Today’s Giro Stage 3 was a bunch sprint and the story of the day is that Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocatelli) switched across the road and taking out Mark Cavendish and Taylor Phinney amongst others. A series of screengrab photos helps tell the tale.
First we see Ferrari on Tyler Farrar’s wheel. To the right of the image Mark Cavendish is accelerating away from the two fluo yellow Farnese Vini riders after himself drifting right in order to start his sprint.
Today’s stage starts with a moment of remembrance for Wouter Weylandt who lost his life during Stage 3 last year.
The last day in Denmark, today’s stage is a circuit race with the start and finish in in Horsens. Riders start and do a 100km loop, then another 45km loop, then they return to Horsens to face three finishing laps of 15km in and around the city.
For the daily previews I’ve included the stage profile diagrams to illustrate the day’s racing. But Stage 1 is better depicted by the aerial map of the course, especially since the course is quite flat. Riders start at the green point on the map above. The route looks like the path out of a maze.
It’s hard to pick a clear favourite for the Giro d’Italia. There’s no obvious star name. Instead there are several contenders on a similar level and then a collection of outsiders, mainly mountain specialists who could also shine. To make forecasting even harder many of those taking part have not had the best run of results recently which makes it tougher to judge their form.
But if these reasons make predicting the outcome even harder, all the better. The uncertainty should make for a more open race where riders could be battling to win seconds, as opposed to Alberto Contador’s victory lap of Italy in 2011.
A bicycle race is a simple affair with some riders, a start and a finish. But the organisation and management of professional cycling is complicated by rules, law, money and business.
The news that pro cycling teams could get a share of the TV rights money paid by broadcasters would mark a significant change to the way business is done today. Here is a look at some of the issues surrounding revenue sharing. For now we don’t have much detail so it remains to be seen whether this is just some extra cash for the teams or a structural change to the way the sport is organised.
The Giro d’Italia guide is now online. There’s a concise preview of every stage as well as information on the jerseys, the start list, TV viewing and more. It is posted on a separate page of the website: https://inrng.com/giro. To dip in and out during the next four weeks use the “Giro d’Italia” link available … Read more
Track racing has a big debt to the USA and in particular New York. The sport was so popular a century ago with urban audiences that today’s Madison race, where pairs of riders take it in turn to compete in a sort of relay race got its name from the Madison Square Garden. The original venue has now gone but a wealthy benefactor has donated $40 million to help build a indoor velodrome again in New York. There’s talk of a Harlem velodrome but I think one reader via Twitter had a better suggestion:
@inrng Wonder if it will be named after Major Taylor…
— Seneca J. Rose (@sansenmag) April 19, 2012
RCS, organisers of the Giro d’Italia and other major races have announced the wildcard invitations for 2012. The 18 World Tour teams* are invited automatically, leaving the organiser to pick four teams to complete the list of teams. The idea is that the elite teams ride the biggest races but organisers are free to invite some extra teams, to bring in some more domestic riders or to ensure some exciting riders outside of the top teams can ride and bring something extra.
The four teams opening the prosecco today are Androni Giocattoli-CIPI, Colnago-CSF Inox, Farnese Vini-Selle Italia and Team NetApp.
First up, I’d want to say thanks to Competitive Cyclist for their continued support via the advertising. This is a blog and a lone effort but advertising is like having a good wheel to sit on, it makes it easier to keep plugging away. On the suggestion of a reader I deliberately limited the advertising to one square and if you want to do me a favour, click on the advert over there and see what they’ve got.
Next, the Giro d’Italia have an official poster for the race, click on the image above for the full version, it makes a nice desktop background for your computer. The image was by Jered Gruber who’s making a name for his great photography… and also making me mildly jealous of his travel and shooting skills. Obviously the poster has been tweaked with software but not that much. The rider is real, it’s Peter Stetina from Garmin-Cervélo and it was taken when the Giro tackled the Passo Giau (say “joo”) last May.
5 – 27 May 2012. The route was leaked but unlike the Tour de France people were not talking about the Giro as much last week, perhaps because fewer details emerged via the leak and also because RCS, the Giro organisers, had already printed some information the Gazzetta dello Sport, their house journal.
Yesterday saw the route unveiled in a TV-friendly format. There was a tribute to Wouter Weylandt and news that the race number 108 is retired from the competition in memory of the Belgian rider who passed away on the Passo del Bocco.
We had an audience of officials, journalists and riders and, being Italian TV, two models in pink dresses accompanying the ribbon-shaped Trofeo Senza Fine, the “trophy without end”. And to top this a giant mirrorball was lowered on to the stage and Alberto Contador stepped out from the dazzling cage to perform Sylvester’s “You Make me Feel Reel”. Actually, I’m joking… but only about the song as the defending champion did emerge from a mirrorball.