Hesjedal confirms his victory - Giro d'Italia Final Stage

Today's stage: The time trial to solve it all in Milan.

Final Race Results – Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) finished 6^th place on the stage and took 47 seconds from Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) to win the Giro d'Italia on the final day. His win is his first Grand Tour victory (previous best 6^th in 2010 Tour de France), the first for Canada (previous best: Steve Bauer, 4^th in 1988 Tour de France) and the first for the Garmin team (previous best 4^th from Christian Vandevelde in 2008 Tour de France and Bradley Wiggins in 2009 Tour de France). It is also only the second time the pink jersey has changed hands on the final day (1984 previously when Francisco Moser overtook Laurent Fignon). Rodriguez, to his credit in defeat, finished 25^th on the stage in one of the better time trial performances of his career. In all likelihood, he will enter the August Vuelta a Espana as the second favorite behind the returning from suspension Alberto Contador (team undecided, likely Saxo Bank). Further behind, Thomas De Gendt (Vaconsoleil) finished 5^th on the stage and overtook Michele Scarponi (Lampre) for the 3^rd spot on the final podium. This completed the final podium with no Italians on it in their home Grand Tour for the first time since 1995 and only the 4^th time ever.

Who won today's stage? Still, it was a happy day for Italy. Former national time trial champion Marco Pinotti (BMC) won today's stage with a dominating performance.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) was unable to finish in the top 15, and for that matter was unable to beat Rodriguez in the time trial and therefore was unable to beat Rodriguez. This is the second Grand Tour in a row that Rodriguez has won this competition along with the Vuelta last year.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini) only had to finish the time trial today to finish off his King of the Mountains classification victory. He did so and sealed the final blue jersey.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) lost some time to teammate Sergio Henao, but it was nowhere near enough to lose this jersey in the end.

Biggest surprise: Rodriguez was as good as he was today. Rodriguez gave it a good go today. This was a far cry from the horrible performance in the 2010 Vuelta time trial when Rodriguez lost over 5 minutes to stage winner Peter Velits and lost 3'30”-4' to all of the other GC contenders. What an improvement even if it wasn't enough to take the top prize today.

Biggest disappointment: Where was Roman Krueziger (Astana) today? While he lost a bunch of time on that one awful day earlier in the race, he was thought to be among the better time trialers among the overall contenders. Today, he didn't bother to try, finishing 85^th on the stage. Part of that is there was no overall placing to protect and none to gain. He was sitting in a no man's land in the standings. Still, given that Krueziger is much better than Hesjedal in the time trial and Hesjeda finished 6^th, Krueziger might could have won this stage entirely had he tried.

Other items of note: There were two other short stage races finishing around Europe today. At the Ronde van Belgie (Tour of Belgium), Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) recovered from his injuries suffered when he was hit by a car in training in April and won the race overall. Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) earlier had won the first three stages... At the Bayern Rundfahrt, Michael Rogers (Team Sky) finished off an overall victory that included two stage wins. Also notable there was Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) winning the other three stages that Rogers didn't win.

What is coming next for the peloton? Most of the top contenders at the Giro will take some time off before returning for the Vuelta a Espana in August. Others will join the rest rest of the peloton in preparation mode. The Tour de France starts in five weeks. In that time, most of the contenders will be racing in either the Criterium du Dauphine or Tour de Suisse. In addition, many countries have their national championships between now and the Tour de France with France, Belgium, UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands all racing four weeks from now. The United States is racing this weekend. David Zabriskie (Garmin) won his 7^th time trial championship yesterday and the national championship road race is tomorrow in Greenville, South Carolina. Blogwise, I will be updating weekly about cycling until the Tour de France begins on June 30, then it is back to daily coverage.

Giro d'Italia Power Poll – Final Stage Time Trial Preview

The Giro d'Italia is down to one day: a final day time trial to decide everything with the overall winner and the composition of the final podium still in doubt. Here is my predicted final top 10 (current position in parenthesis) along with my thoughts on the entire race for each.

1 Ryder Hesjedal (2), Garmin – Tomorrow is the biggest time trial of Hesjedal's life. He might never get another opportunity to win a Grand Tour. This is it. He is better than his rival Rodriguez in the discipline and he will need to be to make 31 seconds up over 31 km. As for the race as a whole, Hesjedal has ridden a smart race ever since the Team Time Trial put him in great position back on stage 4. His only two bobbles have been the day after his two big attacks putting him basically level with where he would have been had he not attacked. He is the big favorite to win the Giro tomorrow.

2 Joaquim Rodriguez (1), Katusha – JRod is not exaclty a specialist in the time trial. OK, he stinks. To win tomorrow he will need the time trial of his life and if he has an off day, De Gendt and Scarponi are in range of catching him. Even so, this has been a big move forward for Rodriguez after his implosions while leading in the last two Vuelta a Espana's. Speaking of the Vuelta, this year's course is heavy on mountains (quite possibly heavier than last year's Giro believe it or not) and therefore might be Rodriguez's best chance to win a Grand Tour if he loses tomorrow (that is assuming he can beat a pssobily still not on form Contador in the mountains).

3Thomas De Gendt (4), Vaconsoleil – Today was the biggest ride of De Gendt's life, racing into contention. He is likely too far back to catch Hesjedal even though he is the best time trialist among the contenders. If he recovers well and is on form, I think he has a good shot to win the stage and as long as he's not awful he should make up 27” needed to catch Scarponi. Not a bad race for a guy who was thought to maybe have a shot at a stage win in a breakaway.

4 Michele Scarponi (3), Lampre – The defending champion has not had a great race. Bad stage 1 time trial and bad team time trial really hurt and his attacks in the mountains have been largely unsuccessful. There is no way he beats Hesjedal or De Gendt in a time trial if either is even close to on form. Still, he will be no worse than fourth as there is no way anyone behind De Gendt possibly catches him with the time gaps that currently exist.

5 Ivan Basso (5), Liquigas – An ok time trialer, Basso pretty much sits in no man's land. Only Cunego is within a minute in either direction so it is difficult to see Basso gaining or losing a place in the standings. Still, this race has been a failure and marks the end of the line as a Grand Tour contender for the two-time Giro champion. In addition, Basso's tactics blew up his Liquigas team. The entire team has been burned out working for him. I suspect it might have been the same in 2010 when Basso last won the Giro except his main teammate was Vincenzo Nibali and Nibali has turned out to be pretty darn good since then (won Vuelta in 2010, 3^rd in Giro last year moved up to 2^nd when Contador was stripped, podium finishes in two monuments this year).

6 Rigerberto Uran (7), Team Sky – Good time trial skills should equal a chance to at least catch Cunego in the GC. I think he will do that and this race will be looked at very successfully by himself and his Team Sky managers.

7 Damiano Cunego (6), Lampre – I don't even know what to say here. Cunego is weak against the clock and is a tactical nightmare and wild card, but he gets results. Finished second today at Stelvio and is going to turn in another top 10 GT finish (to go with his fluky 2004 Giro win).

