The latest news and race results from the Giro d'Italia, including race reports, expert analysis, start lists, video highlights and previews.
Must-read Giro features:
Dates: Saturday May 6 - Sunday May 28
Stages: 21
Rest days: 3
Length: 3,489km
Climbing meters: 51,400m
Time trial kilometers: 74km
Start: Fossacesia Marina (Italy)
Finish: Roma (Italy)
Replay: Live coverage of stage 3 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia
Two days of Dutch carnage has ripped a hole into the GC at the 2010 Giro d’Italia and struck fear into any rider looking ahead to these same roads across Holland this summer for the Tour de France.
Just a day after nearly everything went right for Garmin-Transitions, capped by Tyler Farrar’s stage victory Sunday, nearly everything went wrong less than 24 hours later.
Replay: Live coverage of stage 2 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia
Cadel Evans (BMC) is back in the pink jersey for the first time since he held it late in the 2002 Giro d’Italia. Evans was a relative newcomer to the road scene when he took the maglia rosa back then, only to lose it the next day in an infamous collapse in stage 17 to Folgaria. Racing the Giro for the first time since then, Evans says he’s now a different rider.
Garmin-Transitions scored a huge victory Sunday with Tyler Farrar’s victory in the second stage at the Giro d’Italia. Not only did Farrar prove yet again he’s a world-caliber sprinter, it also confirmed the team’s commitment to building a stronger team around the 25-year-old’s growing confidence.
Replay: Live coverage of stage 1 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia
Bradley Wiggins is elated with his maglia rosa, but says it's a bit early to say he'll win the Giro.
Brent Bookwalter (BMC) came within a few pedal strokes of the biggest win of his career when he stopped the clock just two seconds shy of the maglia rosa in the opening stage of the 2010 Giro d’Italia.
Garmin aims for pink jersey, stage wins at Giro d'Italia
2010 Giro d'Italia: Wide open, with some strong contenders
Lampre will start the Giro d’Italia with two former champions, Italians Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego.
Spaniard Oscar Freire, winner of the 2010 Milan-San Remo, will lead Rabobank in the Giro d’Italia.
Belgium's Quick Step will field a largely Italian team for the Giro d'Italia
Christian Vande Velde is hoping to see a repeat of his highly successful 2008 Giro d'Italia, but not last year’s hard-knock Giro, when he crashed out with several broken bones in the first week.
Michael Barry and Bradley Wiggins headline Team Sky as the British team makes its grand tour debut at the Giro d’Italia.
A proposed 2012 Giro d'Italia prologue in Washington D.C. would pass by many of the city's landmarks, including several with symbolic meaning to Italy. Besides showcasing the city and bringing in millions of dollars in economic impact, the build-up would help Mayor Adrian Fenty — an avid cyclist — promote health, wellness and the benefits of bicycle riding.
A presentation Thursday evening at the Italian Embassy in Washington will attempt to drum up support for a Giro d'Italia start in the nation's capital in 2012.
Stefano Garzelli still believes he can be a factor in the Giro d’Italia.
The route for the Giro d’Italia’s opening time trial will take in some of the highlights of Amsterdam when the season’s first Grand Tour begins May 8.
2010 Giro d'Italia stage 3 photos by Graham Watson
Pedro Horrillo – the Spanish rider who survived a harrowing fall in last year’s Giro d’Italia – said he will not try to mount a comeback.
Three-time world champion Oscar Freire will ride the Giro d'Italia for the first time in his career this May.
Bradley Wiggins, racing for the new Team Sky, will be among the big names at the 2010 Giro.
This holiday season, VeloNews is bringing you three galleries of some of photographer Graham Watson's best shots from the 2009 Grand Tours.Last week we brought you Watson's Vuelta a Espana gallery and today you can unwrap a gallery from the Giro d'Italia. Watch for the Tour de France gallery in coming days. Happy Holidays.
Xavier Tondo, joins Cervélo to provide Carlos Sastre with the type of support he was so sorely missing in last year’s Giro.
Spaniard Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008 Tour de France, will compete in the 2010 Giro d'Italia.
Italy's anti-doping prosecutor on Thursday asked the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping tribunal to hit former Giro d’Italia winner Danilo Di Luca with a three-year ban. Di Luca tested positive for the banned blood-booster EPO twice during May's Giro, in which he finished second behind Russian Denis Menchov.
Reigning world champion Cadel Evans has confirmed that he will ride the Giro d’Italia for the first time in eight years next May.
Giro d'Italia race director Angelo Zomegnan met Thursday with Washington mayor Adrian Fenty about possibly starting the cycling classic in the U.S. capital in 2012.
The route for the 2010 Giro d’Italia — which was unveiled on Italian national television by race director Angelo Zomegnan in Milan last Saturday night — has elicited much praise from both the European media and the racers.
Carlos Sastre likes what he sees for next year’s Giro d’Italia. With a climber’s course laden with monster ascents, including the Mortirolo, the Gavia, Zoncolan and Plan de Corones, the punishing Giro course could well tempt Sastre back to the Italian tour in 2010.
