Sunglasses stay on when inside as they’re keeping our eyeballs from falling out.

I guess the riders are tired too.

Today was another flat stage, the first in about a week, so I think every person involved in the race expected the sprinter teams to be to the fore once again.

They delivered a bunch sprint as expected, and Garmin-Transitions were once again in the thick of things.

Millar and Martijn delivered Jules to the front of the show at the right time, and Jules crossed the line in second place.

Jules heading for second behind Cav.

Yet another excellent result, among many for the team this month. These blokes rock! Next up is the time trial in Bordeaux, followed by the final stage in Paris.

As it’s about 600km between the two cities, the logistics of getting all of the staff, vehicles and equipment to where they need to be for the final stage has been complicated.

The riders and directors catch a dedicated train in the morning, so are sweet as apples, but the rest of us are on marathon drives at a million o’clock after the stage finishes. Good times!

Speaking of times, I’ll be on the course today giving extra time checks for the TT.

Always good to have as much info as possible! Here’s to the Garmin-Transitions train rolling on to yet more success!

Toby.

We're very pleased to announce that Garmin Transitions physiotherapist Toby Watson will be contributing articles to his new VeloResults blog.

Right now Toby is with the team on the Tour de France, and you can read about what it's like to be working with a top team on the biggest race in the world, and the sense of drama and fun that are essential parts of the experience, on Toby's regular updates.

For example, this from the recent entry:

"We rotate the people who help out at the hotel, and these past few dayshave been my shift. We collect all the bags in the morning, get to the hotel as quickly as possible, set them all up in the rooms (including massage tables for those who use them), and then grab lunch.

If you’re lucky, the hotel has a pool (ours did), and so the majority of the afternoon was spent flitting from watching what was happening in the race, and heading back to the pool to play Arrowman."

We hope you enjoy this new section of the site.

Toby is Australian, and currently lives in Girona with his fiancee Amanda. If he has any time, he enjoys reading and running, and occasionally skiing too, when he can.

You can keep up with Toby on Twitter too, and his own blog site is here.

A significantly smaller proposition awaits us tomorrow!

The total distance tomorrow is somewhere around 180km, and it’s lumpy, but not ridiculously so. Sunday is about 170km and relatively flat.

The teams here are slightly smaller in stature, and the goals for us are a bit of fine-tuning for our sprint boys, and a couple more races for our younger blokes.

Rabin keeping an eye on things.

There is a grand total of 6 staff members here, compared to the 15-odd we had at the Giro at times, and while the boys will be up for it tomorrow, the vibe is certainly more chilled out. It’s a very nice time out after the Giro and before the Tour from my point of view.

We shall see how we go, but when Tyler’s in the race, we’re going to figure in some way! Fingers crossed it’s another win for Garmin Transitions!

So the last post I put through (earlier today) was 16km from the finish, and included a series of “hopefullys” all of which came to pass, meaning we won today! A great result for the team, and a super performance by the team.

We knew that the finish was a little tricky, so got as much info back to the big bosses on the road as we could, meaning that the boys could plan their attack well.

We won!

With big drives from Aussie wunderkind, and loose cannon, Jack Bobridge for large parts of the early stage to help control the break, we then had Canadian hard man Svein Tuft not only assist Jack in controlling things, but also driving the race so hard that it was too fast for people to make decisive moves.

Then came the icing on the cake: Murilo Fischer, Brazil’s finest export since Giselle Bundchen, took the pace to the next level, so even indecisive moves became impossible, and gave our final three bullets a good platform to do their work.

David Millar then drove the race for well over a kilometre at warp speed (that’s over 60kph without an engine, on the flat for those who don’t understand the technical parlance) through a couple of decidedly dicey chicanes and corners (kudos to the recon crew!) (Love a self-congratulatory back pat)

And then came the cherry on the icing on the cake! Julian Dean, cult hero for the third of the New Zealand population who live in the UK, who account for the mystery “other third” of the whole Kiwi population (there are equal numbers of New Zealanders in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs (particularly Bondi), Europe and New Zealand for those who don’t know) hit out for home up the hill, into the wind and around a tight corner.

He was preparing things for our token bloodnut, the American sprinter and genuinely good bloke Tyler, but was doing such a good job that he left the whole field behind.

With 200m to go, it looked like Jules was half a chance of pinching the win himself. Tyler certainly thought so, because he was looking around so much I had to treat his neck this evening for whiplash (not really).

Eventually it became obvious that Jules wasn’t quite going to make the line without being caught, so Tyler powered ahead to take the win, with an Italian second, and Jules third.

Dan celebrates.

So there you have it: an Aussie, a Canuck, a Brazilian, a Pom and a Kiwi all combined brilliantly so an American could beat an Italian! Complete gold.

The next stage is a ludicrous 270-odd kilometres, and is particularly lumpy. After the previous heroics, we’ll see what our boys can muster. Hopefully Irishman Dan Martin can get himself in a break and do some damage. We shall see.

Secondly (and as ever, less importantly) the riders are now in the hurt basket pretty much permanently.

Some guys have a stylish way to beat the rain.

The racing to date has been through pretty horrific conditions, both weather-wise, and racecourse-wise. Yesterday was a particularly good example of both issues – the boys were riding through a rain squall of significant size, and then found themselves having to ride through standing water all the way up to their pedals. Some called a small river, although I would have called it a creek myself. The boys tend to exagerrate at times! Southern Italy: road drainage and planning are minor details.

Its a dirty job.

We’ve been bopping away with some solid, although not brilliant results, but hopefully today will see a bunch sprint, and hopefully Tyler will be the man at the front of said sprint. True, a lot of “hopefullys”, but not unreasonable ones!

The other key event of the race since the last message – Cadel Evans winning one of the most epic stages of Giro history with the coolest tactic of all: ride them all off your wheel!

Chatting to VeloResults Editor Martin, and waiting for the boys to come up the Strada Bianchi.

All of the boys crossed the line absolutely caked in mud (it was a race over clay roads for 17 of the final 20km), freezing cold, exhausted, and all saying they were happy they had finished it so they could say they were in the race THAT day. Pretty cool. Dave Millar dragged himself up to third overall on that day too.

I catch a lift from the BMC boys.

We’ve got 16km to go today, so that’ll be all he wrote.

GO TY!

The boys in the TTT.

My job for the day was to check the time splits of our boys relative to the teams who had ridden before them. There was only one official time split provided by the race, and we wanted to make sure our boys got as much info as possible. I thus had to drive up the road behind one of the earlier teams and then start the clock.

The guys I was following (AG2R) ended up slowest on the day, although considering they rode through a hailstorm, it isn’t really all that surprising.

The weather was to play a huge role in everyone’s day. Basically for the first half of the day, the wind was a tailwind early, and then it died out late. It was also wet and at times even hailing, which slows the boys down a lot. At the end of the day it was dry, and the wind was a strong tailwind for the second half of the race, with a bit of a crosswind for the first part.

Unfortunately for us, it looked like we got the worst of both worlds, with the crosswind and rainy start, followed by a no tailwind end. Bugger! So we ended up in eighth place, a long way below where we would be expected to come (the bookies had us as favourites). A disappointing day, but there’s really not a lot you can do about some stuff!

Today was a flat (ish) stage from Cuneo to Novi Ligure. We’d put yesterday’s disappointment behind us and were fired up to give our sprinter, Tyler, another shot at a win.

My non-physio job was again recon – this time making sure the final corner wasn’t too wet, which would affect the boys’ final sprint timing. All went to plan, until the final 10km, when the break of three blokes managed to stay away from a peloton roaring down the road after them.

The race book gives a profile of each stage, and the final 20km looked like it was relatively flat today, so the calculations had been done, and the boys knew the break couldn’t be more than a minute up the road with 10km to go.