8 Sergio Henao (11), Team Sky – I have no idea how good or bad Henao is in the time trial, but he can't possibily be any worse at this level than Pozzovivo, Nieve or Gadret, his closest rivals. This was a good learning experience for Henao. I expect him to be back and contending for the podium in this race soon.

9 Mikel Nieve (9), Euskatel – Carrot Power. Nieve didn't get his stage win (though his team did get one this year) like he did last year, but this will have been a very successful race if he can stay in the top 10. With Gadret behind, it shouldn't be a problem, even if Nieve inherited his team's allergy to good time trials.

10 Dominico Pozzovivo (8), Colnago -Truly pathetic in the time trial, Pozzovivo is a climbers climber who can't even descend well. Given those limitations, it is surprising that he has done this well. I suspect he will remain in the top 10 only because 12^th place Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) is too far back to catch him and 10^th place John Gadret (Ag2r) is similarly awful in the time trial.

Giro D'Italia Stage 20 - De Gendt's ride for the ages caps best GT stage in years

Today's stage: Utter brutality. Mortirolo (one of the three most difficult climbs in Europe along with the Zoncolan and the Angliru) and then a summit finish atop the Passo Dello Stelvio (highest ever finish for a Grand Tour stage)

Who won today's stage? Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) defied conventional wisdom and attacked on the upped slopes of the Mortirolo. The GC leaders never saw him again. At one point on the Stelvio, it looked like De Gendt had a shot at the race lead also, but he has settled into fourth place going into the time trial. The ride itself was one of the more incredible long distance attacks we have seen in recent years (rivaled only by Andy Schleck's attack on the Galibier stage in last year's Tour de France) and is now the biggest win of De Gendt's career, by far.

What matters in the GC race? A remaking and moving of the pieces entering the final stage time trial tomorrow. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) still leads the race after a late attack dropped his rivals. He finished 4^th on the stage. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) is still second, but he now trails by 31 seconds. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) is 3^rd, 1'51” behind and De Gendt moved from 8^th to 4^th with his incredible ride, now 2'18” behind and with a chance at the podium tomorrow.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Oh what might have been for Mark Cavendish (Team Sky). He has lost the lead to Rodriguez by one point with only the time trial left. Had Cavendish won the sprint on Thursday, he would have this jersey locked down. Instead, he needs the best time trial of his life to score points tomorrow and retake the jersey on the final day. It looks unlikely though Rodrgiuez is also unlikely to score points tomorrow (and he really doesn't care either given that he is the overall leader).

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini) managed to get himself in the early breakaway and scored enough points on the early climbs to seal the final blue jersey. With Rabottini in the break, none of the other outside shots that were possibilities bothered to contest today.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Sergio Henao (Team Sky) played good teammate today. At one point, Hesjedal dropped all but a few riders. Henao had managed to stay with Hesjedal and could have continued on and possibly taken the jersey from his teammate Rigerberto Uran. Instead, Henao dropped back and helped pace Uran up the Stelvio to protect the higher overall position and leave the jersey in the hands of his teammate.

Biggest surprise: De Gendt attacked from so far away. The Mortirolo, fearsome though it is, was thought to not be decisive this year because of the 20 km flat run up to the Stelvio. Instead, it played the same role as the Passo Lavaze did yesterday. De Gendt sent a teammate up the road just a little bit and then attacked himself, like Roman Krueziger (Astana) did yesterday. Then De Gendt rode away with the race though he didn't fade as bad as Krueziger did yesterday. The tactics were solid and the ride was superb, helped a bit by. De Gendt is a most deserving winner, but the amount of his time gap was helped by...

Biggest disappointment: ...the GC staring match. In the valley between the Mortirolo and the Stelvio, the top six GC men (Rodriguez, Hesjedal, Scarponi, Basso, Uran and Pozzovivo) all stared at each other, nearly coming to a total stop as all refused to work, attempting to make Hesjedal and his Garmin team do the pacemaking. This continued all the way nearly to the top of the Stelvio. Had De Gendt not faded in the final two kilometers, he would be leading the GC right now because of this since he actually got a lead on the day of over five minutes and at one point was ahead of Hesjedal on Virtual GC (the overall standings if the stage was stopped on the spot). Then, after making Hesjedal do all the work, Scarponi and Rodriguez attacked (Basso, Pozzovivo and Uran get a pass as they were dropped by Hesjedal on the Stelvio before the attacks started). Considering De Gendt is as good a time trialer (maybe even better) as Hesjedal, Rodriguez and Scarponi stupidly nearly let another threat to the overall enter the picture. As it is, De Gendt is a threat to their podium places now.

Other items of note: Four riders including Robbie Hunter (Garmin) and stage 18 winner Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini) were disqualified from the race today for holding onto cars... The question for Mark Cavendish now is, “Was it worth it?” We will see. Cavendish has difficulties (that's an understatement) in the mountains and suffered all week in an attempt to win the Red Jersey (and complete his collection of Grand Tour points jerseys having already won the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana competitions). I suspect the answer won't come until the end of July. That would be the Olympic Road Race, being held on home roads in London and likely a sprint finish.

What is coming tomorrow? The final time trial for all the marbles. Hesjedal is most certainly the favorite as Rodriguez is notoriously bad in the time trial (remember that he lost four minutes in a stage 17 time trial while leading the 2010 Vuelta a Espana) while Hesjedal is good. Further down, De Gendt is excellent if Hesjedal has a bad day tomorrow and he is likely more of a threat than Scarponi is if we get further down the line. Extended preview of the time trial later today.

Giro d'Italia Stage 19 - All suffer as the mountains really take their toll

Today’s stage: Slow, painful, mountain craziness. A war of attrition with three category 1 climbs and a summit finish at Alpe di Pampeago.

Who won today’s stage? Roman Krueziger (Astana) attacked on the category 2 Passo Lavaze between the two passages of the Pampeago climbs and then held on for dear life as the GC contenders nearly closed him down on the final climb of the Pampeago.

What matters in the GC race? Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) finished second on the stage and closed his deficit to Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) down to 17”. Considering all of the top climbers are likely to lose time to Hesjedal in the time trial, the Canadian may have won himself the Giro today. Further down, Ivan Basso (Liquigas) burned his entire team and then burned himself up, losing 35” to Hesjedal and falling to 4^th place overall, 1’45” behind Rodriguez.

What matters in other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Mark Cavendish is still in the lead, assuming he finishes within the time cut (he is still on the course as I write). Nonetheless, unless he somehow pulls a major result in the time trial or Rodriguez explodes tomorrow, Rodriguez will win this category as the difference is only 13 points.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago) scored a handful of points today to close the defecit to 21 points against Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini). If Pirazzi wants to contest this, he should get himself in the break tomorrow while Rabottini can basically seal this up if he goes in the break.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) finished with the top GC men and easily retained his lead over teammate Sergio Henao in this category. Only a meltdown would keep Sky from winning this category with one of the two men as only Ginaluca Brambilla (Colnago) is within 15 minutes of Uran (4’57” back).

