The Americans had their moment in the sun yesterday, but the Italians are back in control at the Giro.

The day started with the news that Igor Astarloa (Milram) dropped out of the race with intestinal issues.

The first escape of the stage race went to Dioniso Galparoso (Euskatel-Euskadi). He built up a lead of 1 minute and 20 seconds before being pulled back into the peloton.  The riders all stayed together until the descent of the day’s first climb. Jeremy Roy (Française des Jeux) and David Loosli (Lampre) took off and stayed away for quite a while building over a 10 minute lead at some point.

A railroad crossing 65 km from the finish took down a number of riders. David Zabriskie of Slipstream-Chipotle was the most seriously injured and had to be taken away in an ambulance.

The break was captured with about 50km to go. Slipstream worked hard to keep Christian Vandevelde near the front, but the LPR Brakes squad then pushed to the front to position team leader and defending champion Danilo Di Luca for the finish.

Around the closing circuit, the lead group kept getting smaller and smaller.  Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d’Epargne) went for the surprise attack, but his legs gave out and a group came up and overtook him. Riccardo Riccò had the strongest legs, outsprinting countryman Danilo Di Luca to take the win.

Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) finished fourth, which gave him a one-second lead over Christian Vandevelde and taking over ownership of the leader’s jersey.

Results:

1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott                                      5.48.35 (35.629 km/h)
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
5 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes
6 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
7 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Française des Jeux                                           0.04
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas                                                     0.08
9 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott
10 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana

General Classification:

1 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas                                                6.15.16
2 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30                   0.01
3 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC                                                0.07
4 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
5 Morris Possoni (Ita) Team High Road                                                0.08
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
7 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team CSC                                                      0.17
8 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC
9 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team High Road                                           0.18
10 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes                                                 0.19

The Slipstream-Chipotle team vaulted onto the world stage today by winning the first stage of their first ever Grand Tour event.

Christian Vandevelde and four of his teammates completed the 23.6 km time trial course in the shortest time to put Vandevelde in the pink leader’s jersey. Team CSC took second at 6 seconds behind while Team High Road took 3rd.

Vandevelde is the first American to wear the leader’s jersey at the Giro since Andy Hampsten won the race 20 years ago.

Team Results:

1 Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30                                          26.32 (53.366 km/h)
2 Team CSC                                                                       0.06
3 High Road                                                                      0.07
4 Liquigas                                                                       0.09
5 Barloworld                                                                     0.14
6 LPR Brakes - Ballan                                                            0.28
7 Astana                                                                         0.29
8 Tinkoff Credit Systems                                                         0.33
9 Quick Step                                                                     0.42

10 Lampre                                                                        0.45

General Classification:

1 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30              26.32
2 David Zabriskie (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
3 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
4 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
5 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
6 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC                                                0.06
7 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team CSC
8 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC
9 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
10 Jason McCartney (USA) Team CSC

All in all, not a bad day for American racers. Two Americans in the Top 3 and 3 in the Top 10.

The race starts in less than a day. Here’s a preview of the Team Time Trial and other news:

• VeloNews is predicting that the Giro may be the best race of the year. Defending champ Danilo di Luca (LPR Brakes) will be there, along with Contador (Astana, 2007 TdF winner), Denis Menchov (Rabobank, 2007 Vuelta winner), Paolo Bettini (Quickstep, 2007 World Champion), and former Giro winners Paolo Salvoldelli (LPR) and Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni-Androni). Contador will joined by teammates Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer, who are also believed to have a shot at the podium.
• There are 2 U.S. registered teams at this year’s race: Slipstream-Chipotle and High Road. Slipstream is said to be aiming solidly at a win in Saturday’s team time trial.
• Steve Morabito will replace Benjamin Noval on the Astana squad. Noval is out with stomach issues.
• Spanish rider David Arroyo (Caisse d’Epargne) will be replaced by Mathieu Perget after breaking his wrist in a training ride crash earlier this week.
•  Pez Cycling News has a nice overview of the course for the team time trial as well as some of the sights and scenes in Palermo.

• Pez is pretty much saying that Astana has the triple threat in Contador, Kloden and Leiphimer for the overall win.
• This is said to be the last Grand Tour for two-time winner and long time podium hanger Gilberto Simoni.