Jérôme Pineau wins the stage, with Tyler snapping at his heals.

All was well, except the seven hills in the final 20km that weren’t mentioned in the race book! Oops.

Couple this with a VERY favourable tailwind for the escapees, and it suddenly was a lot less certain that the break would be caught. At the end of the day, the break were riding the final 500m when the peloton rounded the final corner and bore down on them.

Tyler won the bunch sprint (respect!) but was four freakin seconds short of catching the break. Four. Seconds. Bloody hell! Talk about frustrating!

The funny thing is, for the first time I wanted the break to be caught! Normally in that situation you love to see the little guys win out against the throng, but not when it’s my team leading the charge!!

Damn.

Tomorrow is billed as a moderately hilly day. Who knows what it will actually be like! Hopefully we can do some damage tomorrow.

The Giro d’Italia version 2010 has begun. We started racing up in Amsterdam (which, while not technically* part of Italy, was a cool place to start racing from) with a time trial, followed by two road stages. The start of a Grand Tour is always cool – the whole team starts to find extra gears, and the organisation is singing by start time. Despite (or because of) this, the riders get edgier and edgier, and so “transgressions” that wouldn’t have even resulted in a batted eyelid days earlier suddenly become monumentally important. Fun.

My job has been to treat any injuries or niggles that have reared up in the final few days leading in to the race, and then to continue to do the same throughout the race. I am also massaging one of the boys daily (all of the boys get a daily massage when at races). At this race the daily person I’m looking after is Jack “JackyBobby” Bobridge, a young Aussie kid with ridiculous amounts of talent. The bastard. It’s cool chatting to him and seeing his reactions to each day! And then I also look after whoever else needs physio treatment on top of their massage.

Simple and delicious - it's a tough gig.

We’ve had mixed fortunes thus far – the Day One Time Trial saw us finish some six seconds off the pace over 8.4km, which wasn’t bad. Day Two, and we were ONE second off the pace, and Day Three, we ended up one second off the pace again. Ohh the pain of just missing the lead of the whole race by such a tiny margin!

Day One (an 8.4km Time Trial) dawned wet, but the rain petered out prior to the race itself starting in the centre of Amsterdam. The road thus was drying out throughout the day, but had not completely dried out even by the end of the race. The order of starters became very significant, and painfully for us, one of our boys, Tyler, started early in the race. He found himself entering corners with the brakes on through fear of slipping on the road because of the potential of there being water on the road on the blind side of the corner, only to realise that the corner wasn’t wet after all, and so he lost quite a bit of time throughout the race.

Day Two was a flat stage, and WE WON it!!! Hahahaha! Bloody sensational result – our team sprinter Tyler Farrar won the day with one leg in the air. Well not actually like that, but he did win the thing! I can claim a very small part in that victory as well – each stage has a map of the whole stage, on top of a higher resolution map of the final 3km.

Typical to the Giro d’Italia, the final part of the stage was quite dangerous – there was a ninety degree corner some 220m from the finish, and my job for the day was to check out that corner, and to describe the wind at the finish so we could prepare the best sprint we could manage.

Funnily, and also very Giro-like, the corner was actually 350m from the finish, and not nearly as sharp as originally shown on the map. So our boys knew what to expect and weren’t going too hard too soon, and Tyler eventually won the stage. Wiiiicked result, and with the time bonus he accrued, he was suddenly… ONE SECOND off the lead. Bloody hell. One frickin second. And the day before he had pulled out of multiple corners for fear of crashing, any one of which would have been quick enough for him to have gone a second and a half quicker, and held the pink leader’s jersey!

This isn't bad, is it.

Day Three was also a flat stage, skipping along the coast of the Netherlands, and it was also a LOT less good a day for Garmin Transitions. The roads of the Netherlands (particularly) are plain dangerous. They are particularly narrow and twisty-turny, and also have lots of speed humps and median strips and random poles sticking up here and there. There are also bajillions of fans lining the roads, and thus it is basically a terrifying day for the bike riders – worried about crashing, being caught behind crashes, or hitting random fans.

Unfortunately for us, our team captain, Christian “VDV” Vandevelde, crashed and appears to have broken his collarbone. Painfully, Day Three of the Giro last year also saw VDV crash out – that time with fractured vertebrae, ribs and pelvis. Total nightmare! Completely gutted for him. Also today, Tyler got stuck on the wrong side of a crash, and so lost 46s of time. Bloody hell! At least Dave Millar stayed with the leaders, and at the end of all of the carnage, the organisers did the sums and we ended up… ONE SECOND DOWN!! Curses!

We were then on a “rest” day, driving all of the team equipment (a bus, truck, 2 vans and 4 cars) from Holland to Italy. So restful! So soothing! My lowlight of that drive was finding the lock on the toilet I was using had broken upon me entering the cubicle. After two or three shoulder charges I casually strolled out, acting like all was normal… Welcome to Italia!

Today we have the Teams Time Trial, and I’ll be standing on the course yelling out splits for the boys as they go past. Despite the loss of VDV, we still have a very strong team, and we hope to be able to do some damage on this stage as well. The big threat seems to be Team Sky, who also have a good side. So we shall see what happens in a few hours. Bring it on!

Hopefully I’ll be able to update this thing regularly throughout the month. We shall see!

CIAO!

*By “technically” in this instance I mean “actually”

That was what the Gazzetta said about Danilo after the Vesuvio stage; "grinta" is the quality of physical and mental toughness that the true greats have - "Super Grinta" - great expression.

Slick cobbles made for an interesting day!

And now it's 09:55, Ciampino Airport, Rome on Monday.

The hire car is gone, we're in the departure lounge - and it's all over.

Rain equals bar.

I think it's perhaps the best of the eight Grand Tours I've done for Pez; maybe the UCI and Tour de France don't think much of Danilo Di Luca, but the Italian public loves him.

He made this a Giro exciting and memorable, a real bike race; not a procession with riders frightened to loose their GC placings.

'The Killer' did his best to spook Menchov early doors.

Di Luca took the second place graciously.

Di Luca has a bit of 'previous' - but who doesn't at the top level, in this sport? As long as he's clean now, let him get on with his racing.

Is Mario following us?

The final time trial could have been a damp squib; the course was crazy - far from pan flat, mostly cobbled and like a skating rink during the frequent showers.

Historic ruins are everywhere in this city.

But the backdrop of Rome was spectacular and Menchov's crash made it so dramatic.

Our angle was, "come to the chrono in Rome with Pez" - not just the race, but the course, the sights, a bit of gossip.

It's up there on Pez here, we had a great - if long - day in Rome.

The beautiful Colosseum.

The race security was dire, folks just hauled barriers open and wandered across the road, not bothering to slide them back into place and leaving them jutting in to the road.

The diners barely look up from their pasta as Rabo warm up.

Many of the spectators were tourists, not aficionados, no one had a watch - at the Tour, old guys wander up to you with their fob watches and compare their timing with you.

I love the Gazzetta's race coverage but one thing they don't do - L'Equipe does for the Tour - is to publish a full start list. At le Tour, every second spectateur has their start sheet, torn from L'Equipe.

The Gazzetta's pictures of Menchov's brush with the cobble sets are great; his mechanic gets compared to a Formula One mechanic.

Menchov deserved this win.

But for his crash, the Russian would probably have won the stage, he missed victory by 24 seconds but lost 20 to 25 whilst he was on the deck.

Brad Wiggins was unlucky to loose the stage by a single second - a win would have salvaged the race for Garmin.

He was unlucky in that he rode in the rain, but Phil Deignan reckons that it was the same for his Cervelo team mate, Ignatas Konovalovas.

Carlos has had a good Giro, much better than we thought he would.

Well, guess we have to have a photo of the man.

