Krushing the Giro: Stage 10

Uran proudly wearing the Colombian flag and a cycling cap

Wow. I don't know where to start. Another great day for Colombian cycling. Uran and Betancur had amazing performances. Team Colombia and the other Colombians didn't do too well, but I'll happily take the one-two.

Final results of stage 10. The Colombian tricolor way up there, twice

Sky took over the pace-setting pretty early in the stage on the climb to the Passo Cason di Lanza. Was that a good idea? I guess depends on who you ask. Henao and Wiggo were in trouble, but Uran went on to win the stage. Is Uran the leader for Sky? Well, he told RAI (in excellent Italian, to my surprise) that Wiggins and Henao are still strong and that now Sky will have two leaders. He added that he recuperated better during the rest day than Wiggins. I don't know, the Englishman did not look good to me, but we will have to wait and see. I would not be the SkullKrusher if I didn't point out, once again, that if Uran wouldn't have been asked to wait for Wiggins on Friday, he'd be 2nd in the GC 26" behind Nibali.

AG2R are also having a great Giro. Pozzovivo and Betancur played the one-two punch perfectly up the last climb. That's two second places for Betancur in this Giro and he continues to crawl his way up the Maglia Bianca classification. AG2R has to be very happy with their two new signings. Maybe Mike Spriggs has the right idea with buying their jersey and putting it in the freezer for future enjoyment.

Mike's real refrigerator with a real AG2R jersey in it

On the other side of the spectrum, Hesjedal lost contact with 54k to go and finished over 20 minutes down. Needless to say his Giro is over. What a shame. He looked very racey at the beginning of the race last week.

How many times have I said "keep an eye on Evans"? This is the last time I say it, because everyone now realizes I was right all along.

Finally, a special and heartfelt THANK YOU to Rapha for remembering that the Giro is a cycling race and not a baseball game. Rapha (yes, I'm kissing their ass) provides Team Sky with cycling caps and it was very nice to see Uran not only wearing a cycling cap on the podium, but a winter cycling cap. Thank you Rapha!

Uran answering question in Italian wearing a proper Rapha cycling cap

Randomness:

- Mario Cipollini mention counter: 3
- Helmet talk counter: 10
- Euskaltel guys on the deck counter: 3
- Stage winner wearing cycling cap / baseball hat / no hat counter: 1 / 8 / 1 (Finally!)

Krushing the Giro: Stage 9

Chalapud and Pirazzi fighting for KOM points

Once again, the Giro didn't disappoint. Today's stage was full of drama, attacks, and Colombians on bikes. The type of stage I love. That's why I'm so pissed I missed it. The GF guilt-tripped me into going to a flea market. It turned out to be pretty cool, but I had to enjoy a Colombian 2-3 (including Betancur's awesome attack) via twitter. Fortunately I also missed his celebration as he thought he'd won and the stage. I feel sorry for the riders when that happens.

Also saw that Evans finished an impressive 5th. I keep telling you people, keep an eye on the 2011 Tour de France winner.

What I did get to see live was pretty exciting, tho. Chalapud and Pirazzi going head to head for the KOM points the way that classification should always be fought for. Great cycling. In the last 15 years so much emphasis has been put on the points classification (especially the Green Jersey at the Tour), that it's nice to see people fighting for what I consider to be a way better jersey. I trust the battle for the Maglia Azzurra will continue to be this awesome. As it stands right now Stefano Pirazzi leads with 38 points and Robinson Chalapud is second with 23. Visconti drops to third with 16. If Team Colombia is serious about pursuing this jersey, they'll have to get Chalapud or Pantano in the breakaway Tuesday and hope to cross the Passo del Cason di Lanza in first place. I'm sure Bardiani know this and will also try to get in there. Tuesday is going to be a great stage from the get go.

Colombian Conspiracy (aka Wiggo needs to grow some balls)
What is going on with this dude? He looks scared to ride fast. I know the streets were wet and it was dangerous, but if you can't take the heat, get out of cycling. Fortunately, this time Henao and Uran stayed in the main group. I'm guessing they where told to do so, but who knows. Maybe they decided on their own and who could blame them.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in (in the US...if you don't have a job), but Tuesday will be the first real test of legs and guess what? My prediction is that Sir Wigg-a-lot is gonna crack.

See yous then.

Randomness:

- Mario Cipollini mention counter: 3
- Helmet talk counter: 10
- Euskaltel guys on the deck counter: 3
- Stage winner wearing cycling cap / baseball hat / no hat counter: 0 / 8 / 1 (STILL ridiculous)