First off, last week I didn't have a chance to add pictures and/or video, so I will try and add a few extras this week to make up for it...lots and lots to cover (again), so let's start with the Giro, and go from there.
Let's start with the drama of Stage 21 (the final stage) where it all came down to the final rider, Denis Menchov, who started the time trial only 20 seconds ahead of Danilo Di Luca. Di Luca had publicly announced that he didn't think that he could out-pace Menchov, since Menchov has consistently been a better time trialist. Di Luca started the 14.1 km stage with a furious pace, putting the pressure on Menchov. 20 seconds sure isn't much, especially when a flat tire or something like thing happens...
If you watched the full video, you will see that Menchov did quickly remount a new bike, and actually finished the stage with a faster time than Di Luca. So victory to the 31-year Russian, who has now 3 Grand Tour wins. Despite winning the Vuelta d'Espana in 2005 and 2007 (in 2005, he finished 2nd but was moved up when initial winner Roberto Heras was DQ'ed for doping), this win really puts Menchov into the elite group of Grand Tour riders. He was very good in the Giro, giving up a few seconds here and there in the big mountain finishes, but kept his rivals from getting too much time on him. And despite a huge amount of attacks by Di Luca (who gets full marks for his efforts), Menchov refused to crack. And he never had that one terrible day that proved to be the undoing for riders like Sastre, Basso, and Leipheimer (who finished 4th, 5th, and 6th).
3 more riders to mention:
Congrats should also go to the winner of the White Jersey (Best Young Rider) Quick Step's Kevin Seeldrayers, who finished 14th overall (only 2 spots behind Lance).
Franco Pellizotti, who was supposed to be the top teammate for Ivan Basso but instead finished 3rd overall, only 1:59 behind Menchov. The Liquigas rider had a great stage win in Stage 17 that ended at Blockhaus and was consistently a factor on the tough mountain stages.
The best climber of the Giro was Carlos Sastre, who won two stages that ended with epic climbs, as he showed he could simply ride away from the other two riders. Both times, Stage 16 up Monte Petrano and Stage 19 up Mount Vesuvius, he simply accelerated away from the rest of the field. Ultimately, he was unable to move himself into the Top 3, but Sastre looks as though he could well be a factor again at the Tour. Solo attacks that result in decisive stage wins on hilly stages rarely happen, and for Sastre to do so twice in 4 days speaks to his talent.
So what did we learn at the Giro? Here are 5 things...
1) Never pick Cunego to compete at the Giro again. Damiano Cunego was terrible, finishing 19th overall. For someone who plans his whole year around the Giro, this has to be considered a disaster. He is just too inconsistent to be a Grand Tour contender. A decent enough rider who can occasionally make noise on a mountain stage, but not strong enough to ride at the front for 3 weeks. Too bad - Cunego was supposed to be the next great Italian racer after his win in the 2004 Giro, but it looks as though it is not meant to be.
2) Team Astana is still great - despite Levi having one terrible day that cost his a spot in the Top 3 (he finished 6th) and Lance being a bit inconsistent, the team is still strong. They easily won the Team Classification by 24 minutes, and their team often had multiple riders in the final groups. True, they didn't win a stage (Columbia-High Road won 6), but they were the only team with more than 2 riders in the Top 20. Astana had 4 in the Top 20, with Yaroslav Popovych (14th) and Jani Brajkovic (18th) having great tours as well. And more good news for Astana, as it appears they have satisfied the UCI regarding their not-paying-their-staff-and-bills issues and should be competing as a team throughout 2009. A great month for Astana...
3) Mark Cavendish is awesome. 3 stage wins plus the team time trial win for Cavendish, and despite dropping out during the last week of the Giro to prepare for the Tour, Cavendish is THE sprinter to beat. He has already stated that he intends to win the Green Jersey at the Tour in July. We'll see, but I wouldn't pick anyone in the world to beat him in a group sprint right now.
4) What happened to Team Garmin-Slipstream? They lost the Team Time Trial in Stage 1 in a fairly major upset to their rivals (Team Columbia), didn't win a stage (although they did have 3 second place finishes), lost their top GC guy when Christian Vande Velde crashed in week 1, and had their top rider finish in 71st place. Not good. If that's not bad enough, they finished last in the team classification. I'm sure they will be trying a much different strategy in the Tour, which will hopefully include a couple of Canadians...