We saw the tall, powerful, Lithuanian thrash past in his white time trial champion's skinsuit. We could see that he was ripping, but he wasn't on our - or anybody else's - list of stage favourites.

He's 23, lives in Marseille and was with CA last season; when as well as the Lithuanian TT championship, he won a stage in the Tour of Luxembourg.  

Basso wasn't his old, breathing-through-his-nose, self in this Giro.

It was a great race for some teams - LPR, Rabobank, Columbia, Cervelo, Liquigas and Diquigiovanni; good for some - Silence and QuickStep, but brutal for a lot of teams. The likes of Bouygues, Galicia, Caisse and Fuji were invisible.

Phillip Deignan, didn't have the best day today.

Philip Deignan bit the dust twice, at 5 and 10 K - he has scars on his scars.

ISD's Ian Stannard.

Ian Stannard did a good ride yesterday for 29th; whilst most of his ISD team mates opted for road bikes, Ian stuck with his lo-pro, telling us that on the long straights there's no way you can get the same top end speed on a road bike. 

We're glad we braved the mosh pit at the presentation - we got the chance to chat to Phillip and Ian, plus get good shots of Di Luca, Menchov and Pellizotti.

Pello takes his best ever Giro result.

It also gave us a sense of the race really being over; if you watch the last rider flash past, then head for the press room, it's still buzzing about your head. Hearing the war stories and being there as the riders rode off to the presentation made you think; "that's it!"

Respect Danilo - never say die. And Denis, big strong, solid, calm under fire.

Respect also to Petacchi, super cool and working selflessly for Di Luca.

Thanks to Dario Cioni, Rubens Bertogliati, Ben Swift, Ian Stannard, Phil Deignan, Charly Wegelius and all the others who took to time to give us good answers and quotes.

Reality beckons - but so does le Tour !

Our last Gazzetta for a while has great pics of Menchov's near-disaster.

Oh, aye, how does the Gazzetta score them out of 10? Lance: 6, Basso: 7, Sastre: 7.5, Pellizotti: 8, Menchov: 9, and Danilo?

'The Killer' gets 8.5 - we'd have given him 9.5.

Ciao, tutti !

Last night's hotel had the electrical switch for the shower just a couple of inches from the shower head; the difference between being scalded and freezing was two microns on the control.

Cheerio Napoli - we won't be hurrying back.

Dave gets interviewed by the Ozcycling boys.

The people are so friendly here in Naples; the boy in the toll booth last night gave us a row for not having the €1:60 ready - we should have known it was a pre-pay toll.

The roads are horrific, a lot of them are concrete, which has split and potholed - dire.

This is the view from our luxury apartment!

And on top of all the that, the pen I bought yesterday doesn't work - surprising that - and breakfast was grim.

We've just been through a tunnel, on our way to the start; Dave reckons that was the nicest part of Naples we've seen.

Gianni Savio, media-friendly Diquigiovanni DS.

La Gazzetta never let's us down, though; there's a huge amount about yesterday's stage; Carlos gets a 9 out of 10.

Today, we decided to "go people" - we interviewed about a dozen riders, managers and a certain Oleg Tinkov, before the start on the sea front in Naples.

Oleg calls the minders off Ed, then messes about for his camera.

I spotted Mr. Tinkov and shot across the road for a word, I was a few words into my introduction; "you probably won't remember me but . . when two handsome, fit looking dudes appeared from nowhere; I noticed a little gesture from the Boss - two fingers onto one of the minder's forearms; I was OK.

However, if I can give you a piece of advice, don't mess with Mr. Tinkov!

Having said that, he was as charismatic as I remembered, chatty and good fun, clowning around for the camera.

Ian Stannard

Our 'sound bites' worked well and reminded us that pros are generally a pretty sound, approachable group of people.

Edvald Boasson-Hagen is very quiet but still chatted away to us just fine.

As soon as we did the business, we were out of there - Naples is not a place that either of us would like to re-visit.

Ben Swift is justifying his new Pro contract in spades.

I wrote up the bulk of the piece for Pez en route to the finish with Dave still cursing Naples, it's roads, it's architecture and horrible karma.

Anagni was the stage finish town and we decided to do another piece (as yet unwritten, the need for pizza was too great!) about our day, and the finish in particular.

It was good to be fans, hanging over the barrier and we enjoyed the fact that there was a finishing circuit - 18 kilometres.

Erik Breukink, winning DS.

It was a tough finish; a two kilometre drag to the line.  On the first ascent, it was split but we felt it might well be a bunch gallop.

Philippe Gilbert thought otherwise and pulled the fat out of the fire at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour, to save Silence-Lottos Giro and win his first race of the year.

An event his sponsors will be happy about, but might just think is a tad over due?

Philippe Gilbert kicks whilst Thomas Voeckler appears to have resigned himself to 2nd.

As Allan Peiper said in his book; "when you sign for a new team on big wages, it's not the races that you've already win that they're paying you for - it's the races they expect you to win!"

Charly Wegelius has had a quiet Giro, but his target is a month from now.

The drive to digs was short and relaxing, our hosts friendly and happy to give us access to their modem - deep joy!

By the time we'd fired off the pics to Pez and VeloResults, then checked Cyclingnews, the pics and the piece were up on Pez - excellent work by Richard and Jered.

Mario, in civvies this time.

The pizza was braw, the wee bar where we had our nightcap was sound and here we are in our quiet, clean digs - Roma tomorrow.

Reality on Monday, best make the most of that time trial in the Eternal City.

A domani!

Salerno.

Amalfi, Porto Fino, Sorrento - playgrounds of the rich and famous. 

The Amalfi coastline - just stunning.

Exotic plants like the lava rock.

The stage today is the last big bare knuckle battle; Di Luca's last chance to unseat Menchov. 

It wouldn't be a grand tour without a protest.

Avellino. (click for the full image)

>> FAST FORWARD >>

And here we are; 21:47 in the bar of the Hotel Ideal in Naples, sending our pics for the day. 

I spent an age this afternoon cursing my own lack of computer literacy and my old Sharp laptop whilst trying to get my 18 euro connection to the press room wi-fi. 

Eventually I 'asked the boy' - "there is no eeenter-net, thee systeem ees down."

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh ! 

I was close to a rant, we phoned the Hotel Ideal, "yes, we have wireless in the bar."  Sounded good to us! 

The Amalfi was beautiful, spectacular, it would be best to spend a couple of days there, take it all in.  

Amalfi.... (click for the full image)

A couple of minutes would do for Naples; we'd heard that it wasn't braw, but we were unprepared for just how unbraw it was. 

...Napoli.

Around the corner from where we are, the prostitutes are lined up, the drug dealers stalk and street traders lay out second hand clothes - and rake skips - it's like a Third World city. 

The view from the hotel balcony is cool if you're into construction, depressing if you're not. 

The traffic is horrific, it took an age to get off Vesuvio and down to the digs - and it doesn't stop; there's been a wall of noise out there, all night. 

The Amalfi was glorious and the road along past Sorrento was nice; but once we arrived in Torre - part of Greater Naples, things went downhill, rapid! 

The roads were terrible, the fans were not to be messed with and the whole place looked generally run down. 

The police had patently lost the plot on crowd and traffic control and we were glad to get out of the place and up on to Vesuvio. 

Tom Lovkvist has had a solid Giro.

It may be a hard climb, but it's not a particularly spectacular one - due to the lay of the land, there aren't that many great views, not from the heights we reached, anyway. 

Brajkovic leads Cunego. (click for the full image)

It would be an interesting place to go, if you had time to do a little homework and scraping about - the lava flows with their wild flowers look amazing. 

The capo's pretty much stuck together, despite Di Luca's frenzied-out-the-saddle efforts.