As you probably know by know CSC not be continuing sponsorship of the cycling team after the 2008 season. Their fickleness works to your benefit as all of the team gear is being sold off at bargain basement prices at Competitive Cyclist.

Here are a few examples of the deals:

1. 2007 Jersey/Shorts combo - Was $195, now $49.99
2. 2007 Descente Team retro sweater - Was $100, now $29.99
3. 2007 Descente Team bib shorts - Was $110, now $29.99

There’s a lot of other stuff as well: socks, t-shirts, caps and so on.

I know that I don’t have a ton of regular readers (and that I owe stickers to those of you that ARE regular readers), but I would like your opinion on bike jerseys.

I’m thinking about designing and selling jerseys and I want to see what people like and dislike about what’s already out there.

You can respond to this by registering and filing a comment.

Here’s what I like:

• Trim fit, but not tight
• Long zipper to control ventilation
• Slightly higher color

Here’s what I dislike:

• Most jerseys are ugly as sin
• Solid color selections are either limited or bland
• I’m not a pro and I’m not sponsored, so I don’t need to be a rolling billboard. With all of the free advertising some of these companies are getting, the jersey should be free.

I think that after my successful bike build experience using parts mainly sourced from eBay, that I will start to feature a “Find of the Week”. This will be what I consider to be an exceptionally good deal. 

This week, I’m featuring 2 complete road bikes, both “last year’s model” that bike shops are typically trying to unload.  

The first bike is a 2007 Scott CR1 Pro (52cm) with an Ultegra drivetrain, Ritchey cockpit and Mavic wheels. It’s selling for a “Buy It Now” price of $2,199.

The second bike is a 2007 Look 555 with Shimano 105. This complete bike has a “Buy It Now” price of $1900 with free shipping. This is an exceptional deal, as the frame typically sells for around $1500. The seller has both 52cm and 57cm sizes available.

I don’t know how long these will last. Happy shopping!

The start is just 3 days away and the press coverage is starting to ramp up. 

* Pez Cycling News has a great overview of this year’s stages, including detail on some of the punishing climbs. CyclingNews.com has both stage profiles and stage maps.

* From the Giro’s official site, here are the course profiles for all of the stages. Sure looks jagged:

* I really love Italian food. This looks yummy:

Stay tuned. More later.

Go for a ride!

At least that’s the impression that you would get if you read the “GreenSmart” article in the April 25th edition of USA Weekend magazine.

The article has good intentions. It points out that bicycles are a good solution to the looming issues of global climate changes and soaring gas prices. The problem comes with their bicycle recommendations.

• A Calfee Designs bamboo frame. The frame alone is $2695! You can build it up into a complete bike for, oh, $4000. Perfect for the consumer trying to figure out how to feed their kids. While I love that Calfee is really pushing the limits of bike design, I think that even he would say that this bike is not for every person, nor would it be their primary bike. I certainly applaud the fact that the production of this frame significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions, the production of any bicycle creates a small percentage of the emissions that go into making a car.
• The RevoPower wheel. You remove your front wheel and replace it with a $600 gas-powered wheel.
  • My first worry about this was that it would be equipped with a two-stroke engine, and indeed it is. Two-stroke engines are traditionally quite polluting, but the company’s web site states that it is a new technology two-stroke that is cleaner and meets all federal regulations.
  • It is only designed for mountain bikes right now.
  • It’s vaporware. It’s supposed to go to market sometime this year.
  • Finally, while the company feels that most people will only use the motor when necessary, the wheel adds 12 pounds of rotating weight (as well as some extra friction) to the bike. I think that most will use it all of the time, so there goes the fitness aspect of riding a bike.  
• The Ride bike from Ellsworth Cycles. Once again, very cool. Once again, very expensive. This bike uses a new continuously variable transmission based on a design by Leonardo DaVinci. $3000. On the upside, you can buy the hub for less than $300 if you dig around on the web. 

According to their website, USA Weekend reaches 49.2 million potential readers every weekend. Their stock-in-trade is celebrity, health and food news, and while I don’t expect them to be completely informed on the bicycle market, I would have liked to seem them do a little more research.

