Great Giro

The Giro d’Italia long-distance bike race is one of the three grand tours in professional bicycling. The other two, the Tour de France and World Cycling Championship, complete the triple crown of cycling. In translation, the three week race means “Tour of Italy” and occurs in May and June each year. The Tour of Italy began last Saturday in Venice. I didn’t know at the time, but when I went to research the event, I discovered this is the 100th anniversary of the Giro d’Italia.
The first race was held in Milan and encompassed 1,521 miles of terrain. The leader after each stage of the Giro, or the biker with the fastest time up until that point, wears a pink jersey. Dubbed the “maglia rosa”, the jersey is similar to the yellow one awarded during each stage of the Tour de France. The cyclist with the lowest time at the end of the race obviously wins the event.
Points are awarded throughout the mountain stages of the race to riders who reach the top first. This is known as the climbing competition and riders who win are given a green jersey. The steepness, classification and length of the hills provide how many points are distributed. There is also a points competition to reward cyclists during determined checkpoints during the stages of the Giro.
White jerseys are worn by the best young riders.
Andrew Hampsten is the only American rider to win the race since 1909. He did so when biking over a snowy Gavia pass in 1988.
American and 7 time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, heads a strong Astana cycling team this year. Armstrong is supported by teammates, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner of the USA. This is Lance’s first appearance in the prestigious race, while Leipheimer finished 18th in last year’s Tour of Italy. Other riders for team Astana include Jani Brajkovic, Steve Morabito, Daniel Navarro, Yaroslav Popovych, Jose Luis Rubiera, and Andrey Zeits.
Tyler Farrar, the 24 year old rider for team Garmin-Slipstream, is one to keep an eye on throughout the tour. The American excels at sprinting is a relatively good climber. Farrar’s teammate, Christian Vande Velde, held the pink jersey after stage won a year ago. It marked the first time since Hampsten an American wore the shirt. Vande Velde crashed out of the race Monday in an unlucky break for the USA. Italian, Danilo Di Luca won the 2007 Giro and rides for LPR Brakes in the centenary Giro. He was suspended after winning and leading the UCI tour but returns strong two years later. Another Italian, Marco Pinatti, held his own during the 2008 Giro and won the 21st stage. He races again in 2009 with three Italian national time trials under is belt. Ivan Basso enters as one of the race’s favorites but needs to find his form after a two year layoff. Basso represents a tenacious team Liquigas and is exceptional at climbing.
Armstrong moved up to fifth place in the Giro on Monday. The third stage ended with Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi in the overall lead. Petacchi overtook Britain’s Mark Cavendish for the proud pink jersey. Cavendish is part of Columbia-High Road while Alessandro is racing for the LPR Brakes team. Mark won four stages during the Tour de France in 2008. Armstrong finished with the same time as 35 year old Petacchi in the stage and only 31 points behind the Italian in the overall standings. Lance is riding with authority after returning from a broken collarbone in March. He missed over three years of competition but is poised to place near the top trekkers. Armstrong is revved up and reactive race is a reasonable reckoning. Tuesday tribulations for the Texan feature a 100 mile mountain stage beginning in Padua and ending with a climb atop San Martino di Castrozza.
The 35 year old Leipheimer is considered one of the Tour’s favorites because he is a powerful mountain rider and has credible time trials. He’s won all three races he’s entered this year. Leipheimer won the tune-up race, the Tour of Gila, and has the energy to earn the maglia rosa for Astana. Entering Monday, the California native Levi was in 18th place, 40 seconds behind Cavendish. Leipheimer factors to be a fantastic finisher in the final frames of the Giro. This is the national tour event for the Italians, and they will be hard to defeat.

Parting points: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”. “It’s déjà vu all over again”….Happy Birthday to Yogi Berra.