Canucks = Maglia Rosa!

Hi All,

I watched the team time trial on Saturday morning that kicked the 100th Edition of the Giro d'Italia, and once it was half over, I thought, of course Team Columbia HighRoad could win this stage. After all, between Mark Cavendish (8 wins already in 2009 including Milan-San Remo)and the rest of the teammates (including the Norwegian Hagen who surprisingly won Gent Wevelgem), this team seems to win at will. After dodging the final Astana bullet, the race lead belonged to the 9 members of Columbia, including our own Michael Barry. Sweet! For the second year in a row, a Canadian has helped a teammate win the first maglia rosa (pink leader's jersey) of the Giro. You might remember that last year Team Garmin won the Team Time Trial with Ryder Hesjedal as one of the 9. This year, Hesjedal was passed over, and despite being the fave, they came up 6 seconds short. Astana finished 3rd, only 13 seconds back.




What makes this more amazing is that Mark Cavendish, who crossed the line first and now is the official leader of the Giro, got into it with Team Garmin before the Giro started. He took a couple of shots at Garmin's fixation on winning the time trial, criticizing them repeatedly and calling them "disrespectful" for only concentrating on one of the 21 stages of the Giro.

Anyhow, despite a very nice effort today, Cavendish got beaten at the line by Alessandro Petacchi, who once held Cavendish's current belt as the best sprinter in the peloton. Today's Stage 2 was actually fairly boring as anticipated, with a lone getaway being the only effort of note until a late crash cost a few of the top contenders (including Leipheimer and Basso) 13 seconds at the end of the race. It's not a lot, but could make a difference down the road. It's also interesting (and fortunate) that Lance missed the crash, and now ends up in 10th overall, with the only other real contender ahead of him being Christian Vande Velde. Could Lance end up in pink this week? It's possible, since Tuesday's and Wednesday have uphill finishes that should get rid of the non-climbers. I still think Lance is a to win the Giro, but a solid start doesn't hurt.


Okay, tomorrow's Stage 2 should be fairly routine(I'll predict Cav will keep the pink jersey), and I'll try to be back with a report after Tuesday or Wednesday. Look for a Dopey Monday to be published late tomorrow night...