Biggest surprise: Krueziger had legs again. After his explosion the other day losing 12 minutes, Krueziger rode like he was trying to save his career (which he very well might have been doing). It was still a shock when he was able to hold off the leaders and take the stage victory and it also saved the Giro for his team considering teammate Paulo Tiralongo lost 17 minutes today.

Biggest Disappointment: Liquigas’ tactical failure, all race long. All race long, Liquigas had set the pace even though they weren’t the leaders of the Giro. All race long, Liquigas’ domestiques burned themselves up in service of Ivan Basso. It all came to a head today. Liquigas burned everybody up way too quickly because of the tired legs. Sylvester Szymd, Liquigas super climber domestique, even blew early, unable to contribute on either pass of the Pampeago. The rest were gone by early through the second ascent. Then Basso himself, who everybody was working for, failed to even hold the wheel of Hesjedal and Scarponi first, then Rodriguez, Pozzovivo and Uran. It was a stunning failure of the entire team, one that botched this race badly in 2010 but got away with it anyway and again last season (though Nibali couldn’t have beaten Contador under any circumstance, especially on that course).

Other iteams of note: Though he had been sick, the extent of Benat Intxausti’s (Movistar) capitulation today was impressive. He had been 6^th overall, but finished with the final grupetto and lost over 40 minutes today… It was a good thing the descent off the category 1 Passo Manghen was not set up to be decisive because had it been there would have been major safety issues. The road is tight, narrow and technical and riders would have been in real danger if there was any incentive to take risks on the descent… There were a few riders that abandoned today. Most notable was Androni Giacattoli leader Jose Rujano who lost a ton of time on Wednesday and was struggling again today.

What is coming tomorrow? Even more mountain pain. The names Motirolo and Stelvio are feared by every cyclist. Put them together and stage is truly a monster. Especially with the stage finish atop the Stelvio at the highest point ever for a Grand Tour stage finish, this will be difficult for everyone.

Giro d'Italia Stage 18 - Final Sprint with only Mountains left

Today's stage: Cruise control. Downhill sprint stage and only 139 km. This was basically a long drawn out descent before the pain really begins tomorrow.

Who won today's stage? Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini) shocked everyone by beating Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) in the the sprint. The bigger shock was that it was no fluke. Guardini just had more speed, easily.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing at all. It was a bunch finish and nobody of note got a time bonus. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) still leads Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) by 30 seconds.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Cavendish extended his lead over Rodriguez, but he really needed the stage win. That would have been an extra five points. As it stands now, Rodriguez is likely to overtake him in the next two days in the high mountains with summit finishes. As crazy as this sounds, with only one category 3 hill before the sprint checkpoint, I wonder if Cavendish tries to get in the breakaway tomorrow to steal just a few more points (Saturday is unlikely with a cat 2 and two cat 3's before the sprint point).

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – No categorized climbs mean Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini) still holds the jersey by a wide margin.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – No changes here. It's still Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Sergio Henao (Team Sky) battling (and working together for their team).

Biggest surprise: Cavendish lost. He was beaten by a faster sprinter. Normally, there is no faster sprinter and when Cavendish loses there is some other reason (crash – see stage 3 and stage 9, team misread corner at end – see stage 11). Not today. Cavendish has had to nearly empty the tank to survive the mountains, even in the grupetto behind the the stage leaders.

Biggest disappointment: Nothing. This was everything expected, even the fast pace because it was pretty much straight downhill.

Other items of note: We now are down 31 riders with the abandonments overnight of Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Gaetan Bille (Lotto-Belisol). There might be a few more abandons overnight tonight after the final sprint stage as the few that are left in the race have no more opportunities remaining with only two summit finishes and a time trial left... Today's sprint course was much better than some others have been. No climbs, but it was short, downhill, fast and straight. Couldn't ask for a better design at this point in the race.

What is coming tomorrow? Let the pain commence. 198 km tomorrow with three category 1 climbs, a cat 3 and a cat 2. Also a summit finish. I suspect the Giro will not be won here with an even more difficult stage on tap for Saturday, but it could most certainly be lost here.

Giro d'Italia Stage 17 - And the race is on, finally

Today's stage: A brutal day of climbing. This is the second year in a row the Passo Giau has been in the race and the second year in a row it has destroyed the peloton despite not being a summit finish. Of course some of that is because the Passo Giau day has been, for 2 years now, the single most brutal day of Grand Tour climbing there is. This year, there were three other climbs, one of them aanother category 1 and another a category 2 that ascended for 30 km.

Who won today's stage? Overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) took a 6-man sprint over Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin), Michele Scarponi (Lampre), Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Dominico Pozzovivo (Colnago) after the descent from the Giau climb.

What matters in the GC race? The race has now exploded. The six men who contested the final sprint now are in the top seven overall in the race with only Benat Intxausti (Movistar) also in the top seven. Rodriguez still leads Hesjedal by 30 seconds (no time bonuses today, same for Friday-Sunday) and Basso by 1'22”. The three of them and defending champion Scarponi (trails Rodriguez by 1'36”) are the only true contenders left for the overall victory because most of the others who could make up their time gaps (this applies mostly to Pozzovivo) are horrible in the time trial. Also of note in the GC was the explosion of Astana. Roman Krueziger was out the back of the front group before the Giau even started and is now 20^th, 12'53” behind and Paulo Tiralongo was dropped on the Giau and fell to 8^th, 4'13” behind.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) still leads and he has a chance a points again tomorrow. But his lead is only one point over Rodriguez, the most likely winner in this competition now.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini) smartly got himself in the breakaway today. He took points on the first three climbs and now has a significant advantage over everyone else.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Former leader Sergio Henao (Team Sky) cracked on the Giau along with almost everyone else who managed to even get that far. He is still second in the classification and trails his teammate Uran by 1'46”. The only other rider in any sort of shouting distance is Gianluca Brambilla (Colnago) at 3'33” behind. Everyone else is at least 13 minutes behind Uran.

Biggest surprise: Astana cracked. The entire team. Those who have been reading know I have long thought Krueziger would crack. Still, I expected Tiralongo to be able to hang around and he didn't. He didn't even finish with the second group today and now Astana has been pretty much reduced to stage hunting from here with Tiralongo 8^th and Krueziger 20^th. Maybe they can spring Kevin Seeldrayers for a stage win as he looked good in the breakaway today.

Biggest disappointment: Whatever happened to cause Sylvester Szmyd's (Liquigas) mechanical. Szmyd had been safely riding at the back of the lead group all day just waiting for the Giau to pace Basso up and detonate the entire peloton. Then Szmyd had a mechanical issue with his bike on the lower slopes and that was the end of him for the day. I wonder what the last group would have looked like had Szmyd been there. Most likely Uran and Scarponi's hopes for this Giro would be over considering they were dropped by Pozzovivo at the top of the Giau and chased back to the lead group.

