News Letter

‘In the (time) Zone'  by David Olle, Italy, +39 333 5959 217

Giro d'Italia, May 8 - 30, 2010, Stage 15    Sunday, May 23, 218 km
Mestre → Monte Zoncolan  3 climbs followed by a hill top finish....decisive!  (rated 5 stars of difficulty in La Gazetta)

Evans et al fall victim to classic one-two from Liquigas
After sending Nibali on the attack yesterday, allowing Basso to sit on during the final 20k chase, no prizes for guessing who was in best shape today.  Basso wins on Zoncolan, while Cadel, Scarponi, Vino, Sastre, Nibali all lose time.  The power of numbers, even if it is only two.

Results
1      Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo      6:21:58       
2     Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team     0:01:19      
3     Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli     0:01:31

General classification
1      David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne      67:48:42       
2     Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank     0:02:35      
3     Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo     0:03:33      
4     Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo TestTeam     0:04:21      
5     Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team     0:04:43    

Skippy report:  It is a fantastic thing, to witness the world champion racing out of his skin, as a GC contender.  It's almost a generation since we've seen this, and never an Australian.  Along with Matt Lloyd in the climber's jersey and Richie Porte still leading the kids...  I know I've said it before, but please take note, these are Australia's ‘Golden Days' of cycling.

Cuisine report:  We've spent the past 2 nights in an Agriturismo (Italian farmstay), famous for serving us potatoes 5 different ways in the one meal, 25k from Asolo (yesterday's stage finish) in the Veneto region.  One of last night's five courses was Risotto, with an unusual local green herb.  We were proudly informed the herb was not harvestable, and had to be handpicked from where it grew wild.  Fascinated and unable to identify it, we resorted to the dictionary....wait for it....'nettles'.  Glad it wasn't my job to pick'em.

Tomorrow:  Monday, May 24, Rest day (2) in Friuli  followed by an uphill Individual Time Trial on Tuesday, half road, half dirt of 12.9k.

For those in Australia, SBS2 does a daily report on the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) called by Matt Keenan in the evenings, catch them if you can.

The Bike Race:
Three stages kick start the race in Holland, before they transfer to Savigliano in Italy's north west Piedmonte region.  From here the race heads further south, through Tuscany, across to Abruzzo before returning to the Dolomites in the north-east and the event's Grand Finale in Verona.  198 riders (14 from Australia) complete 21 stages over 3 weeks, visiting 2 countries en route, with just 2 rest days.  3,416  kilomtres, running May 8 - 30. 

The Writer:
David Olle's cycling reports are used by ABC radio's 774 DRIVE show in Melbourne, ABC radio 702 breakfast show in Sydney, ABC national overnights and 3RRR FM's Breakfasters.  He chats regularly with all.  He also created and produces the magazine style TV show ‘Topbike TV' which is seen throughout Australia and New Zealand on community televison.  The reports are also published here, www.cyclesportnews.com, along with any photos.

These reports are independent, opinionated, Australian biased, and could miss a day here and there, along with containing the odd error.

We aim to send these reports daily, while any worthy bike race is on.  You have the power to control your interest in these reports, see details below.

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David Olle
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