E' un gran bel Giro:

As an old theme song of a past Giro would say,the one that is taking place right now is a 'gran bel Giro',aka 'a very beautiful Giro'.So far in fact the race has been really entertaining (at least for us supporters) and there have been lots of surprise-victories and surprise-results.
In my last post I wrote about Richie Porte's white jersey,and I'm happy to begin this post with the news that Richie got it again today (and now he has a gap of a minute and a half on Agnoli). Watching him arriving to the finish-line together with Gustav Larsson,and seeing Larsson turning his head towards his young teammate and encourage him,was a really nice moment,one of those that can make you understand that,after all,cycling is also a team sport.
Anyway,do you remember the earthquake I wrote about the other time? Well,it doesn't hate Vino,that's for sure.In fact the ground trembled again yesterday morning,and Vino yesterday didn't have the pink jersey,so I've started to think that perhaps the Bergamask ground is a Petacchi's supporter,since it trembled on the days of Weylandt and Pineau's victories.And,as you probably remember,on both those days Petacchi lost in spite of being the main favourite for the stage victory.

Anyway,trying being more serious (and trying to forget about earthquakes), here's my random resume of the last stages: enjoy!

SAVIGLIANO-CUNEO:
After the rest day the riders had to face this team a time trial from Savigliano to Cuneo (32 kms).The pink jersey was on Vino's shoulders,the Maglia Bianza on Porte's ones.The favourite teams for the stage victory were Garmin, Sky, Liquigas, Saxo Bank,Katusha and Astana.The GC was still very 'short', so David Millar,Richie Porte and Nibali all had good chances to steal the jersey from Vino.
At the beginning of the stage the weather was cloudy,but it wasn't raining.Then,while team Sky was on the parcours,things changed and it started to rain cats and dogs and to hail.
When I turned on the tv BMC had the fastest time. However Evans unfortunately doesn't have a very strong team, so it was very probable for him to lose time in this stage.

Soon Katusha's men (whose ds has stated that Karpets can arrive in the Top 5 in the GC) obtained a better result.
Immediately after Katusha,it was Sky's turn to begin their race and,as already said,while this team was on the parcours the weather got verrry bad.In spite of this,the men in black managed to get the fastest time,to the joy of the British chonists of Eurosport.
In the meanwhile Cervélo got a decent time thanks to their very good time trialist (and very kind boy) Ignatas Konovalovas (ok,there were also Gustov,Tondo,ecc,but Konovalovas is der Best).

Garmin was unlucky because of the weather condition,and Millar failed in his attempt to wear the Maglia Rosa.Then Liquigas squad (Bodnar, Szmyd, Nibali, Basso, Vanotti, Agnoli, Sabatini,the promising Kiserlovski, Dall'Antonia) began their stage and they really rode at full gas on the whole parcours,in spite of the bad weather.Everyone had a role in the team and their performance was really nice to see.The boys in green got the new best time,to the joy of the Italians,who started to dream Nibali (or Basso) wearing the Maglia Rosa.

The following team,HTC Columbia,was fast,but not fast enough to be the best. Saxo Bank's existence was forgotten by RAI's cameras for the whole race and this led to the disappointment of the British chronists.The Italians instead were so daydreaming about Nibali that they didn't even realise that SB was riding as well.

The performance of the Danish team was a bit disappointing,although I think that this was due to the unexperience of the youngest riders of the team.

The last team to begin the stage was Astana.All the cameras were for Vino who on Wednesday seemed even more charismatic than usual (at least,this was my impression). In the last km however the Kazakhistani lost his composure for a while.In fact at that point of the race Astana was formed just by 5 men and,as you know,the time in TTT is taken on the 5th man of each team. Well,on Wednesday Vino briefly seemed to have lost his temper because Stangelj,the 5th man of Astana,with 1 km to go couldn't follow his teammates anymore.At the beginning Vino tried to encourage him,but then he looked really pissed off.

If I had been Stangelj,after the finish-line I woul have probably run away from my captain as fast as possible,since I would have been afraid that Vino could have hit me in front of everyone.Luckily for Stangelj, Astanaman returned as calm and cold as usual immediately after crossing the finish-line.Perhaps he understood that,firstly,he shouldn't have got so angry at Stangelj,but at the guys who gave in in the first part of the race. And then,perhaps,he also realised that he shouldn't have ridden so fast,if he knew that he had already lost 4 teammates.

Anyway,after the TTT the result was: 1.Liquigas 2.Columbia 3.Sky. Translated in the GC language,this meant that Nibali (with the stress on the first 'i',not on the 'a' as British chronists want you to believe) got the pink jersey.You've probably read about his role of 'savior of the Italian cycling',right? Some journalists even thought that in the next days he and Basso would behave like Cunego and Simoni did back in 2004 (ah,good old times...).Anyway,I don't see Nibali getting bloody angry at Basso or viceversa: they're just too good guys.Oh,and did I ever mention that Nibali's voice sounds like the voice of someone who has a permanent cold?