Other items of note: The total number of withdrawn riders is 29... Given that everyone is continuing to make the time cuts, I expect the number to not grow much more with only four days left to race... One big surprise a bit further down the GC was Jose Rujano's (Androni-Giacattoli) complete implosion today. The pint sized climber was near the front and won 2 stages last years. Today, he lost over 30 minutes in a stunning implosion.

What is coming tomorrow? A sign that suffering is about to commence. 139 km straight downhill for a sprint finish. Considering Cavendish is basically the only sprinter still in the race, he is the easy choice for tomorrow. Then comes the suffering on Friday and Saturday with two most difficult stages.

Giro d'Italia Stage 16 Review

Today's stage: An uphill run with no categorized climbs but a nasty hill near the finish to eliminate the sprinters.

Who won today's stage? Jon Izagirre (Euskatel) won from an 11 man break that the peloton didn't care to chase. Izagirre attacked his breakmates on that final hill and soloed the last 2km away for the stage win.

What matters in the GC race? Absolutely nothing. The peloton let the breakaway go and didn't bother to chase losing over 8 minutes. That doesn't matter as none of them, even with the time gained today, are placed better than 40^th place. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) still leads over Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) by 30 seconds.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – This is now a two man race. Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) leads Rodriguez. With one sprint stage and three mountain stages left, Rodriguez still has a chance to make the gap up. Nobody is within range of Rodriguez though.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini) did take over the lead on Sunday with his stage win. He leads Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Andrey Amador (Movistar), but there are a lot of mountains left.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – This is a three man race now as some of the early leaders have fallen off because of their domestique duties. Sergio Henao (Team Sky) leads his teammate Rigoberto Uran by 1'01”. In third is Gianluca Brambilla (Colnago), 2'50” behind. Nobody else is closer than 8 minutes to Henao.

Biggest surprise: Nobody a little closer to the lead got into the break. The break was pretty destined to succeed. Somebody 12-15 minutes behind should have taken a flier and got in the break as they could have moved into the top 10. Nobody was ever going to chase today unless there was a real threat.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody a little closer to the lead got into the break. The constitution of this break made chasing unnecessary. And when chasing is unnecessary and there are no climbs, you get a long transitional procession where nothing much is happening.

Other items of note: Continuing from the disappointment section, many fans in cycling debate whether the Giro d'Italia is a better race to watch, or the Tour de France. I don't have an answer for that, but I will say that transition stages like today's are done much better in France... As for the rest of the course so far, the Giro has done a decent job. It is certainly better than last year's suicidal course that destroyed the rest of the season for anyone who rode it seriously... After the first run-in with the high mountains over the weekend, we are up to 24 abandonments from the race. Given what is coming over the next few days, that should be all of the by choice exits. Only those who crash or miss the timecut will leave the race from here.

What is coming tomorrow? Massive mountain stage. Two category 2 climbs and two category 1 climbs including the famous Passo Giau summitting 14 km from the end. Given that super descenders Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Sammy Sanchez (Euskatel) are not in the field, this looks like a breakaway stage again as the overall contenders watch each other and limit any time gaps. It is also a good day for a 1-2 attack from either Team Sky or Astana where there are two riders positions somewhat close to the race lead.

Giro d'Italia Stage 15 - Rodriguez back in pink and Cunego is crazy

Today's stage: Another high mountain day with a summit finish. This one only finished atop a category 2 climb, not that that means anything in the Giro d'Italia.

Who won today's stage? Matteo Rabottini (Farnese-Vini) led from the breakaway from 18 km. He crash on a descent. He was caught by new overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) in the final km. And he won the stage anyway by outsprinting Rodriguez.

What matters in the GC race? Ryder Hesjedal's (Garmin) second stay in the pink jersey was short as he was dropped on the final climb by Rodriguez and now trails by 30” overall. Beyond him, nody else now sits within a minute. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) is 3^rd and the Astana pair of Tiralongo and Krueziger are 4^th and 5^th.

What matters in the other competitions? - Note this section will be completed as best as possible but will be incomplete due to time constraints.

Red Jersey (Points) – Rodriguez scored more points to tighten his grip on second place today. Notably, Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) finished inside the time cut yesterday and then got 3^rd place at the early intermediate sprint in his hunt to score enough points to win this competition.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Michel Golas (Omega Pharma QuickStep) can't climb high mountains. That doesn't matter. He still leads right now. The most likely winner right now is yesterday's stage winner Andrey Amador (Movistar) who has shown decent climbing ability and an ability to get into nearly every breakaway or major chase group to chase points.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Sergio Henao (Team Sky) put some distance between himself and teammate Rigoberto Uran. With Damiano Caruso (Liquigas) working for Ivan Basso and Peter Stetina (Garmin) working for Ryder Hesjedal, this is a teammate battle from here.

Biggest surprise: Rabottini had something left in the tank to take the sprint. When Rodriguez caught and passed Rabottini, it looked like curtains. Then Rabottini found another wind and sprinted past Rodriguez to keep his deserved stage win.

Biggest disappointment: Damiano Cunego (Lampre) was thought (or ok, he thought in his own mind) that he was an overall contender in this race. This would be fine, except his teammate Michele Scarponi is the defending champion and sits in 6^th overall. Not that this matters to Cunego. He just does what he wants. If he worked for his team instead of trying crazy attacks like yesterday and today, both himself and his teammate Scarponi would be in better shape. Case in point, Scarponi attacked today. Cunego was up the road but had no energy to help. Scarponi blew by like nothing was happening and then cracked himself. Both lost time today. Had Cunego just stayed with the bunch, the 1-2 attack could have worked, but that's not possible for Cunego. In reality, it never has been. When he won the Giro, Cunego basically stole the team leadership on the road from teammate Gilberto Simoni. He has tried these things ever since, and it has never worked.

Other items of note: Robert Gesink (Rabobank) showed in the Tour of California that he is all the way back from his broken femur suffered last season. He won the Mt. Baldy queen stage and will win the Tour of California today. Giving himself tons of momentum going into the Tour de France... There were mass abandonments today in the Giro. Most notably, Frank Schleck abandoned (Shocking I know) citing should pain.

What is coming tomorrow? A much deserved rest day followed by a possible sprint stage for Cavendish (and believe me it will be Cavendish as most of the other sprinters have gone home).

Giro d'Italia Stage 14 - Finally mountains and Hesjedal regains the lead

Today's stage: The first summit finish of this year's race. Big mountains, welcome to the Giro, a little later than normal.

Who won today's stage? Andrey Amador (Movistar) got in his third breakaway of the race and used a daredevil descent from the first major climb and was the only man with any energy left at the end to take a 3 man sprint over Jan Barta (NetApp) and Alessandro de Marchi (Androni Giocattoli).

What matters in the GC race? Former leader Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) regained the pink jersey with a well-timed attack of the GC favorites. He finished 4^th on the stage and gained 26 seconds on Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and the rest of the favorites.

What matters in the other competitions? - Today and tomorrow other obligations mean this section will be incomplete as some contenders are still on the course as I write and the results are tabulated slowly by the race organizers.

