Giro 2008: a grand stage indeed

You can't complain about a stage like this one - it had a bright beginning, a wonderful middle and an emphatic - and glorious - ending. Who doesn't want to win a stage like this, especially when it's 2 wins from 2?

From CN: "the maglia rosa was now isolated completely and already eight minutes back. Soon, Sella could see the familiar mountain sight of RVs and knew he was doing well. The road became narrower and narrower, as more and more people lined the road and Sella pushed on, increasing his lead to 2'40" over the main chasers, with seven kilometres to go."

Apart from Sella, Ricco was the standout, grabbing lots of time. Simoni showed plenty of mettle and Contador did enough - just - to secure the overall lead. Tomorrow's mountain ITT should surely see Ricco take the lead (if he wants it)... surely he does!

Giro 2008; Sella wins, marries

Not sure I'd stake my future marriage plans on success in the Giro, but then I can barely ride out of sight on a dark night.

From CN: He is serious about his maturity and will get married this June, a promise he made to his girlfriend if he was to win a stage in the Giro d'Italia. "She was very happy, she knows that it was something very important for me," he said of his girlfriend, Laura. "I said, 'If I win in this Giro, I will marry you at the end of this Giro.'" The couple will marry June 8.

Luckily enough, yesterday he won. Simoni was strong in the mountains and got things going, which is all that matters to me really.

Giro 2008: the fastest doesn't always win

Don't you hate that? Even when you are clearly the fastest in the sprint, gaining ground with every pedal stroke and making everyone else look slow, the line comes up too early... and you come anywhere from 2nd backwards. Ouch. How do you fix this, it just isn't fair!

Now it's happened to Cavendish: Coming into the final turn, Bennati had already taken the lead with McEwen right behind, and Cavendish was left chasing for the win. He made a strong comeback and thrust his bike at the line, but was just millimetres shy of the win. "The team worked really well, but Bennati had 10 metres on me out of the corner," stated Cavendish. "A few metres after the line, I had it but that is no use."

And yes, it's no use complaining. Bennati must have gone at exactly the right time, and McEwen must have faded just a tad. And Cavo is left 2nd.

Giro 2008: Festival of crashes

Wet roads, short steep ascents, fast descents and enough road for everyone to come back together. Some took their chances and lost, others kept their powder dry for tomorrow. Not a day I'd be happy about but good on Bertolini for coming up trumps, and Visconti for hanging tough...

After 16 years as a professional, Alessandro Bertolini has won his first ever stage in the Giro d'Italia. The 36 year-old Italian, whose main job is to defend Serramenti PVC team leader Gilberto Simoni, was part of a five-man escape that dominated a wet and demanding stage to Cesena in Italy's Emilia Romagna region.

Must say I made a point of racing and training in the wet, but was even more careful than usual (if that be possible). Indeed as the years went by and the crashes built up I grew ever more wary about greasy roads, although my most memorable slip was on oil dropped by a truck over a railway bridge in Lewisham, NSW. I survived the slide with grazes but the motorbike rider who went down next was far more infuriated about the whole thing - and rightly so. Beware the unexpected.

To come: 2 flat sprinters' stages. Watch for McEwen, see if he can actually take a win this year. After that the Giro becomes truly brutal. Expect a few non-Italian-team sprinters to fold their tents and pack it in. The mountain men will dominate from that point, although a couple of climbing-sprinters (like Bettini and Zabel) will hang their hopes on a stage or 2 in-between the mountain passes. Soler would have shone on some of these 20% climbs, but he's now sadly out of the race. Look at Simoni and Contador to have a go instead. Di Luca will surely fade but may dig deep. Kloden may surprise.

Giro 2008: Astana gains ground

Well I did warn you. CN reports: Italian Champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) held onto the race leader's maglia rosa which he gained on the escape of stage six, clocking a time of 57'46", just over one minute back from the stage winner. He even passed his closest GC rival, German Matthias Russ, and now leads by over three minutes. "I tried to do something good and I think that I did it. So, I am satisfied with the day," noted the 25 year-old from Silica. Alberto Contador is first of the race's main classification contenders at 6'59" back, Klöden 55" further back, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) 1'04", Paolo Savoldelli (LPR Brakes) 1'09", Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) 1'33", Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) 1'34" and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) 1'58".

