Finally it's over

The Giro is over, exactly one month after we hit the road to the start. But for me it was even longer, as I had been racing with the Women’s team for three weeks before meeting up with the Men. So the last few days I have been catching up on a bit of sleep, a lot of sleep really. It’s always nice when you have no reason to get up in the morning, except for the days ride, or breakfast. I have already built a couple of bikes for the Girls, as I hit the road to Spain on Monday for a weeks racing. In the meantime I will have time for a couple for a couple of stories. I have already updated the last couple of stages in the photo album. So go and have a look, they are pretty amazing.


The long climb up the side of the Gavia, now around the corner will start the snow, sweet.

Stage 20 - Saturday, May 31: Rovetta - Tirano, 232km
A very nasty stage, with a couple of very big climbs for the day. A very wet and cold Passo di Gavia, with temperatures in the low 6'c, and very wet rain to top it off. Then just when they thought they were over the worst, the just as bad, if not steeper, Passo di Mortirolo. A Pantani favourite, with some heart stopping corners, and some hell descents. All the boys made it over, bar one, but that's another story.

The GPM on top of the Gavia, looks nice doesn't it?

And last but not least, the final stage, individual Timetrail in Milan. Just when we thought that three stage won was enough. We almost succeeded with a full podium for the day. Marco Pinotti, the current Italian TT champ took an amazing stage win. But he knocked off Tony Martin for first, giving us a 1-2 victory for the day. Most impressive was Bradley Wiggins in 4th, only 13 seconds away from 3rd place. That would have been a blast for the team, if it wasn’t enough already.

The beautiful old grandstand at the starting ramp of the Timetrail.

4 stage wins in a Grand Tour, that’s a record for the team as far as anyone can remember, and pretty impressive from the young gang that was riding this Giro. The riders were happy, all the staff were happy, the management was very happy. The mechanics of course, were very happy, cause it meant we could finally go home, and have a day or so off. Nah of course we were just happy to be part, if not the most important part of the whole show.

It's Tony Martin, on his way to second place in the TT