Red Jersey (Points) – Currently unknown. Other than leader Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), most of the other sprinters went home after yesterday's stage. As I right, Cavendish is still on the course and in danger of either missing the time cut or not finishing at all. No matter, Rodriguez is likely the leader here either in reality or virtually as there is no way Cavendish is going to hold him off in the mountains. More on this tomorrow.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Amador and Barta took top points today. It is unclear who holds the jersey. More on this tomorrow as well.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Damiano Caruso (Liquigas) burned himself up working for teammate Ivan Basso. This allowed the Team Sky pair of Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao to pass him in the standings here. Uran is the leader, as he was for much of the race last year.

Team Classification – Considering there are many riders still on the course, nobody has any idea how this category looks right now though Astana and Team Sky are the best bets. More on this later.

Biggest surprise: Sandy Casar (FDJ) followed his great performance in the breakaway a couple of days ago by showing some climbing legs and finishing with the GC group. Given he has now survived a summit finish and is in 4^th place, he looks like a possible top 5-top 10 finisher. He certainly won't get anymore breakaway leash.

Biggest disappointment: The politics of Astana. It had been fairly obvious for awhile now that Roman Krueziger is not going to win his coveted Giro d'Italia. He collapses in bad weather in the mountains, every year, and every year, there is at leas one rainy mountain stage. Krueziger was dropped by the GC group today on the final climb. At the same time, teammate Paulo Tiralongo has alreaady won a mountain stage in this year's race and was in front of Krueziger in the overall standings entering the day. When Hesjedal attacked, Tiralongo looked like the only guy with the legs to go with him but had to wait for Krueziger until Krueziger cracked. Now, there is a question of leadership because Krueziger is the big money guy. There shouldn't be. Tiralongo should be the leader with Krueziger in the super domestique role. Will it happen like that? I have no idea.

Other items of note: In California, we finally had a road stage where Peter Sagan (Liquigas) didn't win. Of course that is because the breakaway actually succeeded with Sylvain Georges (Ag2r-La Mondiale) taking the stage win. Of course Sagan won the sprint easily to take second.

What is coming tomorrow? More climbing. Four categorized climbs with a category 1 climb at the midway point and a summit finish atop a category 2 climb. Expect the GC men to be out in full force again, especially after climbing lots today and a rest day on Monday.

Giro d'Italia Stage 13 - Last stage before Mountain carnage

Today’s stage: Really short stage built for sprinters before the mountains and the end of all sprinting life are upon us. The organizers didn’t even put a ridiculous turn in to cause a crash or make things interesting.

Who won today’s stage? Refer to earlier posts. Are there hills on the stage? No. Is there any reason why there shouldn’t be a sprint? No. Is Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) in the field? Yes. Pick him. And that is what happened. No climbs, no road furniture, no ridiculous turns and Cavendish was in field, therefore Cavendish won.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing. Nothing at all. The dullest day of Grand Tour racing since I started doing this during the Giro last year means absolutely nothing at all happened in the overall standings chase. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) still leads by 17” over Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) entering the high mountains tomorrow.

What matters in other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Cavendish extended his lead over Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) with his stage win. The question is if he (or Goss) will stay in the race with only one sprint stage left and a whole lot of mountains. If both leave, the defacto leader is Rodriguez with Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago) and Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil) also in contention.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – I guess Michal Golas (Omega Pharma QuickStep) is actually going to contest this. He jumped out of the group at the top of the climb to score one point and extend his lead to 10 points. That said, the real battle for this begins tomorrow with the first category 1 mountains of the race.

White Jersey (Young Rider) – No changes. Damiano Caruso (Liquigas) still leads the Team Sky double of Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao heading into the mountains. Uran and Henao are more likely winners here as Caruso will have to help teammate Ivan Basso in the mountains while Uran and Henao are the protected riders for their teams.

Team Classification – No changes with everyone finishing in a bunch. Movistar still leads followed Liquigas and BMC. This category will be shattered tomorrow with the arrival of the high mountains and the first real summit finish of this year’s race.

Biggest surprise: There was no crash today. Every other sprint stage has had one, so the fact that there wasn’t a crash is a surprise, even without any stupid turns right before the finish line.

Biggest disappointment: Nothing happened. I know there is a need for a break, especially with mountains tomorrow and no rest day for awhile, but did the organizers have to come up with one of the single most dull and boring routes in Grand Tour history. Nothing happened at all on this day.

Other items of note: At the Tour of California, Peter Sagan (Liquigas) finally didn’t win. Of course it was a long time trial. Not exactly his specialty. Dave Zabriskie (Garmin) took the win with 40 year old Jens Voight (Radio Shack-Nissan-Trek) a surprising second. Among the overall contenders, Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) became the overall contenders after Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Chris Horner (Radio Shack-Nissan-Trek) had difficult time trials and lost lots of time. As for Sagan, he has one or two more stage chances, but he is out of the overall race after losing over 3 minutes to Zabriskie… We lost another rider today as Reto Hollenstein (NetApp) was involved in a nasty crash and was taken to the hospital with a likely broken collarbone. Considering all of the sprint crashes, it is amazing there haven’t been more abandonments. Entering tomorrow’s first high mountain stage there have been only 13 abandonments, a very low number for a Grand Tour. Expect to number to rise quickly over the next week.

What is coming tomorrow? The torment begins. There are only two climbs tomorrow, but they are really difficult. First up is the Col de Joux. 22.4km long with an average grade of 5.6%. Then a long descent followed by the similar climb to Cervina at the foot of the Matterhorn (27km long with an average grade of 5.5%). These gradients and lengths favor the diesel climbers over the explosive ones. Think Ivan Basso and Domenico Pozzovivo instead of Joaquim Rodriguez.

Giro d'Italia Stage 12 Review

Today's stage: Short, climby medium mountain stage with no big climb to force a separation as the end. In other words, breakaway territory.

Who won today's stage? Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) got his stage win he was searching for in his home country of Denmark by successfully attacking his breakaway companions with 1.5 km to go in the race.

What matters in the GC race? A couple of the breakaway guys were actually in range of the overall lead and remade the GC standings. Sandy Casar (FDJ) finished second on the stage and is now 3^rd overall and Ivan Santaromita (BMC) was also in the break and is now 5^th. None of the true contenders lost or gained any time today.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – No changes here as none of the breakaway riders that absorbed all the points are even in the top 10 in this category. Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) still leads Matt Goss (GreenEdge) with overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Dominico Pozzovivo (Colnago) not too far behind.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – As expected, someone in the breakaway went looking for King of the Mountain points and Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) got enough of them to take the lead in this category from Miguel Rubiano (Androni-Giacatolli).

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – No changes here. Damiano Caruso (Liquigas) still leads followed by Team Sky's Colombian pairing of Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao

Team Classification – Nevermind what I said yesterday about this not heating up until the high mountains. With the way this breakaway formed and the teams in it, this was remade today with Movistar leading followed by Liquigas and then BMC. Also of note is how far down Orica GreenEdge is. The Australian team is over 2 hours down is over 40 minutes down on the next weakest team. That's mostly because they brought a team of no climbers to a climbing based race.

