Giro d'Italia

[hilljockey]

Don't read this if you are waiting to watch highlights.

For those who've not had a read of CyclingNews or anywhere else that Wiggins (prologue winner, he covered the 8.4 kilometre course in a time of 10:18) may have been quoted:

the Briton elected to throw caution to the wind in a bid to secure the first Grand Tour leader's jersey of his career.

"It was frustrating during the day because it [the rain] was on, off, on, off. But to be honest it looked like everyone had a similar run," he said. "I couldn't control that so I just put it to one side and said 'It is what it is,' and I'd just get on with it. If I crashed, I crashed. I never touched the brakes. I said bollocks to it. This is my opportunity to get the pink jersey and I'm going to go for it and die trying.

"I went for it. I've been preparing pretty well for this, so I knew what I could do. Speed in the corners is one of the biggest thing with prologues like this. You have to commit. You can't mess about. You've got to give 100 percent in the corners. If you want to win it, you've got to commit 100 percent, like a sprinter when they go for a sprint."

Now that's a winning attitude...

[dr_rob]

Highlights on SBS Two, although it appears to start with stage two?

Vino for the win.

[hilljockey]

I think highlights are only Mon to Fri.

[Commuter]

Catch highlights at Cycling central.................



http://player.sbs.com.au/cycling#/cycling_08/race_highlights/race_highlights/playlist/2010-Giro-stage-1-Amsterdam/

[Bill Cox]

If you have Fox or Austar catch it live each night at 10.30 or 11.00

[hilljockey]

For those of us without fox, it should be worth a look tonight.

Evans assumes race lead after chaotic finale

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) came back from a crash of his own to win the crash-marred finale of the Giro d'Italia's second stage into Utrecht on Sunday. The 25-year-old American, who collided with a traffic island inside of 55km remaining, out-kicked Matthew Goss (Team HTC-Columbia) and Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Doimo) in a sprint from a diminished 58-rider lead group, the remains of a shattered peloton after a mass-crash with 7.2km remaining split the field.

[hilljockey]

Some big changes in stage 3.  Lots of big time losses.

Should Evans have chased so hard at the end or saved a bit for a later stage?

At 45 secs to Vino is he (Evans) a shot duck?  Too early really.

Ritchie Porte hey.  Got a good write up in latest ride (triathlon background, thought they are all bunters?).

Dutch roads claim more victims

Wouter Weylandts gave Quick Step a brilliant victory on the third stage of the Giro d'Italia on another chaotic day on the Dutch roads, besting Graeme Brown of Rabobank in the sprint from a small group.

The peloton was blown to pieces by a combination of crashes, wind and narrow, twisty roads on the 224km trek from Amsterdam to Middelburg.

The last fall caught out both Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and maglia rosa Cadel Evans (BMC), leaving the overall race leader to do much of the work to limit his losses.

Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) nabbed the pink jersey by avoiding the crashes, and now tops Saxo Bank's Richie Porte and David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) on the overall standings.

[Metro Commuter]

They are all bunters, but he must be one of the few who can rise out of the mirth.  Some other bunter called Armstrong did tri-geek stuff too, didn't he?

[hilljockey]

Basso (not Masso).

Not heard much about him lately.  What are his chances?

[El Imbatido]

Basso (not Masso).

Not heard much about him lately.  What are his chances?

You talking about that guy that won the 06 Giro by 10min climbing up mountain passes breathing through his nose, not even breaking a sweat, who later that same year got busted with bloodbags in Fuentes office and couldn't start the Tour that same year but didn't dope for the giro and only 'intended' to dope in the Tour?

Well if that is your guy, then yes he is racing and he is now the  leader of Liquigas because Franco Pellizotti got nabbed for Bio Passport violations.  The original deal was Basso would help Pellizotti at the Giro then Pellizotti would return the favour at the Le Tour, but now they had to draft Vincenzo Nibali into the team and they are both just gonna see how they are going i guess because both were gonna peak for the Tour. But the italian press are talking him up as the leader though.

Both stayed upright during the last couple of days and are now only a few seconds off the lead. But Basso got top5 at both the Giro and Vuelta last year but has never reached the level he was at when he intended to dope. Can't TT to save his life now and is a bigger deisel than Evans in the mountains now.

My 2 cents

[hilljockey]

has never reached the level he was at when he intended to dope

That's funny!

[hilljockey]

2 x Team Sky jokes:

- Now known as Team Ground.

- The Team Sky bus crashed on the way to the airport in Holland. Apparently the road was narrow and it was a bit windy.

Heard any others?

[hilljockey]

Worth checking the highlights tonight.

Go the breakaway!

[Haddo]

when are the highlights on FTA?

[2ndwheel]

8.30 - 9.00pm tonight on SBS2