Giro

Aiyak! More cycling stuff I guess. So much so, I had to admit that my running milage have gone down to almost...zero. It seemed that things came thumbling on top of one another or shall I say, the puzzle fits in a piece at a time as we near the KL Marathon. As I put it in my perspective of the occurence, perhaps things were meant to be that way. Back to the saying, "Kita hanya merancang, tapi Allah yang lebih mengetahui segalanya kan?". Yep. Though it was supposed to be a well laid plan i.e. Interstate, KL Marathon, Century ride and ends with PD Tri, I guess this old goat will have to chew only one meal.

Enuf said. I shall not ponder on the material side of life chasing races & trainings. Instead, I will now log in the past three weeks escape into Europe through the eyes of fellow pro cyclists during Giro d'Italia chasing the legendary leader's jersey.

Truth be told, I was stucked at the tube for 21 days, 3 hours per night (well most of it, minus a few minutes doze fighting sleepy eyes) following the grand tour. The year started off with a few classic races i.e. one day race or 5 days like the Tour of Qatar, Tour Down Under, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and most enduring Paris-Roubaix. Wow! Now this already sounds like an international post la pulak!

Giro d'Italia started from May 7th until May 29th covering most of Italy and some parts of northern Europe i.e. Austria. It came to me that following cycling tours on TV always brings me to the part of the world that I can't go, enjoying the beautiful landscapes from helicopter lense and superbikes videocams. From flat route stages along the coastal line to the high mountain stages of Monte Zoncolan and Grossglockner of Austria were simply awesome.

From the 3 weeks period following these pro cyclists on TV and checking on the General Classification standings on the web, I have never felt so close to these guys. Most of the big names were here, minus some that also participated in Tour of California at the same time. The GC contenders were fighting each and every day chasing the leader's jersey based on their finishing time at every stage. The legendary Giro's pink jersey, Maglia Rosa kept on changing hands for the first half of the tour where sprinters worked their way to the finishing line during the flat course stages.

Among the great sprinters

R-L: Mark Cavendish (HTC), Allesandro Petacchi (Lampre), Manuel Belleti (Adroni), Roberto Ferrari (Colnago) sprint finish at Stage 2

The flat tour course would normally be a bit sleepy boring, at least for the first 2 hours of the broadcast. But though the peloton are cruising at an average speed of 50 kph, depending on wind condition, sometimes the sleepy head fades away watching all those gorgeous bikes on close-up mode thanks to the cameramen. These guys are simply superhumans and are in great bodyshapes too...lean and shaved. Lol. They survived 21 days of average 160km per day touring, eating, drinking, chit chatting, climbing, sprinting, chasing, and sometimes pee-ing on their bikes - that would require certain level of skill though.

However, races are not escapeable from dramas and tragedies. During Stage 3, Wouter Weylandt 26, a Belgian riding for Team Leopard Trek crashed while descending the Passo del Bocco.

With some 17 km of the stage remaining, riders were going downhill in the final part of the descent at an estimated speed of 70–80 km/h (43–50 mph). According to Manuel Antonio Cardoso (a Team RadioShack rider that was trailing Weylandt), Weylandt looked back over his left shoulder at other riders before a slight left bend. Weylandt lost control and hit the leading edge of a low concrete guard rail on the left side of the road with his foot and pedal. He was thrown to the right side of the road about 10 m (33 ft) away, crashing face down - Wiki

Next day's stage was neutralised in tribute to the lost

Giro continued with harder challenge when high mountain stages were thrown in for the climbers to give chase for the Maglia Rosa. These were where the race gets more interesting with majestic views of winding road up snowpeak mountains, grinding quads and calves with tight faces, gritting teeth desending on those skinny tyres and of course the crazy fans along the way. Among the tough climbs were Mt Etna, the Monte Zoncolan and Grossglockner. These climbs served a few Cat 2 and Cat 1 at an average of 10% gradient. Talking about Bukit Hantu in Langat but ten times the distance! And still these guys nailed it at an average speed of 34 kph. Me? I climb Bukit Hantu with same gradient but only 3.5km at snail pace of 11 kph plus cursing :]

The peloton & the biggest mountain in Italy south of the Alps

The fans themselves were already out of this world

Among the top GC contenders that I got stucked with for three weeks:



Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank)

Dennis Menchov (Geox Pro Team)

Jose Rujano Guillen (Androni Giocattoli)

John Gadret (AG2R)

David Millar (Garmin Cervelo)

Giovani Viscontti (Farnese Vini)

Stefano Garzelli (Aqua Sapone)

Michele Scarponi (Lampre)

Marco Pinotti (HTC Highroad)

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas Cannondale)

Fettucini, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Rigatoni and Tortellini :]

More grand tours coming as the spring continues. Tour de France (2-24 July 2011) and La Vuelta a Espana somewhere in August. More cycling news on steephill.tv.