Biggest surprise: Casar and Santaromita's presence in the breakaway. Considering how close they were to the lead, I'm surprised they got the leash they did from the peloton and that leash almost cost Rodriguez his pink jersey.

Biggest disappointment: Why did Liquigas do the chasing? Shouldn't Katusha, the team of the overall leader be the team chasing the break to keep the leader's jersey. What was Liquigas thinking doing all the work for Katusha? It makes no sense. Then again, Liquigas in this race often makes no sense. They win in spite of their bad tactics on occasion (see 2010 with weird chases and being complicit in allowing the huge breakaway to ride away with the race).

Other items of note: Over at the Tour of California, Peter Sagan (Liquigas) took stage 4 in a sprint, just like the first three stages. I would write a full post about that race if something interesting happened. Alas, it's the same every day: early climbing allows breakaway to go, followed by peloton catching somewhere along the line, the race fully coming back together and Sagan winning a bunch sprint over Heinrich Haussler (Garmin). That said, Sagan won't be winning today. It's time trial day in Californina... We lost three more Giro riders today. William Bonnet (FDJ) finally abandoned. He had been struggling with injuries since crashing in Denmark. Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank) also abandoned and Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil) finished outside the time cut.

What is coming tomorrow? 122 km sprint stage. Seriously. This would qualify as a sign that pain and suffering is about to come the peloton in a very short period. A stage like this in the Giro always means summit finish in the high mountains the next day and possibly longer and that is exactly what is coming. Short sprint day tomorrow followed by two days of high mountain summit finishes.

Giro d'Italia Stage 11 - Over halfway home

Today's stage: Long and boring. And that's not only me saying that. Michele Scarponi (Lampre) said that before the stage began. And he was right. Over 250 km with a tricky climb at the end and another stupidly placed turn on the final sprint home.

Who won today's stage? Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giacattoli) found the best line through the hairpin turn and accelerated away from Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) and a crashed peloton, passing Tomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge) along the way to take the stage win.

What matters in the GC race? Frank Schleck (Radio Shack-Nissan) likely had his hopes dashed completely. He lost 46 seconds today leaving him 2' 11” behind leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Considering the way Schleck struggles in the time trial, his hopes are cooked.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Mark Cavendish took over the lead from Matt Goss (GreenEdge) with his 3^rd place finish on the stage today. For his part, Goss didn't make the final group.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli) still leads after his presence in the breakaway on stage 6. He will likely lead until next weekend when the high mountains hit for the first time. At some point this week, I expect him to try his hand in a breakaway again for more points. Tomorrow is a day similar to stage 6 where someone contesting this jersey will try to make the breakaway.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – No changes here. Damiano Caruso (Laquigas) still leads followed by Team Sky's Colombian pairing of Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao

Team Classification – Not much here either. Liquigas now leads over Astana, Movistar and Garmin, but this really won't heat up until Saturday in the mountains.

Biggest surprise: Normally, it would be Ferrari's win, but that was as much because of luck in guessing the correct line though it appeared he had better legs than Cavendish today as well. The winner here is Vaitkus. Not normally a sprinter, he was only 150m from stealing a stage win because of the crash behind before fading to 5^th. Still a good placing for him.

Biggest disappointment: Where was Frank Schleck. Above already chronicled his time loss, but why? This stage shouldn't have caught any GC contender out of the group. I know that Schleck got sent to this race on short notice, but it appears that he, like his brother, only cares about two races all season: the Tour de France and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Even with the short notice, Schleck should be in good enough shape to stay with the group here.

Other items of note: Over at the Tour of California, Peter Sagan (Liquigas) took stage 3 in a sprint, just like stages 1 and 2. With another hard climbing day early followed by a long flat/downhill stretch, I wouldn't bet against him making it 4-for-4 today. At this point, he might even be an overall contender there because of the time bonuses... There was another stupid finish today back in Italy that caused yet another sprint crash, but this is the last of my complaining about it for today...Thomas Leezer (Rabobank) abandoned today, bringing the total number to nine so far in the race.

What is coming tomorrow? 155 km of medium mountain goodness. That said, its breakaway time. The toughest of the four categorized climbs is 33 km from the finish and its a category 2. Still, that will be enough to shed the sprinters and with no real time gaps likely, the breakaway will get a large leash, especially if it consists of riders an hour down like most of the breakaways so far in this race. Still and intriguing stage as the King of the Mountains classification will heat up once again.

Giro d'Italia Stage 10 - New leader

Today's stage: A stage for the explosive climbers. Sprinters need not apply despite no categorized climbs until the finish.

Who won today's stage? Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) might as well have has his name written all over this finish. As long as there was no breakaway winner, he was always the overwhelming favorite here and there was no breakaway winner. That equaled an easy looking stage victory for Rodriguez.

What matters in the GC race? Rodriguez also swiped the leader's pink jersey from Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) by taking six seconds and a time bonus. Rodriguez now leads by 17 seconds with the Astana pair Paolo Tiralongo and Roman Krueziger 3^rd and 4^th. Also, onlt six riders remain within a minute of the lead though many more are still in contention.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – This was thought to be a sprinters competition this year after years of GC men winning this along with overall contention. Then the crashes came. With only one sprint stage in the final week, it appears as though the sprinters aren't going to score enough points, especially with Rodriguez and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago) now in striking distance without having been in any of the high mountains. That said, Matt Goss (GreenEdge) still leads and Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) is still second.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli) still leads after his presence in the breakaway on stage 6. He will likely lead until next weekend when the high mountains hit for the first time. At some point this week, I expect him to try his hand in a breakaway again for more points.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – No changes here. Damiano Caruso (Laquigas) still leads followed by Team Sky's Colombian pairing of Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao

Team Classification – The main news here is the slipping of Garmin into fourth place. Liquigas still leads Astana with Movistar 3^rd. This category still has yet to really heat up though with no high mountains thus far.

Biggest surprise: Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp) took second on the stage. Huzarski is from the smallest team in the race and comes from a cycling backwater (Poland). Great ride by him today.

Biggest disappointment: Where were some of the big names? Frank Schleck (RadioShack Nissan) lost 26 seconds he couldn't afford to lose considering how bad he is at time trials. Hesjedal's Garmin teammates were also unable to stay with the pace leaving their leader isolated and alone to counter attacks on the final climb.

Other items of note: Over at the Tour of California, Peter Sagan (Liquigas) took stage 2 in a sprint, just like stage 1. With many of the big sprinters in Italy, Sagan has free reign over the field and likely will until the time trial on Thursday... Pippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini) didn't take the start today after being injured in the bunch sprint crash he caused yesterday.

