

There is a category 3 at about half way and a category 4 11km from the finish as we head from Assisi to Montecatini Terme. However, while today is considered a flat stage it is another finish that may prove hazardous for the sprinters.

After scaing the last climb where there is a maximum gradient of 8.5% there is a downhill or flat run to the finish. However, within the last km there are sharp right, left and right again turns. The last of these being in side the final 500m once again like on Monday. Once again all the lead out trains will be trying to fight for the very head of the race round those bends delivering their sprinter in the place where he can get around that last bend without interference so that he can launch the perfect and winning acceleration off it.

My prediction is that there will be another spill in that last bend. I hope that both Matt Goss and Mark Cavendish avoid it this time and have another sprint between the two of them.

Giro d'Italia Stage 10

Yesterday's stage did turn into a sprinters stage but with that corner just before the finish causing problems.

Read into it what you will but the sprinters did seem to take two different approaches to the corner. Matt Goss appeared to slow and wanted to take a wider entrance into the corner while others were going in hot braking later in time to turn at the far crash barrier before reapplying the full pressure for the straight.

Whatever you views and I know I exchanged some via twitter with the Red Jersey wearer himself and a number of sports fans who unlike me hadn't tweeted live before the race was finished.

Today's stage is deemed to be a medium mountain stage. It is certainly lumpy on the way from Civitavecchia to Assisi today but the kick up the end is the only categorised climb. It may only be a cat 4 but it does go up very steeply all of a sudden in the final 4 km.

There is actually a double climb into Assisi although the first one does have slopes of a maximum 15% gradient leading up to 2.4km from the finish. The average gradient from 4km to there is 9.2%. This is where the field will really splinter. Unlike yesterday it will not be approaching that slope at sprinters pace because the sprinters will not be keeping up with events at the front.

There is then just over a km of descent before hitting a traffic island before the final climb at 1.2km, which goes through the city gate and a narrowing of the road and over cobbles. This may at 8.5% average gradient not be as bad as the first part of the ascent, but there has been littler recovery time between the two and so the leader to the line will have made whatever move happens on that first kick to be in a position to go for the line.

On Eurosport yesterday they were joking that a Francis or Frank or Francisco would have to be the winner in Assisi. In that case Frank Schleck (RNT) is the best placed of any of them in 9th. Francis de Greef (LTB) is more of a time trial specialist in 40th. Francis Mourey (FDJ) coming from a cyclo-cross background might fancy his chances lying in 62nd. Yesterday's winner Francisco Ventoso Alberdi (MOV) is more a sprinter. The others are Francesco Failli (FAR) and Francesco Chelli (OPQ).

Don't see a great deal of potential in fulfilling that prophecy from the Eurosport guys today, but you never know. There may be some divine inspiration from St. Francis of the ilk of the finish.

Giro d'Italia Stage 9

Today's stage should end up a sprinters stage.

Or

Today's stage should end up a late breakaway win.

There are two option as to how today finishes. First there is a kick up from just before 5 km to go. So someone who can open a big lead at that point could get away and negotiate the descent then the twist and turns into the finish.

The sprinters teams however, will be trying to maintain control of those breakaways from that final small kick up. But then there is the matter of getting their man to the front. This could be important as there is a sharp 90 degree left hand turn only 350 metres from the end. Just the spot where the sprinters are normally waiting to be released behind their final lead out. If someone goes in too fast at that point anyone could be affected by that and I could even end up like a Foinavon moment if someone near the front brings down the rest of the leaders.

Either was this stage will be worth watching for the finish.

Giro d'Italia Stage 8

As I said yesterday the Giro would not be won on the climb to Rocca de Cambio yesterday but some of the contenders did stretch their legs.

Defending champion Michele Scarponi (LAM) was one of the two who pulled away from the small remaining field on the last climb, however Paolo Tiralongo (AST) took the honours on the line.  However, the strongest ro react was Frank Schleck (RNT) was was only three seconds back for the final time bonus spot just ahead of Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT). Ryder Hesjedal (GRM) was a further 2 seconds down, Ivan Basso (LIQ) in a group of 3 4 seconds down with Christian Vandevelde (GRM) in the bigger group of 18 who were 11 seconds behind the leader.