Bruseghin won. Contador and Kloden did well, but Leipheimer was off the pace. Di Luca did worst of all the contenders and will need a break to get back on terms, but I can't see it happening this week. I do see Ricco having a real go in Pantani country later today, but it depends who digs deep and hangs with him. Astana looks good today but the Italians will want to own this race and won't let Astana get out of sight.

Giro 2008: Lots of Italians in this race

Not surprisingly it has been a race for the Italians, mostly. A few days pass, the GC is largely unaffected and more Italians fight it out: Daniele Bennati of Liquigas has taken his second stage win in this year's Giro after a close sprint against compatriot Paolo Bettini, who finished second for the second day in a row. Australian Robbie McEwen of Silence-Lotto is on his way back and finished an impressive third. Milram's Erik Zabel got fourth, while High Road, which has led the final kilometres, was not rewarded and its sprinter Cavendish could only get into the top ten.

Thank goodness McEwen is getting closer. But can he beat these darned Italian sprinters? I predict an Italian rider will win the ITT tomorrow (thus ensuring a victory by someone else - lord knows who - someone from Astana perhaps?).

Giro 2008: The break took ELEVEN minutes?

Sure did. 11 minutes. The parcours was tough but you'd have to imagine that the GC teams just don't want to lead right now... and that they figure the final 9 minutes gap can be recovered easily in the tough stages to come. Which looks true enough. It gives Visconti some hope of retaining the pink jersey for a few days. Oh, and Priamo did well to win the stage: Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) came home 40 seconds behind Priamo but, with the main bunch crossing the line 11 minutes and 34 seconds down, he became the new race leader. The day's heartbreak went to Gerolsteiner's Matthias Russ, who spent the better part of the day in the 'virtual' magila rosa, but just missed out on taking over the general classification when Visconti put in enough time to sneak into pink in the final 350 metres.

No broken chains reported this time.

Giro 2008: breaking free and breaking a chain

Cycle racing is a game of looking for opportunities, taking them, and hoping things work out. OK, maybe it's not just hope, since we prepare and do absolutely everything to ensure that nothing goes wrong; but we don't do that to the extent where things can't go wrong. We can't cover everything, but we can do our level best to give ourselves the best chance possible.

And then Millar breaks his chain: Brutt hit the line ahead of four chasers: Johannes Fröhlinger (Gerolsteiner), Luis Felipe Laverde (CSF Group Navigare) and Francisco Pérez (Caisse d'Epargne) were next home, while David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle H30) suffered a broken chain at the precise moment the Russian kicked clear. He was disgusted at the ill luck and threw his bike over a barrier, eventually going on to finish 119th.

Now that's embarrassing. I have never broken a chain - touch wood - but I have broken lots of other things (like seat bolts, stem bolts, saddle rails, wheels, rear derailleurs, a hub ratchet and even a seat post). A friend and training partner broke his chain during a race and I have seen other people do it as well. It can be a gentle or catastrophic loss of power, depending upon what you are doing at the time. Pulling your foot in a sprint is somewhat similar - and I've certainly done that, twice on a track bike. You'd think at a professional level things like this - a broken chain! - would never happen. Surely these are the best chains, microscopically analysed and x-rayed for flaws, meticulously fitted and double-checked. Perhaps triple-checked.

But maybe not.

Giro 2008: nice one for Cavendish

A good team result for High Road: Timing his final move perfectly and easily over-taking Daniele Bennati, Mark Cavendish thundered to his first ever Grand Tour stage victory today in Catanzaro Lungomare.

Not so good for Rabo: Graeme Brown, the Aussie Rabobank sprinter was feeling the effects of yeterday's fall. He finished 149th, 6 minutes and 39 seconds back, but said he hopes to recover. "My knee is pretty sore but I struggled though it," he stated. "I hope it will be okay in a few days. Today was pretty sore, it is pretty sore now."

