Giro d'Italia: an eventful 2nd week

Round up of the second week in the Giro 

Much has happened over the past week as is quite often the case in a grand tour but especially this one that has subjected the riders to much such challenging weather - cold and often torrential rain.

The week has seen Vincenzo Nibali take over and look very comfortable wearing the leader's pink jersey. His closest rivals are now Cadel Evans at 41 seconds and Rigoberto Uran at 2.04 Unless Nibali has a bad day Uran looks to be the best bet for taking the fight to Nibali, while Evans will hang in there though I doubt if he can break Nibali.

Bradley Wiggins gradually slipped from contention undermined initially by nervousness in descending in the wet. Then he failed to take significant time from his rivals in last Saturday's long time trial, though he did show very strongly in the second half. Finally Wiggins' hopes of winning the Giro were KO'ed by a lung infection and withdrew from the race yesterday. Also out is Ryder Hesjedal suffering with a mysterious illness and already way out of contention.

Last Saturday saw a first stage victory for Alex Dowsett, who won the time trial by 10 seconds from Bradley Wiggins. It was also good to see three winners from long breakaways - Alexis M, Adam Hansen, Maxim Belkov and Ramunas Navardauskas. Mark Cavendish has racked up another two stages taking his career total to 101. Certainly impressive but still well behind Eric Zabel's total of over 200. His third stage win came from a great lead out by Gertrude Steegmans, while at the end of yesterday's stage he was left to his own devices, although his team had worked very hard to control and bring back the break.

From now on it is real crunch time with the big mountain stages to come, where we are likely to see to see a significant number of withdrawals from the race. On the evidence so far my guess is that by this time next Saturday Nibali will still be in the lead but then I had Ryder Hesjedal as one of my favourites!

2013 Giro d'Italia - a look back at the first week

The first thing to say is that over this week the Giro has already demonstrated that it is an extremely tough bike race and arguably tougher than the Tour de France. Take yesterday's very tough and tricky stage with its many short sharp hills with sections at 18%. A stage made even more difficult by the heavy rain in the final part making the descents hazardous, causing many riders to crash including Nibali, Sella (twice) and Wiggins. Le Tour de France just doesn't have similar leg breaking stages, although because of its prestige and history it does attract all the very best riders, making it difficult to win.

On days like yesterday the tough men come to the fore and it was great and fitting to see Adam Hansen win on his own in Pescara after being in the break for much of the stage. Two years ago another tough Australian, Cadel Evans, won a similar pig of a stage across the white roads of Tuscany to Montalcino.

No surprise to see Cadel finish in the group of favourites a little over a minute behind Hansen. He seems to be in good form having taken second place in a sprint on Stage 3 and it would be good to see him win the 2013 Giro. But Evans will have to beat Vincenzo Nibali and last year's winner Ryder Hesjedal who have both been impressive in this first week. Nibali appears to be fearless on the descents: although he crashed yesterday and slid several metres along the road he was straight back on his bike to finish in the leading bunch.

After a good first two days it has been a difficult week for Bradley Wiggins. Last Sunday night saw Bradley in second place overall after Sky won the team time trial but he lost that advantage the following day. On Wednesday he lost further time and even more yesterday, while understandably looking very uncomfortable on the final descent. The normally dominant Sky team haven't so far been able to exert their customary control over this race.

Bradley starts today's long time trial having to play catch up rather than as planned using the TT to build a cushion against the likes of Nibali for the tough mountain stages to come. He is currently 1.32 behind the current wearer of the pink jersey – Beñat Intxausti, 1.27 behind Nibali, 1.24 to Hesjedal and 1.16 to Evans. The time trial has a nasty kick in the finish with a 3.5 kilometre climb with a maximum gradient of 13%. If Bradley goes well and assuming he didn’t injure himself yesterday, he should be ahead of Nibali on General Classification to night but it will be much tighter against Evans and Hesjedal, who are both good time trialists. Today's stage should show whether Bradley really is as fit as he was last year. He will be praying for dry weather today.