The race didn't go as we'd all hoped - that was Di Luca dropping Menchov - but respect to Carlos Sastre. 

Di Luca has been digging deep, whilst Menchov has been solid and measuring his efforts in defence. 

Menchov looks to have it in the bag.

Barring accidents, acts of God (and 'positifs') the overall is decided. 

Today is a transition stage; the parcours aren't too dramatic but the finish is sore, too sore for the pure sprinters, they say. 

The grupetto, with our pal Dario at the tail.

It's most likely to be a break today, riders who aren't too tired and whose DS's have coaxed or bullied them into a move. 

The irony is that it will probably be one of the teams who have already won a stage and aren't under pressure. 

Today saw us achieve a mission objective; we caught up with the "colourful" character with the horned helmet, who runs up the climbs beside Lance. 

After chatting to us, Dory "Long Horn" Holte will be at the race tomorrow. Sorry Viktor. (click for the full image)

When I say achieved a mission objective, maybe not quite, what Viktor briefed us on was to run the boy over; we settled for a chat, it's on Pez here - bearing in mind the defamation laws, I'll say no more. 

Except that Dave wishes to disclaim any involvement in the matter. 

Nearly breakfast time, best get a shower. 

Ciao, ciao.

The whole town is entering into the spirit of things.

After a bit of messing around, we found the apartment; who answered the door?

Scott McGrory, former six day star - with 15 wins - and that isn't easy in 'the race to nowhere'.

Scott works for Fox Sports TV in Australia now and was sharing our digs.

As you can imagine, he was duly interviewed this morning - watch for it on Pez.

He has a new site; www.ozcycling.com - give it a skek and say that VR sent you!

We decided that the angle today was along "Giro hits town" lines, rather than go race route or hard core race, we went "local colour", and you can read more on Pez here.

The three musketeers.

Sulmona is a classy, old town with up market clothes shops, book shops, Grand caffes and a long and interesting past.

The tat-guy looks a bit peed off that he's not having much luck - yet.

I had to get up early to move the car; right outside the digs was race route, and when they say they'll tow you - they aint messin'!

We love brass band music here at VR.

Breakfast wasn't until 08.30, so we headed out for a cappuccino and - La Gazzetta.

Front page - Messaggero - Abruzzo.

Franco Pellizotti's 9 was fair enough, but Danilo on 8.5?  We thought he was worth a 9.

The Humanplasma story was there; I haven't checked, but I'd wager that the Gazzetta's rivals will be locked on to discrediting the Russian, and, by association, the Giro and Gazzetta. The story was in plain language on the Cycling Weekly website, so it's no longer in 'nudge, nudge' territory.

I hope the lid stays on; I'm not sure that I could handle another drugs drama - just so depressing.

Poster in Sulmona.

Even at 07.30, the town was buzzing; I picked up a leaflet on Ovid, the town's most famous son. He was a poet and a bit of a ladies man - married three times - back in Roman days.

Some things never change.

Our pal Marco Pinotti.

We got loads of great shots of shops, girls, dogs, kids, walls, flowers - the Giro is still a big deal in Italy and folk do make the effort. Whilst we didn't want to get too much into the race proper, we chatted with some of our Pez-friendly riders; Dan Lloyd, Marco Pinotti, Jez Hunt and Ian Stannard.

Dave and I always admire a man who uses his swear words with abandon and imagination - respect, Ian !

Ian Stannard has apologised to Ed for calling him a "&?!£$ *%@#" at Milan San Remo.

As the Giro rolled off, we headed straight to Salerno to the digs. We knew they had wi-fi, so there was no point in going to the finish press room to blow 18 euros and get scowled at.

Incidentally, Scott McGrory hates the stampa too - so it's not just us.

Ed with Dan Fleeman, well, sort of.

Our drive took us from the east coast of Italy, to the west; one imposing mountain follows another. We passed Monte Cassino again, grey and huge, it dominates the valley.

Dave and I were in Salerno for the 2007 Giro, so we knew the lie of the land.

Two pizzas, two mega Peronis and two Nitromors - or was it lemoncellos? - 18 euros; that's our kind of pricing!

Midnight, time for sleep, Vesuvio tomorrow.

It's very bonny around here.

Will Danilo attack - for sure!

But even if he does distance the big Russian; will he take enough time from Denis to give him a cushion for the Roma chrono?

We'll find out tomorrow. Ciao, ciao.

Menchov - is his clock ticking, or will he get to hold onto the Maglia Rosa?

Look who we bumped into!

The computer was reading 30+ degrees, the road was gently rolling along, parallel to the Adriatic and in front of us was this huge mass of snow covered rock - awe inspiring, but with too much heat haze to photograph: we'll get a close look today.

Maurizio Fondriest hangs out with the VR boys.

And I should also have mentioned - Cipo; he strode into the hotel lobby, just off his bike, tall, slim, tanned and looking very fit - I do have concerns however, that he shaves his chest. 

It's 09:15 and we have a new chum, Luciano Rabottini; we stopped to have a look at his bike shop, he spotted my six day shirt and next thing he was giving us his palmares. He's worn well and doesn't look that different from when he was burning up the tar in Tirreno-Adriatico.

The start town of Chieti was nice and we enjoyed a beer and a cappuccino in the Caffe Vittoria before falling for the charms of the lovely punting the "100 Years of the Giro" books - 15 euros each. 

The opening kilometres of the stage were pan flat and horrible, urban clutter for kilometre after kilometre - the calm before the storm. 

In fairness to the Giro organisers, they were probably giving the riders time to warm up legs which were still a little stiff after the rest day. 

Not far inland, the lie of the land changed and we were in wine country; rolling hills covered with vines. 

There's a summary on Pez here, but suffice to say that Blockhaus is a long, hard, brutal climb. 

Carlos and Lance battle their way up.

The speed the pros race these climbs at beggars belief, we watched a decent part of the stage on the big screen and it's hard to believe that the climb they're revving up, is the same one we just saw people reduced to walking up.  

Biblione - the dolphin.

The weather at the top was cool, it's not often that I welcome the temperature dropping, but it was nice not to be sweltering, today. 

When we left the press room, the air was sweet and cool, with the birds singing - when we went in to the press room, the noise was deafening with the air full of exhaust fumes from the motorbikes and team cars. 

Today's Press Room!

It's now 20:40 local time and we're free wheeling off the mountain - free wheeling because the petrol warning light is on and we're saving gas - the smell of frying brake pads is lovely. Like I've said before, it's a glamorous life on the Grand Tours.

The day is saved, we found an automat petrol pump! 

Tomorrow's stage (18) is the sprinter's last chance; Sulmona to Benevento, 182 kilometres. 

Even the graffiti artists are into the race.

Our digs are in Sulmona, we're not complaining about that. 

Another good day of racing, today; we just hope that there's nothing in the rumours starting to bubble about Menchov and his possible involvement in . . . . 

No, let's not go there. 

Lets just say; "Forza Danilo !" and buona notte.

uh oh...

Got the pink pages, all is good.

Dave predicted that Carlos would get 9 out of 10 - he was spot on. Levi got 4 and the man that the Gazzetta loves to hate; Gibo Simoni didn't even get a mention. 

Silvi Marina was the destination; Dave battered the Peugeot down the Autostrada for our rendezvous with Rubens Bertogliati, Ben Swift and Dario Cioni. 

Ed is delighted to see the Gibo "sells windaez".

'Rest day' is a misnomer if you're a journo because you have to work all the harder to get content. On race days, all you need to do is to keep your eyes open. But on the 'riposo' you have to hunt it out. On the way down to the Hermitage hotel, we passed Saxo Bank out for an easy pedal. 