No luck for the Aussies this year, not so far anyway, although McEwen is edging closer with a 7th today. And Matt Lloyd is still in touch on GC, just 1:19 back from Pellizotti. Unless a big escape takes place things look like staying as-is for now. Di Luca is also looking good, but there are plenty of hopefuls and we haven't seen what Soler can do yet.

Giro 2008: ouch and ouch again

As a cyclist I know that falling is part of the game, but not a good part. I never want to fall and I never want to cause anyone else to fall (yeah, sometimes I have wished the worst on some idiot but not often). I especially hate it when riders are weaving around for no reason other than their own desire to shake people off. OK, fine, that happens, we all want to get a gap and ride alone to glorious victory. But how often does it work? Versus how often it causes a fall? Sometimes - possibly every time - positioning with stealth and cunning beats those stupid pre-sprint desperation weaves.

And then there are just plain accidents. Potholes, punctures, car doors, crossed wheels, too fast into a corner, a nudge here or there and... boom! And in a tight bunch the slightest wrong move in the middle or side can send someone off the road. It happens.

Which brings me to a stage of this year's Giro I'd rather forget. Stage 3: It was a day characterised by breakaways, crashes and high speeds but, as expected, the third stage of the Giro d'Italia came down to a bunch sprint. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) did precisely what his team-mate and race leader Franco Pellizotti yesterday suggested he would do, winning in Milazzo and thus making it a double success for the acid green squad. That's the good bit. Good on Bennati. Good on Pellizotti.

But this is the worst of it:At the start in Catania, there was concern about the stage's technical finish, but the worst wrecks occurred mid-stage. One massive pile-up took down riders such as stage two winner Riccardo Riccó (Saunier Duval – Scott) and David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle H30) while another put Bradley McGee (CSC) out of the race with a broken collarbone. McGee's team-mate Stuart O'Grady, who was doing his first Grand Tour since he was seriously injured in last year's Tour de France also crashed, and while he finished the stage it was later found that he also broke his collarbone.

Both McGee and O'Grady are coming back, either from obvious or more hidden maladies, and it's a shame to see them go out of the race. There were others hurt, too: Other riders caught up in Stage 3's mass crash included Saunier Duval-Scott's Riccardo Riccò and Eros Capecchi. Both riders have undergone X-rays and been cleared to ride, with Riccò dislocating a finger on his left hand while Capecchi's suspected broken collarbone turned out to be muscle injury.

I'd like to say we can fix this sort of thing, but how? Bike racers draft in packs. It's the sport. Proximity is both a danger and a blessing - the convivial bunch rolling along is a great thing that no other sport shares. Perhaps we need full-body armour (ventilated of course) and/or crash detection and prevention radar.

Giro 2008: Ricco wins, Pellizotti leads

Ouch, that was hard. Nice to see the leader of the Pantani appreciation society, Ricardo Ricco take the win, and Pellizotti is a deserved leader on GC. Bad news for Zabriskie with a nasty fall - will his luck turn back soon? Surely it must! Riccò and Pellizotti were equally satisfied with their day. "This morning I wanted to win the stage," said the former. "Benitez helped me in the last kilometres and then Piepoli. I was feeling well so my team-mates helped me. We made a great sprint and it was good to beat Di Luca because it shows I have great condition.

Tomorrow is a sprint stage, although Mount Etna may erupt and change the face of Calabria. You never know.

2008 Giro - I hate TTTs

OK, they are interesting and all but to start a Grand Tour with a TTT really disadvantages so many GC riders - well, mostly the sprinters in the less-evenly-balanced teams. It's fine if you are a strong TT team with plenty of riders prepared to give it their all, but what if you are a sprinter who wants to conserve a bit for later in the week? Or a climber with similar ambitions? Yes, I know, it doesn't matter how you start, someone will be set-back by the nature of "the thing". It's just to me a TTT is "the thing" I like least! If it came later in the Giro it'd make for an interesting reshuffle (but I'd still hate it).