The 93rd edition of the Giro d’Italia in 2010 will start in the Netherlands on May 8 before embarking on a 3,416.5km journey around the Italian peninsula and ending in Verona on May 30. That was the course unveiled in Milan on Saturday with 21 stages and plenty of tough climbs. Reigning champion Denis Menchov, the Russian Rabobank rider, was among the guests at the official presentation alongside former winner Damiano Cunego and Italian stars of the past such as Mario Cipollini.
The route for the 2010 Giro d’Italia won’t be revealed until Saturday, but hints of what’s in store are already being leaked in Italy. Several media outlets, including rival daily Tutto Sport, have scooped the newspaper owned by Giro organizers, La Gazzetta dello Sport, by cobbling together several pieces of the Giro puzzle. What’s already confirmed is that the 2010 Giro will start in Amsterdam. From there, it’s a matter of speculation and informed guessing. Here’s a sampling of what’s been whispered. The official route will be revealed Saturday:
Just as word leaked out beforehand about the route of the 2010 Tour de France, so several sources in Italy have published reports on the likely stages for the 2010 Giro d’Italia — which will be formally unveiled this Saturday in Milan. Race organizer RCS and its daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport have announced only the first three stages, which will all start in the Dutch city of Amsterdam next May 8, 9 and 10; but rival papers Tuttosport, La Stampa and La Repubblica have all carried stories on the likely route.
Suspended rider Danilo Di Luca said Wednesday that he may have been the victim of a conspiracy after twice testing positive for banned blood booster CERA during this year's Giro d’Italia. Di Luca purportedly finished second in the Italian tour, which he won in 2007, but subsequently returned positive tests for the third-generation of EPO, called a Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA), on both May 22 and 28. Di Luca won two stages during the Giro and held the leader's pink jersey for eight days before eventually losing to Rabobank’s Denis Menchov by just 41 seconds.
France’s WADA-certified anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry have confirmed positive test results from two of Danilo Di Luca’s B samples from this year’s Giro d’Italia. Di Luca twice tested positive for the the third generation of EPO, called a Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA), during the Giro in May. Di Luca has denied doping and is likely to challenge any suspension that results from the confirmed tests. Di Luca’s attorney has already publicly challenged laboratory procedures at the French lab.
Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO during the Tour of Italy, in which he placed second, the UCI said Wednesday. The 33-year-old LPR team leader, who is not competing in the Tour de France, won two stages of the Giro and wore the leader's pink jersey for eight days. He finished second overall 41 seconds behind Rabobank's Denis Menchov. Di Luca was due to take part in the Brixia Tour in Italy on Thursday and had been targeting the world championships at the end of September in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The UCI Press Release:
Rabobank’s Pedro Horrillo, the rider who suffered a disastrous crash in last month’s Giro d’Italia, was released from a Spanish hospital on Wednesday and said that he wants to ride again. The 34-year-old Spaniard fell nearly 150 feet after vaulting over a traffic barrier on a treacherous descent of the Culmine di San Petro in the eighth stage of the Giro on May 16. Horrillo suffered a broken femur and knee, several broken ribs and a punctured lung, plus head and chest trauma.
Rabobank mechanic registered one of the all-time best bike changes to keep Denis Menchov in pink in Rome
Everyone's favorite 1965 Charlton Heston film, in which he stars as Michelangelo tirelessly painting 12,000 square feet of the Sistine Chapel, takes place in the Vatican City.
After racing from the north to the south to the center of the boot, we finally reached Rome and completed the last fourteen kilometers of the Giro. In the flamboyant, dramatic fashion that we have now become accustomed to after three weeks of racing in the circus, we whizzed by Rome’s historical sites, snaked through the cobbled city streets and, finally, turned our last pedal strokes in front of the coliseum. The course provided drama for the television audience but also put many riders on edge due to its technical aspects.
Lance Armstrong said his 12th-placed finish in the Giro d'Italia was "promising" ahead of this year's Tour de France. Armstrong came into the Giro insisting that he was not there to contest for the win. "I came in open-minded. I did not know what to expect, obviously because of the crash in Castilla y Leon, the time off the bike and the trip over here," Armstrong said. "In my view it has been a hard three weeks. In the second half of the race I showed that I was certainly getting better and I think we can take that away from here. It is promising for June and July."
As the Giro d’Italia winds down, the troubled Kazakh-backed Astana team still isn’t sure it will be racing the Tour de France in July. The financial woes that have left portions of riders’ salaries unpaid are closer to being resolved, but UCI president Pat McQuaid said team sponsors must meet a Sunday deadline or risk suspension.
Naples, Italy — At the stage start, the town’s square has been invaded by the race. The announcer belts out riders’ names, introducing them as they sign in on the podium set up in the center of the square. The amplified voices reverberate against the ancient buildings where people gaze at us, the show, from their balconies. Pop music plays over a sound system at a little lower volume than the announcers’ voice. Crowds of spectators, lining the periphery of the square, cheer as each rider is introduced. Pink is abundant.
After the 60.6km individual time trial (ITT) on the extremely challenging course above the Cinque Terre last week, the 14.4km ITT in downtown Rome this Sunday will be a walk in the park – or a ride in a museum. But while it won’t be a climbing, swooping and winding roller coaster ride like the course to Riomaggiore, this one will be spectacular in its own way.
