Giro d'Italia
Viva il Giro! Podium Cafe's coverage of Italy's grand tour
Podium Cafe Roundtable, Giro Edition!
In a secret bunker, somewhere near the Dolomites, four Giro-obsessed writers met to discuss the upcoming race.
Youth Coming Through in the Giro
While the maglia bianca might not go to an overall contender this year, there are still plenty of young riders who can make an impact.
Giro Route Released Early!
A few minutes ago, I was alerted by a tweet from Bidone Jack that the Giro website had (rather less than cleverly) left the Giro route on their website.) The organisers have been silent on the matter.
Giro d'Accountability
We're all about accountability here at the cafe. All about standing by our very expert predictions. Many is the time I have heard ursula say "I really screwed up the VDS price on that rider"......... well, now that I think of it maybe I haven't and ursula isn't so big on it. But the rest of us are so here's a look-back at what we thought before the Giro and how it panned out.
Keisse Steals Final Stage From Sprinters
Track star turned roadie Iljo Keisse took his biggest win on the road, out-kicking breakaway companion Luke Durbridge in Milan after they foiled the sprinters' teams' plans on a technical circuit in downtown Milan.
What's in a Photo? Return to Colle delle Finestre
Legendary mountain climb... with actual legends!
A voi! Stage 20: Gravel-grinding the Finestre
Saint Vincent - Sestriere 199 km Difficulty rating: ★★★★
A voi! Stage 19: Matterhorn.....well almost
Gravellona Toce - Cervinia 236 km Difficulty rating: ★★★★★
Giro Stage 18: Gilbert Steals Stage, Contador Show
Another entertaining day further shakes up the standings.
What's In a Photo Triptych? Aprica 2010
More using photos to tell a bunch of stories about the Giro d'Italia
Anarchy on the Mortirolo
On a day that turned into pure anarchy Mikel Landa won his second stage of the year as his team leader Fabio Aru was the big loser on the day. Alberto Contador now sits even more firmly in the lead, having had to fight back like a crazed man on the Mortirolo.
Landa Snatches Stage out of Stalemate
Mikel Landa took yet another stage win for Astana today as Alberto Contador and Fabio Aru once again seemed each other's equal on the climb to the Madonna di Campiglio.
The Madonna's Long, Dark Cloud
Marco Pantani will be the story for the next two days, and for who knows how many more after that.
A voi! Stage 15: Holy Madonna, more mountains
Marostica - Madonna di Campiglio 165 km Difficulty rating: ★★★★
Kiryienka Takes the Stage, But Contador Wins More
Vasil Kiryienka won today's time trial with a powerful performance, but Alberto Contador stole the show with a third place finish, reclaiming the maglia rosa just 24 hours after losing it to Fabio Aru in a late race crash.
A voi! Stage 14: The Ominous TT
Treviso - Valdobbiadene 59.4 km Timetrial Difficulty rating: ★★★★★
Modolo wins his first - Aru new man in Pink
On a wet stage the finale caused the havoc everyone was fearing. A crash just outside the 3 km mark affected all the GC favorites while Lampre delivered Sacha Modolo safely and perfectly for a free run at the stage win. Coming unscathed out of the crash Fabio Aru took enough seconds to propel him into the Maglia Rosa.
Gilbert hits his target
As expected Philippe Gilbert won the day on the uphill, Cauberg-like, finish of stage 12 in the Giro. After a hard day in the rain we also saw plenty of action among the GC favorites in the wet and tricky finale. Fabio Aru lost some time on Contador despite all the work done by his team .
The Buzzati Dispatches: Ghostly Tifosi
The Next Installment in our Giro Lit History... with crayons!
Boem celebrates - Porte Penalized
On a day when the sprinters looked certain to take the day we saw one of those rare cases where the peloton miscalculated and allowed the breakaway to stay clear. Nicola Boem of Bardiani instead took an impressive stagewin. The drama did not end there as Richie Porte had an ill-timed mechanical in the final 10 kms and lost valuable time on his opponents.
The laundry's done- restday roundup
Restdays are restdays. Please join us for a 72 image tour of Richie Porte's motorhome ...... or not. While the Giro boys may have had a restday, the rest of us have had a normal Monday, meaning a shitload of extra work so this will be a very limited restday effort.
Age before beauty - Tiralongo takes the day
In an ever unpredictable Giro, today was a day for the breakaway as Astana's Paolo Tiralongo took a solo stagewin a few seconds ahead of his breakaway-companions. Behind we once agin saw the quartet of Aru, Contador, Porte and Landa take time on everyone else after an attack by Aru on the final climb of the day. Alberto Contador remains in the leader's Maglia Rosa.
A voi!Stage 9:Where we move into unknown territory
Benevento - San Giorgio del Sanno 215 km Difficulty rating: ★★★★
Intxausti wins- the Bigs stay cool
After some shrewd tactics in the breakaway Beñat Intxausti took a welcome stagewin for Movistar while behind there was something of a detente between the big favorites. After a few tentative attacks Contador, Aru, Porte and Uran all finished together 35 seconds behind the winner and Contador stays in the Maglia Rosa.