There’s a growing trend for grand tours and even other stage races to start outside of the home country. Sacrilege or a good idea?
Giro Stage 7 Preview
A day for the sprinters with an outside chance for a breakaway? That’s how it seems but yesterday saw a linear stage with a short summit finish offer drama, ejection and rejection.
Giro Stage 6 Preview
The longest stage of the race thanks to a landslide which has added 10km to today’s stage. A flat route before scaling the road to the hilltop abbey of Montecassino, a visually spectacular finish and the Giro’s commemoration of a 1944 battle.
Giro Prizes for All
Race leadership is pink,
Mountains are blue,
Sprints are red,
But as for the rest, I haven’t got a clue
That’s probably how many feel with the Giro prizes. You can probably understand the main jerseys but the race offers an enormous range of prizes every day with special awards for breakaways and even sporting fair play. Do you know your team prize from your Superteam?
This year also sees a new prize, the “Energy Prize” which has been dubbed by others as the kamikaze award. Plus all the cash prizes are listed from the Giro winner down to stages and the smaller awards.
Giro Stage 5 Preview
Decisive? No. Dangerous? Yes. Today’s finish is uphill and steep enough to eliminate some sprinters and the race takes a steep descent with several hairpin bends on the finishing circuit.
After yesterday’s chaos today should bring some order. It’s forecast to rain at times but with a break up the road it’ll be near-impossible for the bunch to neutralise the stage.
Giro Stage 4 Preview
Rest day? Today’s stage sees the riders given the morning off and starts well after lunch. At 112km including eight laps around the city of Bari this looks like part group recovery-ride, part exhibition criterium.
Giro Shorts
A rest day in the Giro but really a day of travel with three flights out of Dublin, two with passengers and one loaded with freight, mainly bikes.
The whole of Ireland didn’t turn pink but the crowds along the route were impressive and the lengths people went to for the race were impressive from the pink clothing to even painting electricity pylons – the more you think about it the more it was a huge undertaking. It’s abnormal for the Giro to visit Ireland of course but it’s this oddity that attracts the big crowds, the event is unusual and probably won’t be back for years.
From The Giro to Ukraine
Look at the picture above and what do Michele Scarponi and Roman Kreuziger have in common? Yes they’re riding the 2012 Giro, smiling and both wear Specialized helmets. Bonus points if you remember they have both hired Doctor Michele Ferrari for “training plans”.
There’s another connection. Scarponi’s got ISD on his jersey and Kreuziger’s with Astana. Both teams can trace links to the Ukraine, in particular to its steel industry. In fact five teams in the Giro share links back to Ukrainian steel. Today Ukraine is in political crisis and there’s a bizarre cycling connection to events.
Giro Stage 3 Preview
The third and final stage of the Rás d’Italia heads to Dublin. More exposed roads, more rain and more sprinting awaits. As well as changing country the difference today is the weather with a crosswind to be exploited.
Book Review: Lanterne Rouge
Lanterne Rouge by Max Leonard
Cycling’s a sport of losers. Even the most successful riders lose far more races than they win and the majority of riders in the peloton won’t win a single race all year. But this is all part of what makes cycling such a rich and sophisticated sport to follow. Without winning, many will mark a race and after a grand tour each rider has plenty of stories to tell. So what of the last rider? Last isn’t least, often they have struggled the most just to finish. Plus as Svein Tuft has just shown in the Giro you can go from lanterne rouge to the limelight.
Lanterne Rouge is a book about riders who have finished last in the Tour de France, the efforts it took to achieve this and a reflection on victory, loss and endurance.