Then we saw Barloworld's Chris Froome and John-Lee Augustyn [the guy who tried to fly off the top of the Restefond in last year's Tour] out for an easy one; John Lee tried to run me toes over as I took his pic - the little monkey. 

The vast Hermitage hotel.

The Hermitage wasn't hard to find, it towers over the promenade. Katusha, ISD and Silence-Lotto were holed up there. 

Skek time - the Katusha bus is beautifully turned out but the ISD bus has cracking graphics. Dario arrived as we mooched about his team's wagon; the fluo ISD strip doesn't look as hard on the eye in the flesh, as it does on TV.

Apparently, Mario Cipollini has started a clothing firm and he's the team's new supplier - that explains it!

Talking of Cipollini, Dario was sporting a sleeveless ISD jersey - nice. 

The Belgian posse from Silence-Lotto rode in - no Charly Wegelius in evidence. Gilbert seemed full of fun, I'm not sure his sponsors will be so chuffed, mind. 

Those Katusha Ridleys sure are nice, so are the Diquigiovanni Guerciottis. 

Gibo appeared - he needs a result, but maybe it's one Giro too far? 

Interview time - Rubens is polite, attentive, fun, looks great and obviously still loves his sport. 

Ben looks young enough to be a junior, sparkling eyes, handsome, a bit cheeky, knocked out to be competing against his boyhood hero Lance, but not starstruck. 

Dario just back from his potter.

Dario is handsome, trendy, laid back, hugely knowledgeable and experienced (16 Grand Tours). It's his career now - a real pro's pro. 

We had good chats with all three - likeable men and a privilege to be sitting chatting to them. 

Time to get the pix away, the first batch flew off from reception without drama; the second batch was a nightmare - but that's computers, for you. 

We're holed-up in a truckers stop, but the beer's cold, so it's ok.

We decided to grab the very first hotel we saw; every other night is booked, but not tonight. It was a truckers motel, just a couple of minutes from the Hermitage. 

The beer is cold, the grub was good, the linen is clean - and we're right above the kitchen ventilation ducts, we'll waken up smelling of risotto! 

Ciao, ciao - Blockhaus tomorrow!

Saving it for today? We'll see. 

We spot potential VeloResults team cars.

At 08:00 it's already 28 degrees! It's going to be a "Hot one!" 

A fresh Gazetta in the morning, bliss.

Dave's at the helm of the Peugeot - we're following Ale (Pez's man in Italia) to the start at Pergola - the Stereophonics are telling us to "Have a nice day" and I've got my Gazzetta - can't be bad. 

Basso gets an 8 out of 10 for yesterday, albeit, if you were being brutally honest, you'd say; "why?" he gained nothing - but I guess it was for effort. 

Stage winner, Bertagnolli scores 7.5; the always aggressive Garzelli 7; Menchov 7 (he looked well in command, yesterday); Di Luca 6 (Danilo looked to be showing the strain, yesterday); Sastre gets 5 and a slagging for panicking and dragging Pauwels back from the winning break. 

The view from the descent of the Rocca Leonalle.

Fast forward around 12 hours and we're on a 'strade blanche' or white dust road - yes, like the ones in the Eroica - crawling down off the summit of Monte Petrano. 

Di Luca fans with their custom Fiat 500.

The main climb was closed while the barrier crews tore apart all the work that they had spent the night before on. 

The press room was in a conference centre located at the top of the climb; we felt like the ghost in that old TV detective series, "Randall and Hopkirk, deceased" - we could see what was happening around us, but no one could see us. 

That is until we needed wi-fi and they stung us 18 euros for 24 hours - great value. 

We're headed back to Fano for pizza and sleep, meanwhile, the riders have two hours plus in the buses to their hotels, after the hardest stage of the race - who'd be a pro? 

Carlos heads up the GC.

La Gazzetta won't be slagging old Carlos tomorrow; he jumped the favourites on the finish climb to take an epic stage and leap frog onto the podium. 

We might be wrong, but it looks to us that Denis Menchov has this one in the bag; Di Luca is strong and gallus, but the Russian is strong and ice cool. 

Cool-as-a-cucumber Menchov.

Leipheimer didn't have a good day today; Lance dragged him up the finish climb as Carlos bolted and snaffled the Astana man's third spot on GC. 

After the finish, the favourites slipped a cape on and headed back down the mountain to the team buses. 

Yaroslav Popovych.

Whilst Levi looked stressed, wasted and even angry, Lance looked like he just been down the shops - his return to form after three years absence and a broken collar has been remarkable. 

For me, his team mate Contador is the only one who can beat the Texan for the Tour.  

We drove the entire course today - and what a course; as well as four categorised climbs, there were at least four or five tough ascents which didn't merit a category but which were all hard. 

Andriy Grivko has battled hard in this race.

The parcours climbed from kilometre zero for six K in stifling heat, no categorisation, just part of the route.  

Scarponi attacked virtually from the start and was in the action all day. 

Cunego is a hero, he's not had much success in this race, but we know he's in it, for sure.

The winner's time was 7:11:54 with the gruppetto at 48:14 - that's eight hours in the saddle. 

The average speed was 20 mph, which indicates how tough the parcours were. 

Dave and I disagree on this, but I wonder if the stages have to be quite that tough - Dave thinks they do, but I feel that six hours would be sufficient. 

Alexander Efimkin rides tempo - he's spent.

However many hours, kilometres, climbs, descents and degrees C, you cannot help but admire all the men who do this, day after day. 

Carlos did the best he could with a great attacking ride.

Sastre's ride surprised me, I didn't think he had a ride like that in him at this time of the year - very impressive. 

Ale said before the stage yesterday that he felt it would be the day the classification was shaped - I think he was right. 

Rest day tomorrow; there will be more than a few guys glad of that. 

A domani!

But that's life. 

The M8, M77, Prestwick, Ryanair and here we are; in the 37 degree heat of Bologna, heading south to Faenza and our credentials. 

Mile after mile of vines in this part of the world.

Getting the 'creds' is always a big relief; there's usually hassle to get them; it's always nice to feel those bits of plastic around your neck.

Ed studies the Gazetta form guide.

I love the Gazzetta Sportiva (as it is on Sundays); their layout is great, lots of colour photos, interviews, stats and ratings - attractive and easy to take in. 

Gerrans effort yesterday got him an 8 out of 10, whilst Simoni scored a measly 4 as the Gazzetta noted; "Simoni, I'll tempo passa" - 'his time is past,' we think? 

The list of 180 corridori di 22 squadre still contains seven British riders: Chris Froome (Barloworld), Dan Lloyd and Jez Hunt (Cervelo), Bradley Wiggins and David Millar (Garmin), Charly Wegelius (Silence-Lotto) and Ben Swift (Katyusha). 

Only 'Cav' has bolted - but how is David Millar going to ride that nocturne in Edinburgh on Saturday night, if he's here?

This way to Faenza.

The road south from Bergamo to our digs in Fano, by way of the stage finish and Stampa (press room) in Faenza is pan flat, with long straights. 

A few K to our left is the Adriatic and to our right is Italy's 'spine' of mountains - the further south you go, the hotter it gets.  

We put together a wee intro piece for Pez on the way down, just to warm us up for tomorrow's real thing and Pez had it up here, that was molto pronto - it's good to be in back in business. 

This way to the Permanence, where our lovely creds await.

Faenza and creds time, no dramas, it's a miracle; maybe it's because the stampa was in a chapel? 

We were a tad miffed that we were only given one race manual; ironic, because last year they dumped hundreds of them in the street at the start of the final time trial. 

Duly credded, there was only one thing to do - find a bar. 

Dave gets his "access all areas" pass.

The TV was tuned to RAI, the beer was cool, the perfect coffee came from a Faema machine, sponsors of Eddy Merckx back in the late 60's and early 70's.  