This first week will have been much more satisfying for Mark Cavendish, the UK’s other star rider in this year’s Giro. Mark won the first stage in Naples and wore the Pink Jersey for the day and is currently wearing of the Red Jersey (points). He also won Thursday’s stage in a sprint where the Omega Pharma Quickstep train worked perfectly for once. It had misfired in the first stage as it has done on a number of occasions this season. Mark has now won 12 stages at the Giro.

My overall contenders are now: Evans, Hesjedal and Nibali with Wiggins as an outsider. There is, of course, a long way to go yet!    

Best way to keep up with the Giro is to go to Steephill TV. Wiggins starts at 15.08 (CET), Evans (15.45), Hesjedal (15.54), Nibali (15.57) and Intxausti (16.00). 

Update after time trial   

Alex Dowsett, UK time trial champion, wins Bradley Wiggins second, while Vincenzo Nibali takes over the race lead following an excellent time trial. Wiggins lost a little time with a puncture and also seemed pretty cautious on the descents. Ryder Hesjedal may well be disaapointed to lose significant time to Nibali. For the moment advantage – Vincenzo Nibali. 

Stage
1. Alex Dowsett   1.16.27
2. Bradley Wiggins  +10 secs
3. Tanel Kangert     + 14 secs
4. Vincenzo Nibali   + 21 secs
7. Cadel Evans       + 39 secs
18. Ryder Hesjedal  + 2.23

Overall
1. Vincenzo Nibali 29.46.57
2. Cadel Evans      +   29 secs
3. Robert Gesink    + 1.15
4. Bradley Wiggins  + 1.16
5. Michele Scarponi  + 1.24
6. Ryder Hesjedal    + 2.05
      

Cav in the Pink this evening?

A mountain bike might come in useful for 

some of the stages in the last week of this Giro!

The Giro d'Italia starts today in Naples with a short 130 kilometre stage based around Naples. It should end in a bunch sprint giving Mark Cavendish a good chance of winning the stage and taking the Pink Jersey, worn by the overall leader of the Giro. If Cav was still with either HTC Columbia or Team Sky I'd be very confident that Mark will duly win today. Now that he is with Omega Pharma Lotto I'm less sure as the lead out train hasn't yet worked as efficiently as HTC and Sky, which is why there is talk of Mark Renshaw joining Cav next year. However, Cav is a brilliant improviser and can win even when his train is not at its best, especially if he is really keen to win, which he will be.  

Here's hoping that Cav is in Pink this evening!

Overall winner? I think the steep mountain stages may well suit Vincenzo Nibali better than Bradley Wiggins, although there is a substantial time trial distance to compensate. Nor should last year's winner Ryder Hesjedal be discounted.    

Update: Cav wins difficult sprint and wears first Pink Jersey of 2013. This marks his 100th victory in his career and 11th stage win in the Giro. 

Giro d'Italia 2012: why Mark Cavendish is a great champion

Today the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) hits the mountains. This is the start of a really tough last week that will select the overall winner of the 2012 edition. Yesterday Mark Cavendish showed again why he is a great champion – one of the greatest sprinters of all time. Possibly the best ever?

In yesterday's finish Mark appeared to be blocked in as the sprinters and their trains charged for the finish line. Watching this video clip it is clear from overhead how Mark remains calm and is able to find a way through, even freewheeling just before the gap opens up. Then he has that remarkable acceleration that immediately takes him clear and he wins by a substantial margin – more than a bike length. 

Cavendish is a great champion because he delivers under pressure and is able to improvise in difficult situations like yesterday when the Sky train didn't quite work perfectly at the end. More here in last year's Tour de France when he won a real tough sprint at the end of Stage 5.

Although he keeps calm in a sprint Mark is certainly no robot – instead can be highly emotional as he shows here in the first of his five victories (in Montargis) in the 2010 Tour de France.