That gripe aside, it's nice to see Slipstream and Vandevelde win. From CN: Scooping its biggest ever win and simultaneously propelling Christian Vande Velde into the first American maglia rosa since Andy Hampsten 20 years ago, Slipstream Chipotle H30 thundered to team time trial success on day one of the Giro d'Italia.

Petacchi, DiLuca romp home in Milano

It was a big sprint win by Alessandro Petacchi who stormed into Milano, launched by his team to victory. And Danilo DiLuca did everything right to take the overall Giro win. It was a fascinating contest with some memorable wins by not just these 2 riders but the Saunier Duval team as well. All up, a great Giro. But no pointer to Le Tour, really. Petacchi will have to back up after a big effort of finishing a Grand Tour, whilst Boonen (injured, but back with a win in the Tour of Belgium) and McEwen (having retired before the Giro's big mountain stages) have been taking it relatively easy in the last week or so and will inevitably be a little fresher. And the big TdeF GC guns are still hidden away...

Aussies rule Mt Hood

Despite an unfortunate initial results mix-up, it was Nathan O'Neill first in the men's prologue - and Katie Mactier in the women's! Brown was 5th in the Tour of Belgium and O'Grady 2nd in the Rundfarht.

Meanwhile Simoni has taken the tough Zoncolan stage in the Giro, with Di Luca doing enough to stay on top overall. It's looking good for Danilo, but can he hold on? The TT may be the true test.

Simoni attacks... gains time but not enough

It was good to see a fighting Simoni on the 14th stage, to see Garzelli win the stage and see DiLuca hang in there overall. DiLuca looks strong, maybe strong enough, but there are still mountains to climb, and a TT. He has fallen short in the past, and someone - perhaps DiLuca - could still crack. It may not be him, but we can expect some fireworks first as they desperately try to gain back time before the TT.

Meanwhile in Catalunya we see Karpets still in the lead over Rogers. By my calculations there's just one stage to go - with 3 cat 3s and a cat2 climb to the finish. You'd imagine T-Mobile will attack at the base of the final climb and launch Rogers to the win, wouldn't you? Yes, but this is T-Mobile, so you never really know. Menchov is also a chance, if the Rabo team can play the tactics right. Sevilla would have to pull off an almighty escape to win, surely.

DiLuca tops Giro, Zabel confesses.. and more

Danilo DiLuca has taken the lead (again) in what is turning out to be a good, combative Giro. With the Zoncolan still to come, it may still become great. Simoni proved his worth again and Cunego is not far off the pace. The hillclimb TT comes next, which should give Cunego a boost. We shall see!

Meanwhile a tearful Erik Zabel has confessed to EPO doping in the '96 TdF. He dropped it quickly, he says, due to side effects and was obviously regretful - as you would be. His teammate at the time, Rolf Aldag, admitted at the same T-Mobile press conference (hmmm, funny that Zabel gate-crashed this party, eh?) to more extensive doping and stopped when his haematocrit was consistently over 50. I guess he got a bit worried about (a) getting caught and (b) adverse health effects. I don't balme him, or Erik for that matter. We are all fallible and build our lives incrementally on our decisions, both good and bad. Sometimes we make mistakes - but seeing that it's a mistake and righting it matters. Admitting to doping when you're unlikely to be caught - although there's more than just a slight chance of being given up by the suspect T-Mobile doctor or even one of your ex-teammates - takes a lot of strength. Zabel could have just sat on it and waited but chose to come clean before his name was brought up. Is there a lesson here for other ex-T-Mobile /Telekom riders?

And some good news - Alby Davis takes a win after some close results. He bested both Baden Cooke and Bennati in the Catalunya stage 3 sprint. Tell us again you really weren't involved in Operacion Puerto and Dr Fuentes, Allan. Thinking of which, another rider cleared of Puerto-affiliation - Oscar Sevilla - took a tough stage 4, Michael Rogers taking 2nd. Both riders moved up the classification and will fight it out in the TT. For which I can hardly wait!