The best coffee machine in the world!

The finale was good to watch, but we couldn't understand why Pauwels (Cérvelo) dropped back from being up the road with Bertagnolli (Diquigiovanni) - especially when he easily won the sprint for second from the little group he ended up in. 

It looked like a deal to us - but that's bike racing! 

Diquigiovanni are doing the business here, that's their second stage win and Rubens Bertogliati was in the break all day, yesterday - ending up second. 

Leonardo Bertagnolli takes another stage for Diquigiovanni. (Photo © Bettini)

We high tailed it out of Faenza immediately after we saw the maglia rosa group finish, - we didn't want caught in the traffic jams. 

But the satnav had a bad turn and we ended up on a wee road that was once connected to the autostrada - but not now! 

We're back on course again, headed south for Fano, our digs, a shower and a pizza. 

Garzelli's bike gets a hurl up the road (not Dave Millar style though!)

Ale, Pez's man in Italia lives there, so we'll be meeting him, no doubt to talk tactics for tomorrow. 

Liquigas head south, a bit faster than us.

To make the trip more interesting, we have team cars whizzing past us - Liquigas, QuickStep, Lampre, Columbia, Acqua & Sapone; tired riders are sprawled in the seats, thinking about a shower and a massage. 

Well, nearly at our junction - need to navigate... a domani e ciao, ciao !

Life is so much easier when Germans don't win stages! Inside, a headline says; "Bruseghin da podio. Di Luca si arrende."  I ask our hotelier what 'arrende' means; he slumps his shoulders, drops his arms to his side, puts his head to one side and let's his tongue hang out - yes, we can understand the translation.  

Sella apart (on a 9 out of 10) the Gazzetta isn't fullsome with stars for the other Italian riders, whilst Bert gets 8. Simoni gets 7 for his fruitless attack, Bruz is on 7 - but as a "chronoman" he couldn't be expected to do anything but wait.

Di Luca gets 5, but at least the man set pulses racing on Friday.

Our ride for today.

Evgeny Petrov (Rus & Tinkoff Credit Systems) heads for 20th place.

We've got a long drive today, from the Valdiddentro to the start, north of Milano. The good things are that the sun is out and we're going against the traffic heading north to the mountains and lakes - escaping from the grey industrial hinterlands of Milan and Bergamo.

It's almost midnight now CET, Milano and the Giro is won and lost. 

Arrivo!

I'll give you the old "read it on Pez" line, but there's no doubt that it was a bit of a strange one. Generally in time trials which conclude a stage race the best times will come from the guys racing for the GC.

There are exceptions, if it's dry early and wet late for instance, or if it's a one way race and a head wind rises. But as far as we could see, there was no appreciable difference in temperature. However, around one hour from the end, it went really clammy, putting oxygen at a premium - that's our theory.

Charlee is rewarded with a hug after his hard 3 weeks.

Enrico Gasparotto was 3rd last today. Maybe get an aero-bike for next time, eh Gaspa?

Wiggins was impressive - catching three guys in just 28 kilometres; the fact that he did that made us realise that he was going well - maybe top ten?

However, he ended up fourth, behind team mate Pinotti, another High Road early starter.

Pinotti is Italian TT champ, so he knows the chrono, but it was a most unexpected result.

Recognise the 'bars and seat cluster from Bradley's GB track bike?

Brad was riding a GB WCPP "Stealth" machine - I know it said 'Giant' but those decals stick to virtually anything.

Because we opted to follow a rider, we didn't have time to do a mega TT bike skek.

But we did see the new Bianchi, complete with slotted chainstays - nice!

Also nice were the Slipstream Felts - very Darth Vader.

Giovanni Visconti on the triathlon-like Specialized.

The organisation was shocking, I've followed several riders in TT's in the Tour with no drama and no problems about taking pics. The start was a mess, pure and simple.

I was amazed at the lack of professionalism by the Gerolsteiner and Euskaltel teams - still, it's been a long hard three weeks, I guess.

Sometimes following a rider on the course isn't the best way to see what's going on!

The guy from the organisation who accompanied Brad was a real 'jobsworth' - he just wouldn't let us near to get decent pics. We got reasonable photos roadside later in the day though.

Bruz didn't ride to plan, but held onto his podium spot - just.

We had expected a 'charge' from Bruz, but it wasn't to be, and he clung to the podium by his fingertips. Pello almost nicked the spot, beating Bruz in the TT by one second - totally against the form book.

I know it will sound churlish, but Pello's performance today just reinforces our disappointment at his failure to attack yesterday - he obviously had legs left. 

Bert hammers into the finish.

We were happy to see Bruz third, but if he'd been 'special' he could surely have taken second; Ricco rode a weak race, way down in the sixties. The word is that he's been sick, so no doubt he's happy with second.

Contador rode "a la Lance".

Contador rode "a la Lance" - that's to say, revving between 100 and 110 rpm the whole way - impressive. But so is the fact that Geraint Thomas got the same time as him, and achieved 12th in the TT : faster than Miller, Leipheimer and Menchov - fantastic!

Bert couldn't manage a top ten and so ends up in that most unsatisfying category of Grand Tour winners - those who win overall, but don't win a stage.

He didn't attack, he didn't gamble, there were no 'exploits' - he just didn't loose time. Di Luca's charge on Friday was the effort of the race, albeit it left the gas tank empty on Saturday.

68th @ 2'32" today, and over 4 minutes lost to Bert in the TT's: Riccardo Riccò needs to either improve his buffer in the mountains or limit his losses better in the TT.

Whilst the Giro would like to think that is's at least the equal of the Tour, the last stage underlines that it is not.

Paris shows it's best side for the Tour, with the route taking in some of the most famous streets and squares in the world and barrier space is at a premium for the entire finishing circuit.

Yann Huguet races through near-empty streets.

The Giro TT route was on non descript roads and hardly 'sold' Milan.

Apart from the last 500 metres, it was easy to get a vantage point.

The French are about as insular as you get, but they've accepted that a huge proportion of the world speaks English and it's only sensible to have an English translation for manuals and communiques - not in Italy; Italian or UCI French.

Old war-horse Fabio Baldato, still doing a great job for his team.

The hotel was five minutes from the finish, which was a blessing, it was - as Billy Idol would say - 'Hot in the City' yesterday and we were glad not to have the stress of scraping around in the heat and crazy traffic.

Mauro Facci nicks his name-board from the official's car as a souvenir.

We caught up with our Pez Italia colleague Ale briefly, for a coffee, before he drove home with his wife to Genoa. It was nice to see him, he's never raced, but is passionate about cycling.

Something to eat, back to the digs for a shower and tomorrow, as Dave says; "Oor creds are nae guid tae us !"

Hope you enjoyed the diary folks. Ciao, ciao !

And just like the pros, we're saying our goodbyes and heading home.

Ricco gets a 9; if he can keep his feet on the ground then he must surely win a giro - but not this one.  Contador on 6.5; as Diquigiovanni's DS, Savio told us yesterday; "Perhaps Contador will have a bad day."

The problem for Savio, was that his contender, Gibo Simoni also had a forgettable day, dropping from third to tenth on GC and earning just 5 out of 10 from the Gazzetta - he must attack today to salvage something from this race.

The awesome Gavia.

As we drove down the road away from Presolana last night, we were just saying how lucky we'd been with the folks at the hotels we'd stayed in.

That was until we arrived in Selvino; the road up was an endless serious of horrible hairpins; boy racers tailed gated us up, passing on the inside of the bends; the woman in the hotel was vile and the "Irish Pub' across the road from the hotel looked like the waiting room at Saughton. Apart from that, it was fine!

That snow doesn't ever melt completely.