What is coming tomorrow? It's another sprint stage. Therefore, we have possible carnage as there is a U-turn 400m before the finish. Given this nonsense and the course for sprinters both at the Tour de France and the Olympics this year, I would have to consider letting a breakaway go or even just going home as a sprinter given the points jersey is now an unlikely proposition. That said, I see a likely bunch sprint with a crash at the U-turn taking out a contender or two.

Giro d'Italia Stage 9 - Another crash marred sprint

Today's stage: Sprinters paradise. Short and no categorized climbs.

Who won today's stage? Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) won a bunch sprint after favorites Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) and Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) were taken out in a crash on the final turn.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing. The GC remains the same. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) continues to lead over Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) by 9 seconds.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Despite the crash, Cavendish did inch a little closer to Goss after scoring points at the intermediate sprint point. The difference is now four points.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli) still leads after his presence in the breakaway on stage 6. He will likely lead until next weekend when the high mountains hit for the first time.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Damiano Caruso (Liquigas) still leads and he is in good form. Caruso actually contested the sprint today and finished fourth.

Team Classification – No changes here with the bunch sprint. Liquigas leads with Astana and Garmin still within a minute.

Biggest surprise: Caruso and Hesjedal's presence during the final sprint. Caruso was 4^th and Hesjedal 7^th on the stage as both tried to take advantage of the crash and steal a few seconds with a 3^rd place finish.

Biggest disappointment: I asked at the end of stage 2 and I will ask again: Why is there a sharp bend in the final run to the sprint? It's just asking for a crash and, just like stage 2, a crash is exactly what we got.

Other items of note: Over at the Tour of California, Peter Sagan (Liquigas) took stage 1 in a sprint. That race really doesn't heat up until the time trial on Thursday leading into two days in the mountains Friday and Saturday... No abandons today, as expected with a big bunch sprint stage.

What is coming tomorrow? Another day with no categorized climbs... until the final sprint that takes place on a category four hill. Unless Joaquim Rodriguez wants a go at the pink jersey, this looks like a breakaway as the sprinters teams won't chase and there won't be anyone in the break sitting only a minute or two behind like yesterday.

Giro d'Italia Stage 8 Review

Today's stage: A third day of 200km+ medium mountains, this time with a category 2 climb at the end before a 5km flat finish.

Who won today's stage? Dominico Pozzovivo (Colnago) attacked on the climbs and then soloed home for the stage win.

What matters in the GC race? Not a whole lot. 5^th overall Peter Stetina (Garmin) was dropped on the climb, but he is going to be working for overall leader Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) later in the race anyway and therefore was no threat for victory. Stage winner Pozzovivo is one of 12 riders within a minute of Hesjedal's lead. Also of note, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) finished third on the stage and took the eight second time bonus that goes with it. He now trails Hesjedal by just nine seconds.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – No change from yesterday. Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) still leads Mark Cavendish (Team Sky). This race restarts tomorrow with a flat stage after a few days in the mountains.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli) still leads after his presence in the breakaway on stage 6. He will likely lead until next weekend when the high mountains hit for the first time.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Damiano Caruso (Liquigas) inherited the white jersey after Stetina was dropped on the final climb (to be fair, Stetina punctured right before the climb and had to expend much of his energy chasing back to the peloton). Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) is second, trailing by seven seconds and is probably the favorite here considering Caruso will be helping his team leader Ivan Basso later in the race while Uran is free to ride for himself in the mountains.

Team Classification – This is still a volatile category as it measures the top three finishers on a team on each stage. Liquigas now leads with Astana still second. Yesterday's leader Garmin fell to third after burning most of the team protecting overall leader Hesjedal and having Stetina dropped on the final climb.

Biggest surprise: Pozzovivo's attack stuck. When last here in 1998, the winner was Alex Zulle, a decent climber and strong time trialer. Pozzovivo doesn't really fit that mold. He is a great climber (attacked on the climb) and an average, at best time trialer who somehow held everyone off (did lose 20 seconds to the peloton on the 5km flat finish). Still, he was not on the short list of possible winners for the stage before it started.

Biggest disappointment: What was Andrey Amador (Movistar) thinking? He was in the breakaway today, but his presence doomed the breakaway. Amador was within two minutes of the lead meaning the peloton would chase the break as opposed to the other three riders that were looking for a stage win and would likely have been allowed to go free considering they were all an hour behind the overall lead.

Other items of note: There were two more abandons today at Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan) and Dennis van Winden (Rabobank). Both failed to start the stage today with Bennati felled by a serious fever overnight... The rest of the cycling world is in California with the start of the Tour of California later today. Starting with tomorrow's Stage 2 I will have daily updates from that race as well. Among the favorites there are Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas).

What is coming tomorrow? A present for the sprinters. Tomorrow is a short (166 km) and mostly flat stage. There is a small uncategorized climb near the end, but the downhill finish after that looks perfect for the sprinters. Expect the duel between Cavendish and Goss for the Red Points Jersey to continue.

Giro d'Italia Stage 7 - The favorites finally have to work

Today's stage: The first mountaintop finish of the Giro at the end of a 19km category 2 ascent. In other words, the Giro really started today.

Who won today's stage? Paulo Tiralongo (Astana) came around overall contender Michele Scarponi (Lampre) in the final stretch to take the stage, his second year in a row with a stage victory.

An exhausted Paulo Tiralongo after winning the stage,

What matters in the GC race? The GC has now taken shape. Garmin-Barracuda GC captain Ryder Hesjedal now leads the overall standings. Tiralongo is second (+15”) and Katusha leader Joaquim Rodriguez is third (+17”). The other big winner on the day was Scarponi who took a few seconds on his rivals in the quest to peg back his time trial losses from the first week.

What matters in the other competitions?

Red Jersey (Points) – Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) leads with 65 followed by Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) with 53. With a lot more sprint stages than the last few Giros, this is a sprinters category this year and these are the only two contenders at this point. Even with the mountain finish today and another tomorrow it won't matter. The big danger, especially for Cavendish is finishing outside the time cut. He was only 38 seconds clear yesterday on stage 6.

Blue Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli) leads this category after taking most of the mountain points yesterday by being a part of the breakaway. Until we reach the high mountains next weekend, this will be the domain of breakaway riders instead of true climbers.

White Jersey (Best Young Rider) – Peter Stetina (Garmin) leads this category by virtue of being in 5^th overall. Daminao Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale) is second (+19”) and second last year in this competition Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) is third (+27”).

Team Classification – Garmin-Barracuda leads this classification, as it usually does when it brings the time trial team as it did to the Giro. Astana is second.

Biggest surprise: Tiralongo's ride. He has long been a domestique with good climbing skills, but even last year's stage win was gifted to him by his former teammate Alberto Contador. Still, when it got to the end with him against Scarponi, everyone knew Scarponi was toast.

Biggest disappointment: Nothing really. Nobody who shouldn't have cracked actually did on the final climb.

Other items of note: We had our fifth withdrawal from the race today as Gianni Meersman (Lotto-Belisol) abandoned. He was still suffering from injuries from the stage 2 sprint crash in Denmark and the mountains were too much for him... The stage today passed through L'Aquila today, an area still recovering from the 2009 earthquake that destroyed much of the city. The last time the Giro was in L'Aquila was to commerate the town post-earthquake in 2010 in the famous 12 minute breakaway stage that changed the entire complexion of the 2010 Giro d'Italia.