Wegelius,who had to answer a question about who,in his opinion,was going to be Liquigas' captain,said: "I think that Liquigas' men perfectly know the answer to this question".A smile on Amadio's face (he's Liquigas' ds) secretly confirmed that he actually knows who his team captain is.Obviously also Fangirl knows (or pretends to know) who the Liquigas captain is.And the answer is: Sylwester Szmyd,the Polish unbelievable climber and best helper of the world.

Btw.As far as the white jersey is concerned,as mentioned,Porte lost it to Agnoli on Wednesday. Anyway fear not,Saxo Bank tifoso: he got it back this afternoon.

So,on Wednesday evening the situation was the following: Nibali in the pink jersey,Agnoli in the white one,an Italian team as stage winner,Italian journalists celebrating in all ways-and celebrating so much that,the following day,Gazzetta had a big pic of Nibali on the front page,next to a pic of a footballer.It had been a lot of time since a cyclist last got that privilege.

STAGE 5: NOVARA-NOVI LIGURE:

This stage ended in Viale delle Rimembranze,which means 'boulevard of the memories'.A perfect name for the stage that went through Castellanìa,where Italian hero Fausto Coppi was born,and ended in Novi Ligure,where Girardengo lived.

Coppi,a true hero for many Italian people,died of malaria on 2nd of January 1960,when he was just 40 years old.So it was a strange coincidence to see someone who was born exactly 20 years after his death being part of an early breakaway. That someone was Jerome Pineau,whose last success (before Thursday) dated back to 2004.His companions were Paul Voss (green jersey), Arashiro and Flouchard.

Arashiro's decision to enter a breakaway was due to a funny reason.The Japanese rides for team BB Bouygues Telecom and lives in France, near the 'quartiere generale' of the team.In Holland, one of Boygues' team car broke down.How did the ds get another team car for Thursday? Simple: on Tuesday he asked Arashiro to phone his girlfriend and ask her whether she could drive the team car to Italy.After a lot of hours and 1300 kms,the girlfriend finally arrived to Italy with the funztioning car and in order to thank her,Arashiro entered a breakaway.How sweet.

With about 40 kms to go Lampre began to chase the riders at the front and Davide Cassani said the famous last words: "They're going to catch the breakaway with about 15 kms to go".

On the last little climb of the race,Voss got dropped and this caused some jokes about how the German will deal with climbs like Zoncolan and Plan de Corones.

With 10 kms to go,the 3 riders who had remained at the head of the race had a 58' gap on the peloton,which was now pulled also by some Columbia and Garmin's riders.At a certain point it looked as if the adventure was over for Jerome,Julien and Yukiya,but then thanks to a narrow road and two tight turns they made the gap become bigger.Then,when the situation looked very desperate once again,Arashiro sacrificed himself for his companions.He launched an attack,which worked as a perfect pull for the Frenchmen.The sprint was won by Pineau in front of Flouchard, while 3rd was the generous Arashiro.I think that the images of the two Frenchmen,one celebrating his victory and the other getting desperate,were really nice and very meaningful. Mors tua vita mea,like the Romans used to say.After the stage,on the podium there were Faustino and Martina Coppi,Fausto's sons,and that was the chance to talk about Il Campionissimo once again.Anyway Italian journalists didn't forget Costante Girardengo,another great Italian champion,and so his nieces were invited to talk to La Gazzetta.

4th in the stage was Farrar,while Nibali mantained the GC lead.


6TH STAGE: FIDENZA-MARINA DI CARRARA:

A hilly stage was on the menu of the Giro riders on Friday.Encouraged by Pineau's success,many riders (among them there was also Nicki Sorensen) tried to enter a breakaway.In the end the lucky ones were Bertogliati and Matthew Lloyd,a very good Australian rider who is just 26 and took up cycling a few years ago.

Honestly,I believed that the breakaway didn't have any hope yesterday,since the sprinters were probably already angry at having lost a chance on the previous day.As well as that Petacchi lives near Carrara,so he was probably super motivated.

Before of the last (pretty hard) climb,Petacchi even broke away from the group and tried to anticipate everyone.His plan however didn't work and he arrived in Carrara 4 minutes after the winner.Also other sprinters,like Farrar and Greipel,got dropped on the climb.On it the riders that were between the head of the race and the peloton (between them there was also the promising Sarmiento) were caught and this,later,would have led to a funny moment starring Danilo Hondo.

In the meanwhile,Lloyd had dropped Bertogliati and he was riding towards victory all alone.His emotion on the finish-line was really moving,and he defined the Giro as a 'romantic and wonderful race'.This meant a lot to the Italian tifosi,who all believe that the hardest mountains are in Italy,and not in France (and they're absolutely right,of course).Bertogliati came second and then Hondo won the bunch sprint.The German believed that he had won,so he raised his arms. Watching his face going from happiness to the "Oh Gosh,I behaved like a fool!" expression was pretty funny (luckily he was able to see the hilarious side of that moment as well).

