Random Post about stage 2 and 3 of 2010 Giro d'Italia (including random randomnesses and personal opinions of mine):

In Italy we have a pretty famous way of saying that goes a bit like this: "You can see wheter a day it's going to be good for you since its beginning", aka from the early morning. Well, this morning many people I know (me included) were woken up at 4.15 am by a little (but frightening) earthquake. To show you the kind of ideas that my mind can produce after certain events,here I go with 3 reasons that, according to the dumb part of my brain, could have caused said earthquake:

Option 1: it was an unconventional way to say to all the Bergamo inhabitants "you're going to have a shit day" (losing the morning bus was too simple,eh?).

Option 2: it was a signal that the end of the World is really going to occur in 2012.

Option 3 (also known as 'the evil supporter's theory'): the Italian ground was protesting because Vinokourov got the pink jersey.

Although the earthquake was obviously caused by some tectonics movements, and not by Vino, I think that many people will probably decide to go for option n.3, especially if you consider that the ground trembled just a few hours after Vino's arrival in Italy. But since I'd like to treat Vino as a normal rider, I consider that theory just as something evil I (or at least the dumb part of my brain) came up with during a boring English lesson. In fact, I'm not that crazy to think things like "It's Vino's fault!" in the middle of an earthquake because, when you realise that your bed is trembling in the middle of the night, that isn't a very appropriate thing to think.Or, at least, it is not as appropriate as an unpolite (but meaningful) "What the fuck is happening?!?" followed by a "Oh Goooosh!" whispered in the dark and a "Did you hear it as well?!?" when you see someone switching on the light in the corridor. Actually,I was even a bit surprised by the fact that I managed to realise what was happening,since I usually sleep like a log at 4.15 am. And instead no, this morning I had to wake up and let my brain wander in a total random way before falling asleep again and having some nightmares (something related with Abruzzo). And to say that yesterday evening I even went to bed early.

Anyway,let's talk about cycling.As I already mentioned,right now Alexander Vinokourov is wearing the pink jersey and the Carovana Rosa has finally arrived in Italy after 3 amazing days in Holland. Yes, Holland. A nice country, that's for sure. Lots of green spaces, the sea, the typical cows, the black horses, the wonderful little houses, the windmills, the tulipans, bicycles everywhere, amazing supporters on the road... But,as well as that, very narrow and small streets which caused a lot of crashes during the first two stages of the Giro.

When you're going to race a Classic in Holland, you already know that you'll have to face said narrow roads. But when you're taking part in a Grand Tour, well, you'd probably expect the organisers to do their best to keep the riders out of danger at least until the true mountain stages begin, right? And instead no, Giro organisers are special. Not only are they planning to start the Giro from Washington in 2 years time (yes, that Washington, the one in the USA). Not only do they plan a Grand Tour with a rest day after just 3 stages (and risk to be blocked somewhere between Holland and Italy because of Arthur). Not only do they organise special dinners for the riders after their arrivals in Italy, with all the logistic problems connected to this (the riders landed very late yesterday evening). No, not only they do these things. In fact, they also organise incredible stages on very narrow roads full of traffic islands and tight turns.And then, unsatisfied, they also plan a stage finale with a tight turn with 250 meters to go and a long curve street in the last 250 meters. Yes, you've gotta love the Giro organisers.

As said, over the last stages there have been lots of crashes and here in Italy everyone pointed their fingers at the riders. And the funny thing was that also some riders pointed the fingers at their colleagues. "When I was a rider, the young guys had more respect for the older athletes!", some Italian former cyclist said."It's their fault if there are all those crashes!". Some chronists instead said that: "It's the first day of a GT,everyone wants to stay at the front,but at the front there isn't enough space for 200 riders,so the race is nervous and there are lots of crashes". Wiggins and Davide Cassani instead chose to support the "Those who fall are just distracted riders" philosophy. Pozzato, instead,opted for a usual commentary of his: "There are some people who can't ride at all, that's why there are so many crashes". Obviously, I think it's useless to underline that, between the guys who crashed during the second stage, there was also Filippo Pozzato. What a funny coincidence. Anyway,the point is: none of the Italian journalists/ chronists/ etc. pointed their fingers against the organisation of the race. On the other hand instead British chronists (yesterday I watched half of the stage in English) were all very angry at Zomegnan & Co., and even complained about the roads of some past Giri (I was really surprised by their ability in remembering all the stages with nasty asphalt that the riders had to face over the last years).

As you may have understood, me totally supports the theory of the British chronists; in fact, I think you simply can't plan a stage finish like Middleburg's one, because those strange creatures on bikes also have families and children. And then, I believe that a bunch sprint finish on a straight road is more exciting than a little sprint during a curve.