The day's wearer of the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey) Adriano Malori (LAM) finished 11.28 down which means that Hesjedal takes the jersey and lead unto today's stage ahead of yesterday's stage winner Tiralongo at 15", Ridriguez at 17" and Vandevelde at 21".

Today we continue down the spine of Italy from Sulmona to Lago Laceno just to the east of Naples.

Similar to yesterday while it bumpy there are only two categorised climbs a cat 4 early on at Valico di Macerome before a category 2 climb of Colle Molella to 4km from the finish. So unlike yesterday which finished on the climb there could be 4km run in off that final Colle, there isn't a great deal of a descent it is mainly flatish from there to the line. If yesterday's cat 2 only led to an handful of seconds I don't foresee any opening of the gaps between the big guys unless they gain bonuses at the line. They will lie in waiting just watching each other waiting for the first high mountains next weekend.

The first Maglia Rosa of this Giro Taylor Phinney (GRM) finished again in the last group but with Dennis van Winden (RAB) but behind  the last man in GC Theo Bos (RAB). He is still almost 10 minutes ahead of Bos but currently is 189th out of 193 riders still riding.

Giro d'Italia Stage 7

Well yesterday certainly saw something rather unusual happen. The Maglia Roas (pink jersey) changed hands, that wasn't what was exceptional, but it is when you learn who it went to.

There was a break away over the undulations yesterday in the end five of that breakaway stayed clear. One Miguel Rubiano (AND) went solo on the last categorised climb and stayed away. But it was the group of four that pursued him where the interest lay. The best placed men in that group were Adriano Malori (LAM) and nine seconds behind him Michal Golas (OPQ) with time bonuses available for the first three any of the three could take the Maglia Rosa depending on the gaps and what time adjustments if any they picked up. In the end all three did pick up a time bonus. Rubiano needed either another 31 seconds of for the other two Alesandr Dyanchenko (AST) or Cesare Beneditti (APP) to take the bonues and 17 seconds more. So as it was the strange thing is the Adriano Malori ended up in pink for today's stage. Strange because in last years Tour de France in the ride into Paris he was the laterne rouge (last rider) in the race. Of course he'd already made amends for that in the Tour being the most compative rider on stage 6 last year, but now he is leading another of the grand tours.

Today's stage is another one where the sprinters will finish in a groupetto at the end of the race. Yesterday the last group 33mins 12 secs back contained world champion Mark Cavendish and the former Maglia Rosa Taylor Phinney.

There may only be two categorised climbs in the stage the first a category three and the second a category 2 but the second major climb leads the last 16 km to the finish at Rocca di Cambio. There is a possibility that this afternoon the GC contenders might stretch they legs to see what the others are like on that final climb. It is major being only a cat 2. But it may be a time to try to shake up the pack a little seeing as there are still 76 riders within 2 minutes of the lead. A little test of the legs of the peleton on that climb will probably show us who the contenders are and may show us who hasn't got the form.

Yesterday we lost Thor Hushovd, Tyler Farrar and Roman Feillu when the three of them climbed off their bikes and Pablo Lastras Garcia when he fell off his. Meanwhile Taylor Phinney in finishing with Cavendish has dropped from first in the race to 188th of the 194 still riding.

Giro d'Italia Stage 6

Mark Cavendish holding daughter Delilah on the winners podium yesterday

Yesterday Mark Cavendish resumed his place on the podium as he won the sprint against Matt Goss. He took his place there for the first time in his 80 professional wins with his daughter one-month old Delilah in his arms. But I don't expect to see Mark up there as stage winner today.

The reason quite simply is that the tour goes uphill. Not massively so, but enough that expect to see all the sprinters in a Gruppeto at the back of the field.

There are three category three climbs and one category two, plus a lot of uncategorised lumps in the road all along its course. This is not sprinters' territory but also it shouldn't really lose any of the GC contenders the race unless they really are not on form.

The start at Urbino is inland from the finish yesterday at Fano where Sky led out Mark Cavendish so perfectly that when Goss tried to accelerate to get around and beat him the Manx Rocket just had to put his own foot down and race for the line. But unlike yesterday's largely straight and for the start level route, today the race will climb a total of 13 times. The hardest of these is the 8km climb up the Passo Della Cappella.