Australia's Michael Rogers has lurked near the top of the Giro standings all month, and currently sits seventh, just over 7 minutes behind race leader Denis Menchov. His hopes for a podium spot are over, but a top performance in Sunday's time trial finale could help the rider leave Italy on the upswing. For the final-hour showdown in front of the Roman coliseum, Rogers is expected to pull out an ace in the hole: the new Scott Plasma 3 time trial bike.
Giro d’Italia leader Denis Menchov on Wednesday distanced himself from an alleged blood doping ring operated in Vienna, Austria, but officials from Rabobank team said Austrian authorities have recently approached the team. “The team has been approached by Austrian justice officials,” Rabobank team spokesman Luuc Eisinga told VeloNews on Wednesday. ‘We have replied that we will fully cooperate.”
Dear Explainer, Have racing tactics changed with the advent of race radios as riders now all seem to be communicating directly with team cars? Do you think the riders race more conservatively, knowing the whereabouts of their opponents or do radios make racing more exciting tactically? Stephen O'Sullivan Los Angeles, California Dear Stephen,
Pescara, Italy — Each hundred meters of the two final kilometers of every stage is signed at the roadside. On a flat stage I take little notice of the signs as we speed through the kilometers in two minutes as the sprinters charge to the line at the head of the peloton. On a mountain stage, I feel every pedal stroke as my legs labor to turn over the cranks. The final few kilometers never seem to pass fast enough. Monday, we spent nearly eight hours on our bikes racing from Pergola to Monte Petrano. The last meters we rode were painfully long.
An exhausted Michael Rogers was speaking from experience on Monday after the Giro d’Italia’s gigantic stage 16 to Monte Petrano when he said, “I have just spent the toughest day and the hottest day I have ever experienced in the saddle.”
Bike races are a circus-like spectacle best witnessed firsthand. This is especially apparent at a race the size, caliber and prestige of the Giro d'Italia. Obviously the cyclists whizzing by at breathtaking speed and the unique dynamics of the races themselves are fascinating, but to experience the race caravan is like taking a stroll through the Vegas strip.
In order to challenge Denis Menchov and Danilo Di Luca for victory in this centennial Giro, Levi Leipheimer, Franco Pellizotti, Carlos Sastre, Ivan Basso and Michael Rogers have to go on the attack in the final week. But where and when they attack is all important because in the first two weeks they have been unable to out-climb race leader Menchov or runner-up Di Luca. So if the challengers can’t gain the time they need on this week’s three summit finishes, at Monte Petrano on Monday, Blockhaus on Wednesday and Mount Vesuvius on Friday, what can they do? The short answer is: Tactics.
Sometimes you don’t have to win to make a strong impression. That’s certainly the case for Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream), who proved that he’s reached a new level in the rough-and-tumble world of field sprints. With two seconds and one third, Farrar came close to the elusive breakthrough victory. The team was more than satisfied with Farrar’s performances and he all but assured himself a ticket to the Tour de France in July as the team’s top sprinter.
Just moments after the dust settled from Thursday’s decisive time trial that saw him lose the maglia rosa, Danilo Di Luca said he wants it back as soon as possible. The 2007 winner said aggressive tactics can still win the Giro, but just as quickly added that he didn’t expect to see that from Levi Leipheimer. “I’ve never seen Leipheimer attack,” Di Luca said on RAI television. “He’s going to have to now if he wants to win this Giro.”
Denis Menchov (Rabobank) became the first Russian since Pavel Tonkov to don the maglia rosa after his impressive performance in Thursday’s 60.6km time trial along the Cinque Terre. The 31-year-old is already a winner of two editions of the Vuelta a España and takes a slender, 20-second lead to Levi Leipheimer (Astana) going into the decisive second half of the 2009 Giro d’Italia. Menchov spoke to the assembled Giro media following his victory. Here are excerpts from the press conference: Question: Were the time differences as you expected?
Andrew Hood, aka “EuroHoody,” is the VeloNews European editor. Since joining VeloNews in 2002, he’s been chasing bike races all over the world.
Betsy is a senior editor at VeloNews. Before that, she was a Spanish teacher and most recently, a Registered Nurse working in community health. She’s been freelancing about bikes and other outdoors and health-related topics for over a decade. When she’s not riding or writing, Betsy adores traveling. In 2016, she started, and will one day finish, bikepacking the length of the Baja Divide.
Based in the cycling haven of the Isle of Man, Sadhbh O’Shea has been writing about cycling for almost 10 years. She has covered too many bike races to count, including all three grand tours and a whole host of monuments.
Jim is a UK-based editor and reporter. With experience on the ground at the Giro d’Italia, Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche, road worlds, UAE Tour and many others, Jim has worked some of the biggest races in the world. Like any aspirational WorldTour rookie, he knows that a Tour de France debut is around the corner. Jim covers a lot of race reports while also focussing on deep dives into the dynamics, personalities and training at the top of the sport. And where are many of those story ideas dreamed up? While out training for trail running races – but don’t hold that against him.