It's 27 degrees at 11.00 am on Saturday morning and Dave is piloting the Matiz north. We didn't go to the start this morning; prefering instead to book our spot early on the huge Gavia climb, where we're going to 'embed' for the day. Pez's Italian correspondent, Ale - 'so handsome he makes you sick' - Federico is going to the Mortirilo and between us we hope to do the stage justice. Like I usually say; "the day is up there on Pez."

It wasn't maybe the stage we expected, after the "total bike racing" of yesterday, but I guess guys can't race like that everyday.

Riccò and Bert.

Riccò and Bruss were both suffering from "Podium Fright Syndrome" - do you risk standing on one of those golden steps by going on the attack against Contador and his automatons, or do you play safe?

For Riccò, two stage wins and a podium is a marvellous result.

Bruz grabs a snack whilst putting his rainjacket on.

If Bruz can find 1-56 on Ricco tomorrow; and that's possible, despite 'The Cobra's' super-slippery new Scott Plasma, he can go second, without risking all in the mountains.

I think if Bert has his worst day, and maybe a puncture, and Bruz is 'super' then the big man with the ready smile can win. Let's hope so, anyway.

Gibo and Bert just behind.

For Di Luca and Simoni, it's over, at least Di Luca's gesture was more than the token one made by Gibo today.

The Gavia is an amzing place.

The Gavia was a huge climb, very narrow at some points and unrelenting, the grade might vary, but the there's only one trend - upwards!

We've been over so many passes that perhaps one gets a bit blasé about seeing them.

However, the descents always confirm my admiration for pros.

The road off the Gavia is in terrible condition, potholed, rutted, crumbling at the edges where melt water runs like a burn.

There are no barriers on many of the hairpins, just huge drops to angry mountain streams, way down the steep valley sides.

Someone's going to be tired tonight.

On the way back to the digs, we passed a guy whose saddle had broken - sore one!

We stayed at this hotel the other day and had confirmed there was internet.

Geraint gets over the climb riding comfortably within himself.

So, instead of battling to the press room and back, we had the luxury of working from the hotel bedroom, with the Giro on TV - bliss!

Dave Millar togs up for the descent of the Gavia.

After the words and pics had flown, we went for a wee stroll and a pre dinner beer to Bar Betollini.

The owner used to race; had a pair of Pantani's Briko shades as a treasured momento; gave us a bottle of his wife's home made liquer to give to Navigare's Domenico Pozzivivo in Milan; and wouldn't let us pay for the beers - only in Italia.

Chrono tomorrow, ciao, ciao !

Dave befriends the officials and forresters.

Another German stage win and the Gazzetta front page says - "three days of truth waiting to attack Contador" - old Jens doesn't get so much as a mention until the fourth page of Giro reports, deep in the paper - like I said yesterday, the Italians just love the Germans winning their tappas...

Contador is given a 55% chance of final overall victory, Ricco 20% and Simoni 20%.  There are 480.0 kilometres left to decide the race, of which 28.5 K is against the watch. Today's stage is 228 K with three GP Montagna, including a mountain top finish; it could be a seven hours job. 

If you've read yesterday's offering from us for Pez, you'll know that we bumped into Stefano Barzaghi, graphic artist to the stars at the Liquigas bus - check his site www.barzadesign.it.

Keeping up with team cars on the autostrada isn't easy - they have a licence to speed with impunity!

It's 09.15 and we're on the autostrada tailing the F des J team car to the start, the traffic in Italy is simply the worst; it's well-nigh impossible to schedule journey times, on the transfer day our average speed was 40 kph.

It's 12.20 now and what was I just saying?

Oops.

We're on the autostrada for Brescia, we've just come through the mother and father of all traffic jams. One of those big truck and trailer combos has just cowped, scattering scrap metal across three lanes - messy!

We got in a good wee bit of work at the Legnano start, it's on Pez today, we had interviews with Geraint Thomas, Cav, Charly Wegelius, Adam Hansen, Claudio Corti, Phillip Deignan and Giovanni Savio - Simoni's DS.

Dave and Geraint Thomas.

Geraint is a good guy to talk to, he looks you in the eye and isn't averse to the odd bit of spicey language to make his point.

Come the Olympics, him, Brad and Steve Cummings will all have dragged themselves round this Giro - no other team pursuit squad is going to have background like that.

Mark Cavendish.

Cav has his feet on the ground too, despite his space shuttle like rise to fame. He's a likeable little fellow and the stage wins here place him in the absolute top drawer.

Charleee.

Charly Wegelius is the 'forgotten man' of British cycling, year in, year out, he gets contracts with the very best teams in the world. I once asked him, how he would describe himself as a rider; "Somebody who is paid to do a job and can be relied upon to go out and do it." He's very popular in Italy and is constantly being wished well; the old lady who was the desk clerk at our hotel in Verbania told us that she; "likes Charlee very much!"

Adam Hansen.

Big Hansen is cool, with the trendy facial hair and jewellery, but like most Aussies he's very down to earth and easy to talk to.

Claudio Corti is 'jack the lad,' but good for a quote; he was a talented pro in his day - second to Claude Criquelion in the Worlds at Barcelona in '84.

Phillip Deignan.

Phillip Deignan is a good looking boy, with a great smile and a personality to match - he reminded us of Stephen Roche's brother, Laurence who was a pro for Carrera in the late 80's.

Giovanni Savio - Simoni's DS.

Savio is 'Gibo's' DS: dapper and with good English - like most of these guys, if you're polite and sensible, they'll take time to talk to you.

To use a journalistic device - "fast forward to 8.55 pm" and we're still in the press room. The 'net went down and just as we were fixing to bolt and send the pics from the hotel, they got it fixed, it was down for ages, we should be long gone, but we're still sat here, attaching pictures - it's a glamorous life on the Giro !

We've got a one hour drive to the hotel, but hey! that's show biz !

Danilo Di Luca lead the attacks today.

Di Luca was impressive today, when you're roadside you're not fully sussed as to what's going on out on the the road and it was an email which I received from Richard on the BlackBerry that clued us that Di Luca was on an 'adventure.' I think I said it on Pez, but The Killer was riding visibly faster than anyone else at that summit - he was great to watch.

Paolo Savoldelli.

Savoldelli is a local, he comes from Bergamo and there were a lot of "Falco" posters to be seen today. It would have been great to see him with Di Luca, but fairy tales are scarce in the world of pro cycling - still, he did a great job for Bettini and between them they've reignited this Giro. I don't think that the Gazzetta will still have Bert on a 55% chance of winning, tomorrow.

A long long day for the grupetto.

The autobus was out there for seven-and-a-quarter hours today. We caught sight of Adam, briefly after the finish; at the start this morning I was telling him how well he looked - at the end, he looked about 40 years-old!

Winner today - Belorussian Vasili Kiryienka.

I mentioned it briefly on Pez, but the way the fans react here really is dangerous. Once the leaders are past, then a mass exodus starts, cyclists by the hundred take to the road, well before the autobus has passed. It strikes us that it's a disaster waiting to happen.

Cheers!

Anyway, last pics nearly done, so as we say in Bowhill; Ciao, ciao !

We were feeling quite mellow; words and pics sent, a nice plate of pasta, a glass of beer and a stroll by Maggiore in the warm air.

"The only reason I watch the race is because there's nothing else on TV, those photos you take are holiday snaps, Sella looks like a schoolboy, 'certain of the GB rider's' aren't proper pros, the scenery is terrible . . . . "  

Climber Domenico Pozzovivo looks like a schoolboy - or is that Graeme McGarrity!? Some amazing performances from his team........

You have to hand it to him - he is the Eddy Merckx of ranters.

The view from our verandah is stunning - again! - out across Maggiore to the mountains, albeit the rain and low cloud is obscuring the vista this morning.

Lago Maggiore from Verbania.

