Nice Tour for Martin. And Kessiakoff had a great one, too.

Stage 1



The first stage of the 2011 Giro is mostly flat with a few small climbs throughout the stage. 4 of the top 5 sprinters in the race are from Rabobank so it would be a surprise if anyone could steal a victory from them. Right from the get go there was a small group of 7 that tried to get away. 5 of them formed the leading group that stayed away for most of the race.



There gap never got to large thanks to Liquigas and Ceramica Flaminia. This was surprising because neither had a great sprinter.



With 15km to go, teams began to set up the trains, but surprisingly Rabobank and Euskatel were nowhere to be seen. A lot of sprinters had been dropped on the final climb, and the one's who weren't dropped were too tired to sprint. This included Boonen, Pettachi, and all the Garmin riders.



At the finish it was a 1-2 for the Italians as Elia Rigotto took the win and Sergio Marinangeli took 2nd.



The surprise was that Petacchi finished 78th and Boonen finished 82nd.


Stage Rankings
1 Elia Rigotto Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli 4h37'27
2 Sergio Marinangeli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
3 Mathieu Drujon Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
4 Carlo Scognamiglio Liquigas s.t.
5 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
6 Wouter Weylandt Silence - Lotto s.t.
7 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
8 Pieter Jacobs Silence - Lotto s.t.
9 Johan Coenen Silence - Lotto s.t.
10 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas s.t.
11 Francesco Tomei Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
12 Sébastien Delfosse Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
13 Daniele Pietropolli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
14 Gorik Gardeyn Silence - Lotto s.t.
15 Aleksandr Kuschynski Liquigas s.t.
16 Geoffroy Lequatre AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
17 Mikhail Ignatiev Team Katusha s.t.
18 Francesco Ginanni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
19 Daniel Martin Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
20 Manuele Mori Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
21 Piergiorgio Camussa Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce s.t.
22 Yuri Trofimov Team Saxo Bank s.t.
23 Valerio Agnoli Liquigas s.t.
24 Rui Costa Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
25 Marco Pinotti Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
26 Wim De Vocht Silence - Lotto s.t.
27 Luis Pasamontes Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
28 Michael Albasini Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
29 Chris Froome Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
30 Borut Božic Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.

Pretty good for a non sprinter to finish 19th!

Stages 2-5 have been raced and will be posted soon. Stage 5 is the first mountain stage.

Stage 2

Stage 2 was another one of those long, flat stages that stage races love to add. As usually there was a group that tried to breakaway early. Peterson tried to get in the group but was left in no mans land between the peloton and the leading group.



Unfortunately he crashed near the end of the stage and was forced to drop out. Now we are down to 8 riders. Once the pack came together there was a group sprint where the 2nd place finisher yesterday, Sergio Marinangeli, was able to take the victory today. Petacchi and Boonen decided to show up taking 2nd and 4th.




Stage Results
1 Sergio Marinangeli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini 4h19'08
2 Alessandro Petacchi Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
3 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
4 Tom Boonen Rabobank s.t.
5 Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team s.t.
6 Elia Rigotto Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
7 Matteo Bono Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
8 José Joaquín Rojas Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
9 Fabio Negri Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
10 Carlo Scognamiglio Liquigas s.t.
11 Mathieu Drujon Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
12 Tristan Valentin Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
13 Daniele Righi Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
14 Maxim Iglinskiy Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
15 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
16 Johan Coenen Silence - Lotto s.t.
17 Stef Clement Rabobank s.t.
18 Romain Villa Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
19 Christopher Sutton Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
20 Wim De Vocht Silence - Lotto s.t.
21 Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
22 Geoffroy Lequatre AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
23 Simone Ponzi Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
24 Antonio D'Aniello Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
25 Manuele Mori Lampre - N.G.C s.t.


Stage 3

Stage 3 was practically a carbon copy of yesterday's stage. The peloton which was led by LPR, Rabobank, and Euskatel were able to limit the breakaways to no more than 5 minute leads.



Today, we were much more successful at leading out Sutton than we were yesterday. He was in great position to take the stage win with around 3km left, but so was Petacchi and Boonen.



In the end Boonen was too fast for everyone and he took his first stage win of the Giro. Sutton was magnificent and managed to take 4th place.




Stage Results
1 Tom Boonen Rabobank 4h09'27
2 Carlo Scognamiglio Liquigas s.t.
3 Alessandro Petacchi Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
4 Christopher Sutton Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
5 Elia Rigotto Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
6 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
7 Manuele Mori Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
8 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
9 Wim Stroetinga Rabobank s.t.
10 Fabio Negri Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
11 Jonathan Bellis Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
12 José Joaquín Rojas Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
13 Simone Ponzi Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
14 Johan Coenen Silence - Lotto s.t.
15 Sébastien Delfosse Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
16 Gorik Gardeyn Silence - Lotto s.t.
17 Wouter Weylandt Silence - Lotto s.t.
18 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
19 Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team s.t.
20 Borut Božic Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
21 Francesco Ginanni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
22 Mathieu Drujon Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
23 Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
24 Sergio Marinangeli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
25 Giovanni Visconti Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.