5) The Giro itself. Although widely acknowledged as the second largest race in the world, the increased media coverage really showcased this great event. It was a great event in 2009, with epic mountains, involvement in a lot of major Italian cities (Milan, Naples, Venice, and Rome), and great vistas throughout. True, there were a few quirks (a very short stage 17 that was only 78 km long and a very long and hilly time trial in stage 12) and a number of safety concerns (lots of dangerous descents in week 1 led to crashes and then a rider protest on stage 9 before a fairly dangerous time trial on bad roads in Rome). But the overall beauty of Italy was shown to the world, and the racing was top-notch.
So what's next? We have about one month to go until Contador, Cadel Evans, the Schleck brothers, and perhaps even Tom Boonen join the party in France. And there will be lots of news to come , so stay tuned...
Two more cycling news before I move on. The UCI cycling rankings have been updated after the Giro, and the biggest thing to notice is the depth of some country's riders. In the Top 20 in the rankings, 8 are from Italy and 5 are from Spain. Just to compare, the top American is Levi Leipheimer in 39th place and top Canadian is Ryder Hesjedal wayyyy down in 81st place. So the Italians are strong. Conversely, the French are not. This fiercely proud cycling nation has ONE rider in the Top 75 (Sylvain Chavanel is 30th). Jacques Anquetil must be spinning in his grave. For us Canadians, this would be like if there were no Canadians in the NHL. When you look at overall country rankings, Italy and Spain take the top 2 spots, with the US and France both outside the top 10 right now (Canada is 21st, right between Kazakhstan and Ukraine) Sacre blue...something to follow as the Tour de France takes centre stage next month.
Last thing...Bikey's favorite young rider, Taylor Phinney, has struck again. Only 18, he won the World Championship in the Individual Pursuit earlier in 2009, now won the U23 version of Paris-Roubaix last weekend. Phinney outsprinted the final group of 11 in the Roubaix Velodrome to become the first American winner of this race. Congrats to Taylor and his Trek-Livestrong team.
ITU racing was back last weekend, with the second race in the World Championship Series in Madrid, Spain. And for the seond time this season, the WCS had a great finish. After a photo-finish in the men's race in Tongyeong, the women had their turn. Check out this video...
It turned out that Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand won by outleaning Lisa Norden. The ITU must be thrilled that it is getting so many great finishes, despite having essentially zero media attention in the US and Canada. Personally, I'm still disappointed at not having Emma Snowsill and Vanessa Fernandes go head-to-head in Madrid (both did not start) but it is great to have the race go down to the last few metres. Awesome to watch.
The men's race in Madrid also did not go according to plan, with Javier Gomez getting upset (and outrun) by Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain. Brownlee, who won the Junior Worlds title in 2006 and the Under-23 Title last year, ran 30:30 to blow apart the front of the race. And he's only 21. Look out...Gomez could only finish 3rd after getting outkicked by Courney Atkinson for 2nd place. The only Canadian in Madrid was Brent McMahon, who finished 20th. You can see the recap video here...
The ITU WCS now moves to Washington, DC, for a race on June 21. Hopefully the Canadian team will show up and produce some great results. But Kirsten Sweetland will not be part of the team, as she is injured again. According to her blog, she has a fracture in the semihacral region on the left side of her pelvis. So she's out for 6 more weeks or so. Not good.
Speaking of injured female Canadian triathletes, we did get one back from the sick bay. Sam McGlone raced for the first time in almost a year at the Honu (Hawaii) 70.3 race, finishing second to Belinda Granger. But she's back, and ready to take another shot at Chrissie Wellington in Kona. So here's hoping Sam can get fast again! The men's race in Honu featured Craig Alexander running a remarkable 10 minutes faster than Chris Lieto to catch and defeat the American. Alexander, who hasn't raced much in 2009 due to family issues in Australia, is showing that he won't be easily defeated in Kona this year.
Also last weekend was Ironman Brazil, where American Dede Griesbauer posted a very fast 9:10 time to win the women's race while Eduardo Sturla won the men's race. Canada's Sara Gross had a good race, finishing 4th.
Okay, i think i've typed enough for this week, so hope you enjoyed the pics and videos, and next week we will talk more pro cycling, and hopefully get to the brewing swimsuit controversy...Cheers!
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