In that spirit, I present the Bike World News green bike recommendations. Remember - any bike is more green than even a Prius.:

Your average big box store bike. The picture below is an Iron Horse Maverick 1.5. I found it on sale for $199. There are bikes like this available most everywhere. They’re reasonably equipped, and while a little heavy, they will still get you down to the corner store to buy a gallon of milk.   

The Craigslist special (aka the Garage Sale bike). Someone, somewhere in your area is selling I bike. I found these two for $130 on the Cincinnati Craigslist site:

Still too expensive? Here’s a nice cruiser for $65:

Last but not least, look in the back of your garage or your shed. If you have a bike, pull it out, dust off the cobwebs and take it down to your local bike shop for a quick tune-up.

Ride your bike. Your legs, lungs and grandchildren will thank you.

Here’s the latest from around the web:

• France has stiffened their anti-doping laws. The news laws state a one year sentence for being in possession of doping products and stiffer penalties (5 to 7 years) for trafficking. When will one of their own be found guilty?
• The UCI delivered the Cyclocross World Cup trophies to Sven Nys and Daphny van den Brand via mail. No awards ceremony, AND, they have to wait until June to receive their prize money. Can you feel the love?
• In a similar story, the teams that were due prize money from last year’s Tour de France finally got paid on April 25th.
• The U25 American Eagle Outfitters Tour of Pennsylvania announced the stages for its 2008 race. Twenty-two to twenty-five teams from around the world will come to PA from June 24th to 29th. It’s nice to see a big national sponsor like American Eagle Outfitters behind a race like this, but I wonder if they are really reaching their demographic with a bike race. Isn’t everyone in their target market sitting at home playing Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto IV?
• The Cactus Cup, one of the original mountain bike races that ended in the mid-Nineties, has returned.
• The National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) finals have moved to Brian Head, UT. The organizers, Blue Wolf Events, had announced they were searching for a replacement venue after the Tamarack Resort in Idaho had to pull out from their roll as hosts. The dates of the finals, August 30-September 1, remain the same.
• A top rider has been tagged for doping under the UCI’s new biological passport program. No names yet, but of the 2,172 samples collected from riders since the beginning of the programme, there were 23 riders who “warranted further scrutiny” due to unusual patterns in blood or urine profiles. One rider is expected to be sanctioned, while four others are also facing potential bans. All of the teams participating in the Giro will be participating in the passport program.
• Astana received a last-minute invitation to the Giro.
• Toyota will not renew their sponsorship of the United Pro Cycling Team.
• Lampre’s Patxi Vila allegedly tested positive in March for testosterone and was dropped from the list of racers scheduled to ride in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

The Spring Classics are behind us and its time to start Grand Tour season.

The Giro starts on Saturday, and it is looking, like always to be a great competition. Defending champion Danilo di Luca had two doping challenges over the winter. He survived a challenge from the Italian National Olympic Committee, but ending up also serving a 3-month suspension for his relations to the Oil for Drugs scandal and Doctor Carlo Santuccione. He is back on a new team (LPR Brakes) and looking to repeat.

Two-time winner Gilberto Simoni won’t go down without a fight however. He has signed with Giovanni Savio’s Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli squad. The experienced Savio has built a team around Simoni that will be focused on getting Simoni atop the podium.

In late-breaking news, the Astana team, including Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, received a last minute invitation to the race. He is not sure of his form, having just taken off a couple of weeks for a dental procedure, but he will be supported by Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden, fresh off a victory at the Tour de Romandie. If he can once again channel his anger about not being able to defend his TdF title, he may be a force to reckon with.

Teams invited this year:

• LPR Brakes
• Astana
• Caisse de Epargne
• CSF Group Navigarre
• Francaise de Jeux
• High Road
• Liquigas
• Rabobank
• Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
• Slipstream Chipotle - H30
• Milram
• Tinkoff Credit Systems
• CSC
• Silence Lotto
• Saunier Duval-Scott
• Quickstep
• Lampre
• Gerolsteiner
• Euskatel-Euskadi
• Cofidis
• Barloworld
• AG2R - Le Mondiale

Presentation and Stage Information here.