We've availed ourselves of the Verbania to Lavena ferry, straight across Maggiore.

Thank goodness for the ferry.

This saves us the drive round the bottom of the lake; the traffic down there is horrific. I experienced it at Lombardy last year and it really has to be experienced to be believed - two hours to do 30 miles is normal.

The Gazzetta has a tiny 40 mm x 40 mm panel on the front cover recording Greipel's win - not that the Italians have anything against a German winning a Giro stage...

Part one of the plan for today is to complete our photography for our 'bikes of the Giro" piece.

The everyday bikes are fantastic, and often the only way to make them "special" is with the finishing kit.

There was a day when "specials" would be wheeled out for selected stages in the Grand Tours. Riders like Switzerland's Beat Breu (now a comedian!) would ride bikes in the 80's with no handlebar tape and fragile resin gear levers to save on those precious grammes for the big climbs.

Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 rear mech with Wolfgang Berner adaptation, the top 13t and bottom 15t pulleys minimise losses in efficiency.

More recently, ONCE supremo Manolo Saiz would have riders like Alex Zulle and Laurent Jalabert on superlight aluminium Kleins running 650 wheels for mountain time trials.

The UCI weight restrictions have changed everything, virtually every bike in the peloton is nudging down towards the minimum permissable weight.

Bearing this in mind, the bikes ridden for even the most mountainous stages are the same bikes ridden in all stages except time trials.

The one area where there may be "specials" is for the sprinters; riders like Cipollini and Boonen who generate huge wattages and have to have specially strengthened frames. The down tube on Tom's Specialized is like a section of the Alaskan gas pipeline.

Bruss' Wilier.

We started at Lampre and got Bruz's bike; a carbon Wilier with integrated seat post and curved seat stays. An ISP is lighter and stiffer than a normal seat post, but some maintain it gives a very rough ride. Maybe the curved seat stays are there to 'dial out' that roughness?

Bert's Trek.

Astana next, where we had to ask politely to get snaps of Bert's Trek; last year at the Tour, Alan Buttler handed us Contador's bike; "Here. Do what you like with it!"

Bert's headset. Actually, we reckon that is pretty special.

At Liquigas we had already arranged a skek at the Cannondales via Rory Mason, who we met at Paris-Roubaix last year and he keeps us well informed of what is happening within the company.

Benna's Cannondale.

Cav's Giant.

Up at High Road, the guys were very helpful as we snapped away at Cav's double stage winning 2009 prototype Giant - all 6.85 kilos of it.

The 'ful mulsh' is on Pez here.

We ambled up to the village after that to see what we could see, again it's on Pez; but to get close to two of your heroes in one day: Bruz and Cipo - that's a result!

Dave keeps on meeting the class acts. Cipo is actually shouting at Ed: "It's raining - hurry up man!".

With the rain, it wasn't the best day to talk to riders, they were hiding in the team cars or in the start village.

Brad, Dave and Cav chill.

Brad, Dave Millar and Cav were hanging out together in one of the hospitality cabins at the start village, a pretty hostess standing guard, to keep pains in the neck like me at bay.

Vladimir Karpets. Cool personified.

Two of the coolest looking dudes on the circuit (next to Benna and Bruz, naturally!) are big Russian, Vladimir Karpets, and German sprinter (albeit with some 'previous') Danilo Hondo - his Guerciotti is cool too.

Danilo Hondo almost smiles.

We saw the race go by, had a jaw with Luca Scinto, and then hit the press room where we sorted out A LOT of pictures for a couple of forthcoming features.

Luca Scinto - Cipo's mate and fearless ex-leadout man.

Steve Cummings cruised through today, behind the Astana led bunch.

Bruss gives us a moment, and chats about his chances of finishing on the podium on Sunday.

The Citu Hotel in Varese is where we are now, best get to sleep before Dave's snoring starts!

Back in the montagna tomorrow, ciao!

Stop-Press... Spanish-based VeloResults correspondant Al Hamilton eludes the immigration authorities to meet up for pizza with thebicycleworks.co.uk's John Anderson, Alex Coutts, Mickey Mallen and (this is a rare sight) a smiling Viktor!

The Gazzetta is on my lap as we head for 'partenza' in Sondrio. Even though you can't speak Italian, you can get the jist of most of what's being said; "Sorpresa Van Den Broeck, delusione Savoldelli."

The stats are great too, ideal for saddos like us, particularly the 'rating so far' - "Bert" on 9 out of 10 and "The Killer" way back on 5; he won't like that!

The view from the digs.

It was beautiful where we stayed last night - Valdidentro, one of the up market ski valleys, nestling below the Stelvio Pass. In the summer they go big on mountain biking and walking to grab some revenue at what is for them the 'off' season.

Riccardo Riccò kills time before the bunch rolls out.

The plan today was twofold, get more pics of bikes, for pieces we have planned and do a feature on the fans roadside.

The bike pics worked out just fine, but crazy fans were thin on the ground - you can read all about my panic on Pez!

Sella fans - they would be disappointed after the race.

The fans idea probably wasn't the best, given that a big chunk of the stage was in Switzerland. What is it Harry Lime says, in the 'Third Man?' - "Five hundred years of peace, and what have the Swiss given the world? - the cuckoo clock!"

The children get to leave school for the race passing - and really get into the festa spirit..

The folks roadside were interested polite 'civilians' rather than rabid tifosi. Dave was just saying that it's typical of when you take a Tour outside of it's national boundaries - it then ceases to be that Tour. Sometimes, of course, it generates huge interest, like when the Tour visited London, but on a lot of other occasions, it just doesn't work.

Lake Como.

It was all too easy to get a 'hing spot' (vantage point; when translated from Fife dialect) on the barriers well inside the last kilometre. When I was at the Tour prologue in Strasbourg, there were folks booking their spot at 06.00 am.

Lake Lugano.

The organisation seems shakier than last year and one thing that wouldn't happen on the Tour is that they allow normal traffic on the roads between the publicity caravan and the race - if you are on the corsa between the caravan and the race, you have to be very careful, with vans and buses hurtling towards you in typical demented Italian fashion.

Dave adds another rider to his Facebook friends.

Moans over! To be here, chatting to Mark Cavendish, driving the race route, being part of the Giro - it's marvellous.

At the moment we're on the road running south alongside Lake Maggiore to our hotel at Verbania. it's very much like the old road up Loch Lomond, faithfully hugging every twist and turn of the shore.

What we would call in Shetland, a "flat calm".

It's beautiful, with the lake and the mountains beyond over to our left and wooded hiils on our right. The villages are picture post card perfect, with pan tiled roofs, ancient bell towers and bars that just make you want to stop and go in.

I've stayed in Verbania before, you can take the ferry to the Isola dei Pescatori (Fishermen's Island), it used to be a haunt of Hemingway's and despite the tourists, it's cool.

Anyway, enough of the 'Holiday Programme' stuff!

Tomorrow's stage is rated ** 'difficolta' by the Gazzetta and has a real 'saw tooth' profile, including two laps of what will be the circuit for the Worlds, in September. A break could go tomorrow, but Cav and Greipel's boys will be on a high after today, so they'll chase hard.

A well-organised Team High Road delivered their two sprinters to the front with perfect timing.

'Benna's' Liquigas won't be so willing to pour out the watts, though. Pellizotti is in 5th place, just 2'05" down on 'Bert' and only 44 seconds away from Gibo's third spot on the podium.

They also have up and coming Vincenzo Nibali (aka 'The Shark' - I don't make them up, I just tell you what they are!) in 11th spot. He'll want to go top ten, so 'Benna' won't have the luxury of a full squad throwing themselves into the fray, like Cav and Greipel do.

Nearly at Verbania and I can taste my pasta! Buona notte.  

Ciao tutti.