Crash, bang, Petacchi - again

Stage 11 of the Giro saw another crash and another big, strong, fast Alessandro Petacchi victory. Balducci 2nd, McEwen 3rd. Not that I am complaining but it would be nice to see someone else win - maybe tomorrow? Definitely not a stage for the flatland sprinters. Yes, folks, it's the Col D'Izoard. Doesn't sound so much like the tour of Italy, does it? Ah, those Alps, they get around!

Another Giro sprint

This time Napolitano overtook both Petacchi and McEwen, denying them both their expected win. No such luck tomorrow as the Giro heads back into the mountains. McEwen has suffered from a stomach bug - if he's recovering - as it appears - then this will test him out. If he is OK then expect his team to rally and get him over the top within the time limit.

Renshaw, Petacchi, you name it

Mark Renshaw picked up a stage win at the Tour de Picardie whilst Petacchi took win number 21 at the Giro. Landis? Landis who?

Foster this time. And more on Floyd

It's hard to pick what to read... or make of it all. Robert Foster (Gerolsteiner) won today's stage of the Giro. That's the good, sporting side of cycling. But Greg LeMond somehow got drawn into the Landis drug hearings... sigh. It's looking very, very sad. Come clean, Floyd, is what LeMond has apparently said. But Floyd stands firm. It's the alleged nasty little phoned threats that make it seem just a bit more... ummm... apparent... that there's a story here that Floyd's "friends" may not want to be told. Will the truth step forward, please?

Giro Stage 4 - Di Luca takes it

Danilo Di Luca takes the win on a day when the sprinters had to bide their time. Ricco, then Cunego 3rd, Simoni close. Alessandro and Robbie come out to play again tomorrow. CN report here.

Petacchi takes sprint 2

It had to happen. After a luckless 2006 Giro, breaking his kneecap, Alessandro is finally back to the big time, winding his 53x11 up in his typical 'none-shall-pass' way. It's not the prettiest sprint but it's darned effective. McEwen was 4th this time.

Just to comment briefly on sprinters, there are more ways than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. You can wind up a huge gear behind a train of riders - like Petacchi usually does, although today's parcours didn't suit that approach - and take the risk that you (a) will fade and get rolled at the line or (b) that you aren't as strong as you thought you were and just can't accelerate that huge gear, in which case you get jumped or rolled anyway; or you can rely on rat cunning, sit in and spin a bit more, and either roll the power guys at the end or use your better kick to jump 'em and gap 'em a little earlier on. Of course it's more complex than that as different roads and obstacles arise that may derail your train, or someone else will jump first and gap you. And even a small rise will feel like a leg-snapper in 53x11. You can train to your strengths, like Petacchi, and organise a power train to bring you up to speed, but it's also good to have a range of tricks up your sleeve and be adaptable, because anything may happen in a sprint. And lastly, you have to train both for power and kick. Today Petacchi proved he had that grab-bag of tricks and had done the training. He also had the luck of someone who took a bit of a chance and just went for it...

McEwen takes first Giro road stage

The McEwen formula is simple. Start the year early with some wins in Oz, to prove he's still got it. Go back to Europe and prove it again by getting into "the form of his life", only to get sick and lay low for a few months, missing some targets that he really wanted but never seems to be able to get. Then struggle back, just off the pace, just in time. With 2 races to go grovel at the back, just keeping within the time limit. Then win again, seemingly from nowhere, when no one is looking for him. Then front up at a Grand Tour and take the first stage. Easy as pie.

McEwen had good form earlier in the year, indeed he said he was climbing better than he ever has (being not a noted climber, of course, but better at it than 90% of the rest of us). Then he got sick. He always does. Somehow he gets enough form to hang in there on the first Grand Tour Giro stage, when the likes of Hushovd and Haedo are dropped and the bunch is thinned to a top 30 or so. Somehow his team get him into that selection, they grind back the gap to the breakaway and deliver him to the last 2 or 3 kms. He takes it from there, just sittin' in and waiting for Petacchi's train to leave the station. And then jump off, just in time to take the win. CN report here.