There does follow 46 km of downhill or flat valley roads before the second of the category three climbs so there is an outside chance that some of the sprinters may get back on, but with six more lumps in the road two of them category three it would depend how much was taken out of the legs to get back, I suspect that there will be no way that the sprinters will be in a fit state once they reach the top of the last bump 12 km from the finish to be thinking of contesting a sprint finish. Although maybe some of them will surprise us.

Giro d'Italia Stage 5

After yesterday's team trial which saw Taylor Phinney, then in the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey) take an excursion off course through some long grass and saw all three of the men most closely affected or involved in Monday's crash start. We have probably the most straight route I recall for any road stage of a Grand Tour.

From the start at historic Roman colony of Modena we go straight and flat to Rimini on the coast. Then following the coast around to Fano for the stage finish there few bumps in the road, but only one warrants a category four rating.

The final 10km are flat and straight leading into the finish itself. So expect another sprinters finish.

I would say without any bends in the final few kms this should be an uneventful run in but after Monday and the crash on the straight I won't be so bold. What I do hope is that the sprinters do race a fair sprint and keep largely to their sprinting line. Because although Fano is mentioned in Dante's Inferno I want all the fire to merely be in the explosive finish and not a hail of angry words, tweets, press interviews after the event.

So as Lithuanian cyclist Ramanus Navardauskas wears the Maglia Rosa there is added incentive for team Garmin-Baracuda sprinter Tyler Farrar to win today. The time bonuses would lift him into the leader's jersey, but I expect that both Mark Cavendish (SKY) and Matt Goss (OGE) will have something to say about him taking the maximum time bonus when it comes down to it.

Giro d'Italia Stage 4 Three Gentlemen in Verona

After the crash at the finish on Monday we head to Verona for the Team Time Trial today. The big focus will be on three of the riders.

First of course there is Taylor Phinney who managed to cross the line on Monday and although it looked worse than it turned out only required three stitches on his ankle as there was no breaks. But his team BMC may have to lose the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey) if they have to nurse him to the line there is only nine seconds over Geraint Thomas of Team Sky one of the favourites for the Team Time Trial, while Alex Rasmusen of Garmin-Barracuda one of the other favourite teams is another 4 seconds back. How well rested Phinney's ankle is may well determine the pace at which BMC go around the 33.2km course.

Next there is the riding rash on the left hip and shoulder of world champion Mark Cavendish. He may be a sprinter but he likes to take his turn on the front in team time trials, in fact he was also riding tempo at the front on stages of the Tour de Romandie last month as that was not a sprinter's tour.Watching to see how well he rides this stage will let us know just what sort of shape he is in after hitting the road on Monday and having some other bikes ride into him as he was prone in the middle of the road. If his team can take enough time out of BMC and not lose too much or even open a gap on Garmin-Baracuda Welshman Geraint Thomas may be in the Maglia Rosa at the end of the day.

The final gentleman of Verona is Roberto Ferrari. The 21-year-old Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela rider has been defiant about his action on Monday, saying:

"I don’t know who was behind me. I know that when Farrar went I threw myself right and somebody hooked me back. There was space to pass, I don’t know who was on the wheel or what happened.

"I made my sprint. I was on my course. I was in front of him [Cavendish], I don’t care what happens behind me."

These are dangerous words as rule 2.3.036 states:

"Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the
sprint and, in so doing, endangering others."

This is what  Ferrari did, his words above may contravene rule 2.2.010 (below) because that does indicate that care is required to be exercised.

"Without prejudice to the disciplinary penalties provided for by the regulation, a licence holder (rider) or a team may be excluded from a race if he/it seriously blemishes the image of cycling or of the race. This exclusion can occur before or during the race."

We shall see if Ferrari does start the race today or if he has been excluded.


The Route for the Time Trail itself takes the teams out to near Pedemont and back again. It starts at Porta san Zeno and returns to finish on the cobbles in the historic Piazza Bra with its Roman amphitheatre.


We may seen a change of ownership of the Maglia Rosa, but I fully expect BMC and Taylor Phinney to not give it up without a fight no matter how much pain he is in.

Leaders both crash and one is out #Giro #GirodItalia

Just 125m from the end of stage three of the Giro d'Italia today there was a massive crash that lead to both the pink and red jersey's hitting the deck hard. It was the second stage in a row that saw a crash in the final stages and some of those affected in that crash, especially Dennis van Winden (RAB), were struggling today covered in gauze.

