At least as far as the American audience is concerned, it doesn't get much better than the 1988 Giro d'Italia, when Coloradan Andy Hampsten became the first American winner of the Giro after winning one of the epic days in cycling history, an attack up the Gavia Pass in the midst of a blizzard. Check out Andy's website for the full description in his own wordshis and Bob Roll's words. Oh, and the Gavia is featured on Stage 20 this year. Here's a taste:
We knew that the conditions were going to be pretty bad on the Gavia Pass. The morning of the stage, the race director held a meeting with all the team managers and he told them that it was snowing on top of the pass but the road was clear. Armed with that information, our support personnel scoured the shops in Sondrio, where we were staying and bought all the warm gloves and wool hats they could find. Each rider was then asked to pack a special mussette bag which was to be handed to the rider 1/2mi before the summit of the pass. All our warmest clothes including the hats and gloves went into the bag.