What is coming tomorrow? Another medium mountain stage. This one has a similar category 2 climb at the end, but there are five km of flat riding atop the mountain before the finish. Expect a breakaway to succeed as the five km flat means time losses will be minimized for GC men even if gaps are earned on the climb. There is just no incentive to chase as long as the riders in the break are well behind.

Giro d'Italia Daily - Into the hills, finally

Today's stage: A simple little medium mountain stage, the likes of which normally eliminate a few sprinters and guys in bad form before the finish. But this is the Giro. There are climbs with 15% gradients in these medium mountain stages. Ouch.

Who won today's stage? Miguel Rubiano (Androni Gioccatoli) got in the early breakaway looking for King of the Mountain points. He attacked on all the climbs and went completely free on the last one, soloing home from 25 km away to win the stage alone.

What matters in the GC race? The favorites were, as usual by this point in the race, unaffected. That said, former leader Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) was dropped from the peloton about 2/3 of the way through the stage. As a result, the new leader is Adriano Malori (Lampre) who was in the breakaway and finished second on the stage. His stay in pink will be brief. Malori is a good time trialer (Italian national champion), but is bad in the mountains (see finishing with the worst overall time in last year's Giro climb fest).

Biggest surprise: Garmin didn't take up the chase earlier and allowed Liquigas to set the pace in the peloton. With the top four on GC including the main GC hope, most would expect Garmin to be the pace setter. Instead, it was Liquigas on behalf of Ivan Basso doing the work for some odd reason.

Biggest disappointment: Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) and Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) have no sprint rivals left. Tyler Farrar (Garmin) crashed out of the race and Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Romain Felliu (Vacansoliel) both abandoned as well. With Theo Bos (Rabobank) also not in good shape, that leaves few rivals for the top two.

Other items of note: The breakaway had a ridiculous 16 riders in it that slowly was whittled down throughout the stage... Pablo Lastras (Movistar) also crashed and was forced to abandon the race... The rest of the cycling world is in California where the tour of California gets underway on Sunday. Even with the Giro still in progress, Tour de France prep has begun.

What is coming tomorrow? More medium mountains, but it's time for the GC men to come out of anonymity. Tomorrow is a finish atop the category 2 Rocca di Cambio. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) is made for these kinds of finishes and will be looking to take a few seconds out of his rivals.

Giro d'Italia Daily - Another Cavendish sprint win

Today's stage: Sprinty sprint, though the small category 4 climb near the end was a lot more difficult than anyone thought it would be.

Who won today's stage? Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) was still around for the sprint. Cavendish did not crash. Therefore Cavendish won the stage, his second of the race. Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) was second, his second time in second to go with his stage victory.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing much. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) still leads and none of the GC contenders were dropped on that climb today. Among the GC men, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) lead.

Biggest surprise: 20+ riders got dropped on that climb. It wasn't that bad and those getting dropped there have big problems ahead. This is the Giro after all and despite the early easy stages, the mountains will still be hard even if it's not last year's absurd climbing spectacle.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody has emerged to challenge Cavendish and Goss in the sprints. The former teammates finished 1-2 both today and in stage 2 and Goss won stage 3 where Cavendish crashed.

Other items of note: Among the riders dropped were sprinters Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Theo Bos (Rabobank). Considering Cavendish and his awful climbing won the stage, this isn't a good sign for their respective forms on the bike.

What is coming tomorrow? The first category 2 climb of the race, the Passo Della Cappella is on the route tomorrow, but midway through the stage. There are also three category 3 climbs along the way. Expect the stage hunters to give it a go, but I expect a sprint from those sprinters who have some climbing legs. Goss looks good for this one if a sprint does occur.

Giro d'Italia Daily - Team Time Trial Day

Today's stage: Team time trial. One of the most important early stages as it helps shape the pecking order much more than even the short Individual Time Trial on Stage 1.

Who won today's stage? Garmin-Barracuda took the stage as expected (that team specializes in the TTT) over surprising Katusha by five seconds. Everyone else was a bit further back.

What matters in the GC race? Lots. In the short tern, Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin) took the leader's pink jersey after his team's stage win. The other big winners on the day were Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). Both took about 20-30 seconds on their GC rivals.

Biggest surprise: Katusha's ride was completely shocking. Rodriguez is known as a terrible time trialist and the team had to keep him all the way through or kill its GC hopes. Finishing second by only five seconds is a huge surprise, especially without a ton of big name cronomen on the roster.

Biggest disappointment: Team Sky was tipped by many as one of the favorites for the stage (behind Garmin of course). The team underperformed today finishing ninth on the stage and losing 30 seconds to Garmin.

Other items of note: Taylor Phinney (BMC) did start and finish the stage today, but his team finished 10^th, 31 seconds back ending his time in the pink jersey. Third place Alex Rasmussen (Garmin) was dropped early by his team meaning he got whatever his time was crossing the finish line. This is also what allowed Navardauskas to take the pink jersey.

What is coming tomorrow? Another sprint stage. Tomorrow might actually be the flattest 200 km stage I've ever seen in Italy. If Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) is fully recovered from the crash a couple of days ago, expect him to win the stage. If not it will likely be Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) or Mark Renshaw (Rabobank).

Giro d'Italia Daily Stage 3 - Major crash mars yet another sprint

Today's stage: Another long (190 km), flat stage ending in a sprint. There really isn't much else that can be done in Denmark.

Who won today's stage? Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) bettered his second place from yesterday by winning today over JJ Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin) after yesterday's winner Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) was collected in a crash (more on that later).

What matters in the GC race? Nothing in the grand picture. In the short term, current leader Taylor Phinney (BMC) was contesting the sprint and got collected in the crash. He finished in an ambulance and may not continue in the race, but he keeps the leaders jersey for now as the crash happened inside the last three km during a sprint meaning he gets the same time as everyone else.

Biggest surprise: Goss was going to win the stage over Cavendish even without the crash. Cavendish's team didn't do a great job of setting him up resulting in a late start to his sprint. That was the main reason he was collected in the crash and even without it likely could have only reached 3^rd place.

Biggest disappointment: The crash itself was just stupid riding from Roberto Ferrari (Androni-Giacatolli) who jumped right looking for a gap that wasn't there (or even close to being there) and took Cavendish's front wheel out. From there the pile up was on collecting numerous other riders including Phinney.

Other items of note: Riders paid tribute to Wouter Weylandt, killed in a crash during stage 3 last season. His number (108) has been officially retired by the race... Tonight is the longest transfer in Giro history with everyone traveling to Italy to get the real fireworks started.

What is coming tomorrow? Tomorrow is a rest day because of the long transfer. Then it's Team Time Trial day on Wednesday. The TTT is always interesting and nearly always eliminates someone from GC contention because his team is awful in this discipline. The question is who that will be.