Stage 4
Another flat stage, but today the climbers will be preparing themselves for the first test of the Giro tomorrow. Once the leading group of 2 was caught with 20 kilometers left, teams were beginning to set up their trains. We managed to get to the front and set up a train for Sutton.



It was Bellis in front, Dodds in the middle, and Sutton on the back. With 1km to go we were in great position.



But Ponzi was too strong and managed to get away from all the other sprinters. With Ponzi way ahead, the question was, who would take 2nd, Sutton or Drujon.



Sutton managed to take 2nd just by a hair.


Stage Results
1 Simone Ponzi Lampre - N.G.C 3h26'10
2 Christopher Sutton Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
3 Mathieu Drujon Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
4 Alessandro Petacchi Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
5 Carlo Scognamiglio Liquigas s.t.
6 Sergio Marinangeli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
7 Campbell Dodds Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
8 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
9 Francesco Ginanni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
10 Tom Boonen Rabobank s.t.
11 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
12 Wouter Weylandt Silence - Lotto s.t.
13 Manuele Mori Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
14 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
15 Matteo Bono Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
16 Francesco Tomei Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
17 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
18 Mikel Nieve Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
19 Michael Albasini Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
20 Jonathan Bellis Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
21 Yuri Trofimov Team Saxo Bank s.t.
22 Manuel Vázquez Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
23 Nicolas Roche AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
24 Clément Lhotellerie Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
25 Romain Villa Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.

Hm. I expected Boonen domination in sprints...

Stage 5



Today is the first and only mountain stage in the first two weeks. I have no intentions of trying to take the yellow jersey today because I don’t want our team to have to hold on to the jersey for 10 more days. Letting a breakaway go would have been fine with us, and a group of 4 riders tried to do just that.



But Liquigas had other plans and decided to chase them down sending almost everyone on the team to take a relay.



When we reached the bottom of the final climb, the breakaway was still holding on to a small lead. The first rider to attack was Rujano, although he is a good climber, I knew it was too early to attack, especially since both Nibali and Schleck were still riding in the peloton.



Another group of riders attacked, which included Sergio Pardilla, Maxime Monfort, and Michele Scarponi, and a few others. We decided to send Lowe up there with them while I waited in the peloton.



Pardilla and Scarponi formed a lead group and Lowe desperately tried to catch them.



With the kilometers falling away, the first contender attacked. It was Soler and he powered away from the peloton.



But it was still too early because both Schleck and Nibali hadn’t attacked yet. With about 5 kilometers left Nibali finally attacked, followed by Schleck. I immediately countered and Dekker came with me.



Unfortunately I wasn’t strong enough to catch the leading group, or even keep up with Nibali and Dekker was forced to lead me up the mountain.



He did a great job and really helped me avoid major losses. Up front Pardilla powered to a victory and the leaders jersey.



As I crossed the line, I somehow managed to only lose 11 seconds to Schleck and 19 seconds to Nibali.




Stage Results
1 Sergio Pardilla CarmioOro - A-Style 5h05'13
2 Michele Scarponi Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
3 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 25
4 Fränk Schleck Team Saxo Bank + 33
5 Thomas Dekker Garmin - Slipstream + 44
6 Daniel Martin Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
7 Robert Gesink Quick·Step + 1'07
8 Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
9 Maxime Monfort Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
10 Michele Gaia CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
11 Francesco De Bonis Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 1'25
12 Dani Moreno Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
13 Iván Velasco Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
14 Trent Lowe Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
15 Piergiorgio Camussa Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce s.t.
16 Gianpaolo Caruso Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce + 1'42
17 Mauricio Soler Barloworld + 2'04
18 Yuri Trofimov Team Saxo Bank s.t.
19 Francesco Masciarelli Quick·Step s.t.
20 Jakob Fuglsang Team Saxo Bank s.t.
21 Alexander Efimkin AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
22 Leonardo Moser Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
23 Domenico Pozzovivo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
24 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
25 Franco Pellizotti Quick·Step s.t.
26 Nicolas Roche AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
27 Alessandro Bisolti Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce s.t.
28 John Gadret Astana Cycling Team s.t.
29 Andrey Amador Barloworld s.t.
30 Daniele Pietropolli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.