A very bad thing that happened during the stage was Bonnafond and Tiralongo's crash (both the riders got retired).Andrea Masciarelli fell as well and he suffered from a micro-fracture in his cheekbone.In spite of this,he was at the start of today's stage.

During the podium ceremony,British chronists laughed very very very much because the song that the organisers choose for it was 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC. Ok,I know that on certain occasions 'We Are the Champions' by Queen is a boring cliché,but perhaps 'Highway to hell' isn't actually the perfect song to celebrate a victory.

After the stage,during the podium,there was also another great moment: the British chronists pronounced the name 'Nibali' in the right way.It was high time!

STAGE 7: CARRARA-MONTALCINO:

And so we come to today's stage,which was probably one of the most exciting I've ever seen.The gravel roads of the stage were in fact brown because of the rain and the mud,the riders' faces were unrecognisable (is this a word?),a Saxo Bank team car even ended up in a small ditch because of the mud, and Pinotti and the Saxo Bankers made a great race.

Obviously some riders and critics have said that a stage like that in a Grand Tour isn't actually a good thing for the riders,and I think they have a point.But man,I believe that today' stage is destined to enter the history of Cycledom because of his amazingness.In fact it was full of emotions: surprise,pain,disappointment,hate for the mud that entered the riders' eyes (ask Vinokourov for information),joy for the final victory of Evans,excitement for the tifosi.

The drama began with 30 kms to go,after that a breakaway formed by Nicki Sorensen (yay!) and Flens had been caught.At that point a crash (the first one to fall was Scarponi) involved Basso, Agnoli (white jersey), Sastre (who had just managed to catch the front group), Tondo and the Maglia Rosa Nibali.Horror and shock became common emotions among the Italian tifosi,as Nibali had problems with his bike,looked badly injured and the news came that,when Vincenzo crashed, Vinokourov had just attacked at the front.

Scarponi after the crash began his lonely chase towards the front of the race,while Sastre started to slip back in the race.Nibali,helped by his teammates,tried to reduce the 1'40" gap from Vino.

In the meanwhile the Kazakhistani had been joined at the head of the race by Cunego, Pinotti, Gadret (former mountain biker),Evans,Garzelli and other riders.

Gerdemann and Rohregger launched an attack,but they didn't have a lot of luck.Then,on a climb,Cunego attacked and he was soon joined by Didier (yayyyy!!!).Me was obviously really happy to see Laurent at the front of a big stage in a Grand Tour,together with big guys like Vino and Evans!

After a few seconds these last two riders abandoned their companions.With 9 kms to go anyway they were caught again by Cunego and Pinotti,while Didier and the good Arroyo got dropped.

In the meanwhile Nibali and Basso were both distant from the head of the race,Sastre was even behind them and Scarponi was making miracles and showing his exceptional form by recuperating seconds over seconds,all alone.

The quartetto of riders at the head of the race arrived in Montalcino in a compact way.There,on the last (but short) hard climb,Evans was the most powerful and got the stage in front of Cunego, who finally gave an answer to some critic comments that have been made about him in the last days.

3rd was Vino,who looked extremely tired after the finish-line.He kept on touching his eyes,probably because he had had more problems than others with the mud.4th was Professor Pinotti, who is in a great form.5th was Arroyo,6th Garzelli,7th a good Gadret,8th an unbelievable Scarponi, who arrived with a mud mask on his face.9th was Sarmiento,winner of 2009 Bio Giro,while Saxo Bankers Larsson and Porte were 15th and 16th.As said in the intro,Larsson often encouraged his younger (and far smaller) teammate and that was really nice to see.
Basso and Nibali were 17th and 18th and arrived 2 minutes after Evans.Sastre was 5 minutes down and crossed the finish-line with his teammate Tondo.Chris Sorensen was 24 minutes down and this result was a bit a surprise for me because I had believed Paolo Savoldelli when he had said that Sorensen was with Didier (although when I heard that and watched the tv screen I immediately thought:'Hey,since when is Chris that short?').
Anyway,before I close this post,here are 2 little things to notice:
First,in 1987 the Giro stage ending up in Montalcino was won by world champion Moreno Argentin.Today,another world Champion won in the same place.

Secondly,this Giro is talking English.Australian English,to be precise. Evans has won today (and wore the Maglia Rosa),Lloyd has the green jersey (and won yesterday),Porte has the white jersey.Chapeau to the Aussies!

Tomorrow's stage is the first mountain one and will have an uphill finish.Waiting for another exciting stage,I wish a good night to everyone.And please,dear ground,would you be so kind not to shake again tonight? We Bergamasks are pretty scared right now...

(Pic 1 and 3 by Sirotti,pic 2 by Riccardo Scanferla,last pic by Bettini)