As the sprint was opening up Mark Cavendish (SKY) was riding fifth wheel with Matt Goss (OGE) at the front. But he had gone for space on the right and a gap developed behind the leading three. Roberto Ferrari (AND) whipped across the road. Despite his best instincts and efforts to try and avoid his rear wheel at that speed Cavendish was clipped by the erratic move and crashed down right in the middle of the road. A following rider, Arnoud Demare (FDJ), just avoiding hitting him in the head, another unable to avoid crashing into this hip and going over the top, and the domino effect carried on.

Picture via Eurosport

Another casualty of the crash however, was the winner of the opening time trial and the proud wearer of the maglia rosa (pink jersey) Taylor Phinney (BMC). He had been riding near the head of the race to keep out of trouble but unfortunately he crashed into the barriers on the right hand side and appears to have broken his right ankle and in the most unfortunate of circumstances failed to have crossed the line under his own steam.



While Cavendish got up to carry his broken bike over the finish line the race leader made a sorry sight crossing it in the back of an ambulance for a DNF mere metres from the line. Geraint Thomas (SKY) will have inherited the maglia rosa in the most unfortunate of circumstances.

Roberto Ferrari will almost certainly be relegated to last spot in this race for causing the incident, if not a greater sanction. While Matt Goss goes one better than yesterday to secure Orica GreenEdge their first win the Giro as well a securing the Red Jersey which hung in tatters around the shoulders of the previous days winner as he walked over the line.

Update it appears that Phinney did manage to cross the line himself but his injuries mean he will not be riding after the rest day tomorrow. So Wednesday's race will probably not contain the maglia rosa as is tradition for a fallen leader.

Update 2 As I called it Ferrari has been relegated from crossing the line 10th to last man.

Update 3 Mark Cavendish has since pointed out that other riders, including himself and his lead out with HTC over the last few years Mark Renshaw  have been kicked out of races for far less than this sudden swerve and attempted hook of a faster finisher. However, with Ferrari being an Italian racer on an Italian team is is possible that no further sanction than relegation to 192nd on the stage may occur.

Giro d'Italia Stage 3

It is our final day in Denmark but already this is a good Giro for team Sky. Geraint Thomas is still second in the overall classification thanks to his finish in the individual time trail around Herning.

Then yesterday the man who is second in the race helped the world champion to yet another win here in Denmark, the country where Cavendish won the rainbow strips.  The two of them were well up at the front, riding fifth and sixth wheels, ahead of a crash going into the finishing straight that caused a split in the peleton but because of the last km rule, no lose of time. Thomas himself wearing the red jersey for points leader finished 11th, before relinquishing his temporary custodianship of the points jersey to the man he hopes will still be wearing it in Milan.

Today we head to the east coast of the Danish mainland for a figure of eight circuit around the city of Horsens before three criterium loops around the city itself potentially setting up another sprint finish that Sky will want to consolidate they very good weekend in Denmark.

With the 20 second bonus for the stage win yesterday Cavendish is up to 12th in the overall classification only 18 seconds behind his team mate in 2nd place so another 20 second bonus today on the line would actually lift him up to 2nd overall, although of course with the mountains still to come Cavendish is only focussing on the red jersey for this tour.

Thomas because of his 2nd and 11th place finishes is actually second in the point classification at the moment.

The question already being asked by La Gazzetta dello Sport is can any other sprinter deny Cavendish.

Giro d'Italia 2012 Stage 2

Today the Giro d'Italia will run along Denmark's North Sea coast as it goes from the town of yesterday's time trial, out to the coast, then north to Lemwig, then south again through Hostelbro to Herning once again.

While it is a flat stage there is the potential for the cross winds off the North Sea to cause a split in the race. But even the inland run back to Herning offers little protection to the potential of wind. But if Sky can protect Mark Cavendish he is likely to be able of winning his 8th stage (sixth individually) in the Giro.

This is a sprinters stage so after the struggles he had to get a sprint finish in the Tour de Romandie expect Mark Cavendish to chomping at the bit to get a win under his belt in the rainbow jersey, which he's hoping you will not see again until the start of the Tour de France as he attempts to win the sprinters jersey in this Grand Tour to go with the one he won in Paris last July.