GC
1 Sergio Pardilla CarmioOro - A-Style 21h37'05
2 Michele Scarponi Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 8
3 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 37
4 Fränk Schleck Team Saxo Bank + 53
5 Daniel Martin Garmin - Slipstream + 1'04
6 Thomas Dekker Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
7 Maxime Monfort Team Columbia - High Road + 1'27
8 Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
9 Robert Gesink Quick·Step s.t.
10 Michele Gaia CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
11 Francesco De Bonis Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 1'45
12 Piergiorgio Camussa Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce s.t.
13 Trent Lowe Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
14 Iván Velasco Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
15 Dani Moreno Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
16 Gianpaolo Caruso Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce + 2'02
17 Daniele Pietropolli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini + 2'24
18 Yuri Trofimov Team Saxo Bank s.t.
19 Manuel Vázquez Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
20 Mikel Nieve Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
21 Franco Pellizotti Quick·Step s.t.
22 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
23 Francesco Masciarelli Quick·Step s.t.
24 Nicolas Roche AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
25 Domenico Pozzovivo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
26 André Steensen Team Saxo Bank s.t.
27 Thomas Voeckler AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
28 Giovanni Visconti Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
29 Leonardo Moser Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
30 John Gadret Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Is Pardilla any good or was that just luck (stats please?)

I believe he is77 in mountains but I will post his full stats later. I'm gonna finish the giro then I will post the stages. I have reached stage 16 and it is really exciting.

Wow I usually play one stage and then post the report right after. What works, works I guess. I hate the Chicago Blackhawks.

Nice result in the first mountain stage

How can you possibly remember the stages from one another if you have 15 to remember from :-O

Well done though. Nice "blog".

I take a lot of pictures that refresh everything.

I finished the Giro but won't have time to write the reports. Also following the Giro, all screenshots will be better because I will be using a computer that
a)Isn't a laptop
b)Can handle graphics
c)doesn't crash 24/7

good news

I promise there will be updates tomorrow.

Stage 6

Today’s stage will probably be decided by the sprinters but the hills throughout could hurt some of the sprinters chances. The biggest example of this is J.J. Haedo, who could possibly win a stage if he could actually stay with the peloton. Today was a beautiful day for the climbers to relax after the mountains yesterday. A group of 4 riders slipped away early on and built up a gap of around 6 minutes.



It was no surprise who was chasing the breakaway. It was CarmioOro - A-Style, trying to hold on to the pink jersey, and Rabobank, trying to set up there amazing train.



They would get no help from us but they did not need it. With 10km left the peloton was within sight of the breakaway.



Once the break was reeled in we set up our train. It was Bellis and Dodds leading out Sutton who was still looking for a stage win but Boonen and Petacchi were also there.



But it would be none of these riders who took the win. Visconti surprised everyone and powered to a victory despite not being know as a sprinter. Lampre took 3-4-6-7 in what was an unusual sprint finish.




Stage Rankings
1 Giovanni Visconti Cofidis, le crédit en ligne 3h47'25
2 Marcello Pavarin CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
3 Fabio Negri Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
4 Manuele Mori Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
5 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
6 Matteo Bono Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
7 Marco Marzano Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
8 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
9 Pieter Jacobs Silence - Lotto s.t.
10 Iñigo Landaluze Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
11 Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team s.t.
12 Campbell Dodds Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
13 Paolo Longo Borghini Barloworld s.t.
14 Mikel Nieve Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
15 Andrey Amador Barloworld s.t.
16 Jonathan Bellis Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
17 Francesco Ginanni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
18 Sébastien Delfosse Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
19 Sergio Marinangeli LPR Brakes Farnese Vini s.t.
20 Simone Ponzi Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
21 Radoslav Rogina Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
22 Michael Albasini Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
23 Elia Rigotto Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
24 Manuel Vázquez Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
25 Franco Pellizotti Quick•Step s.t.
26 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
27 Christopher Sutton Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
28 Stijn Joseph Silence - Lotto s.t.
29 Lars Boom Rabobank s.t.
30 Clément Lhotellerie Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
57 Daniel Martin Garmin - Slipstream s.t.

Just like you promised

Stage 7



Today is the first of two hilly stages that will give the favorites a chance to get the pink jersey before a week of flat stages begin. There was a small group that got away and took advantage of the fact that the peloton was not working together, and built a 12 minute lead.



Surprisingly though, as we approached the final climbs, the breakaway had been reeled in thanks to the work of Liquigas and Saxobank.



The first rider to attack was Monfort, who continued his aggressive riding and took a small lead.



The next to go was Soler who tried to catch up to Monfort.



The next rider to go was Scarponi who caught up to Monfort and Soler and began to increase their lead.



We sent Lowe up front to put the hammer down, and he set a blistering pace. He led the peloton for 10km cutting the lead to less than 40 seconds from what had been over 2 minutes.



Eventually Lowe ran out of gas and the favorites began attacking again. On the final climb Nibali accelerated away.



I had no choice but to counter attack, bringing Dekker along with me.



Just like the stage two days ago, it was up to Dekker to carry me up and down the mountain to try to catch back up to the leading group.



This time he was successful in getting me to the leading group, and we formed a lead group of 5 with the notable exception of Nibali.



As we approached the finish line it became apparent that no one was going to catch up to us and we would be sprinting for the stage. Both Dekker and I were unable to pass Manuel Vazquez who took his first major victory of the year. I managed some time bonuses with 3rd place and Dekker got some more with a 2nd place finish.




Export crashed no results. I only gained around 21 seconds on Nibali.

sorry forgot to post.