Anyway,back to the race.In spite of all the crashes I mentioned , just 2 riders got retired so far: BMC's Martin Kohler and Garmin's Vandevelde,who both broke a collarbone. They were very sad retires, since Vandevelde had crashed also during last year's Giro, while Kohler is a very young rider and so it must have been hard for him to end his Giro on an ambulance.Obviously I wish them both a good recover.

The second stage of the Giro,the one that ended in Utrecht,saw the first breakaway of the race, which was formed by Pirrazzi,Flens,Facci and Voss. The crashes were many, and also the Maglia Rosa Wiggins touched the ground in the last part of the race.With just 7 kms to go another big crash occurred and Wiggins, Sastre and Cunego lost 37" to guys like Basso, Nibali , Vinokourov and Evans.
In the meanwhile the battle for the victory was a sprinters' problem. In spite of a crash earlier in the stage, the fastest rider was Tyler Farrar, who outsprinted Goss (Greipel seemed very nervous during that sprint and he couldn't follow his teammate properly) and a very good Sabatini. Petacchi looked very disappointed after the stage (or is that his normal face?), while other Italian Sacha Modolo came 10th.Saxo Bankers Porte and Didier, in spite of being neo pros, both ended the race with the first group of riders.The only SB rider who crashed was Lund, who however was able to continue the race.
The Maglia Rosa went to Evans, who wore it for the second time in his career (the first time was in 2002).Just like the previous time, however, Evans had to give away the jersey after just one day.

The third stage of the Giro took place on the narrow roads between Amsterdam and Middleburg and the landscape in that part of Holland,with the sea and the green, was simply unbelievable. It had been said that this stage would have been dangerous because of the wind, and in fact many crashes occurred. Wiggins crashed twice, just like Pozzovivo, Modolo, Pinotti and Bruseghin (who left a big part of his shorts on the ground). Wiggo's last crash happened with 10 kms to go and created a fracture between the head of the race (which included Basso, Nibali and Vinokourov) and the rest of the peloton, which also included the Maglia Rosa Evans. Evans was as lonely as usual (his teammates were all behind) and so he really gave it all to try to come back on the lead of the race. He was helped in his effort by some Cervélo's riders (Sastre had been delayed as well), but unfortunately for Cadel his efforts were useless. The Aussie in fact crossed the finish-line 46" after the stage winner Weylandt. Wiggins, together with Cioni and other 3 Sky riders, crossed the finish-line 4' after the winner and 4' before Bruseghin and Pozzovivo, who's still having some problems because of his crash.
As mentioned, the winner of the stage was Wouter Weylandt, who was really brave in facing the tight turn before the finish-line at a great speed.Second was Brown and 3rd was Forster, followed by other German Hondo. Excellent 5th was the young Adam Blythe.

The Maglia Rosa fight was very thrilling, since Saxo Banker Porte had the same time as Vinokourov,who eventually got it for just 018'. Don't give up Richie: the team is good and tomorrow's TTT may allow you to take the Maglia.

Talking about Vino, well, you probably know what I think of his case. If you don't, here's a little resume of my opinion: he has made a big mistake.He has paid for that.Now he's back. Stop. It's not his fault if he's back, so I guess we just have to behave as if he was a normal rider (although it's pretty hard).

After the race I could hear Vinokourov talking dreadful English, and after hearing him speaking an apparently fluent French,me has taken an important decision: I'll study French as soon as possible. Still talking about Vinokourov: that man has a heart. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but just read (or translate) this article by Claudio Gregori and you'll understand what I mean: http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2010/maggio/08/intera_nazione_per_Vinokourov_Anche_ga_10_100508014.shtml According to it, in Amsterdam Vino came out with this sentence: "Even the tsar Peter the Great came here in 1697 with the false name of Peter Mikailov in order to study how the Dutch built their ships". Then, he also stated that "Puskin is great for the poetry, Tolstoj for the life". And then: "Inter will win the football Champions League.If they don't make it this time, they'll never make it". After hearing that he follows football, well, I guess we can officially declare that, after all, Alexandr Vinokourov from Kazakhstan is quite a normal man (I wasn't that sure when I read his sentence about Russian history and literature).

Anyway, I realise I'm straying from the point.So: after the first rest day, Vino has the Maglia Rosa and the young Tasmanian Porte is 2nd for less than a second.Tomorrow there's a 32 kms long TTT and, in my opinion, Saxo Bank has a golden chance to grab that jersey.Let's hope so!

(Farrar's pic by Elmar Krings, the other two pics by Ispa)