Italy's Ivan Basso won his second Giro d'Italia on Sunday, easily holding his rivals at bay in the final individual time trial in Verona.

David Arroyo, the career domestique for Caisse d'Epargne finished in 2nd place overall, and Basso teammate Vincenzo Nibali finished in 3rd. Michele Scarponi and Cadel Evans rounded out the top 5.

Gustav Larsson, a Swedish member of Team Saxo Bank, won the stage that ended in an ancient coliseum.

Basso, 32, previously won the Giro in 2006, then finished in 4th place in 2009. In between, his cycling career was interrupted by a two-year doping suspension ...   more »

The Australian's bid failed to close much of the 4-minute gap to the overall leader. However, the 5th-place cyclist reduced time differences with his rivals so he might gain a podium position as the race ends Sunday with a 9-mile individual time trial in Verona.

Swiss cyclist Johann Tschoop, with no such designs in the General Classification, won the 110-mile stage from Bormio to Passa del Tonale that featured five climbs, including the massive Passo do Gavia ...   more »

The Liquigas duo of Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, with hanger-on Michele Scarponi, joined up to power over the  dreaded Mortirolo summit with about 24 miles left in the race as Arroyo and all the other major contenders fell back. Then Arroyo caught up with most of his rivals on the treacherous downhill, but the Basso group created a larger gap on the final climb to Aprica.

While Scarponi won Stage 19, Basso appears poised to win the overall championship on Sunday. Friday marked the first time he has donned the leader's jersey since he won the Giro in 2006. What followed was a couple of years of investigations and suspensions for doping ....   more »

French cyclist Damien Monier attacked his breakaway compatriots on the final climb to win Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.

His first ever win after 8 years as a pro came more than 10 minutes ahead of the battlers for the overall leaders' jersey crossed the finish line in Pejo Terme at the end of the 107- bike race from Brunico.

The chasing group contained all the leaders, including the maglia rosa David Arroyo, Ivan Basso (2nd), Richie Porte (3rd), and Cadel Evans (4th).

Basso's Liquigas team took control of that group toward the end of the state to prevent any attacks from getting away ...   more »

Former Giro d'Italia champion Stefano Garzelli proved he's still a powerful climber as he won the unrelenting 8-mile individual time-trial to the summit of Plan de Corones on Tuesday.

Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov were among those gaining seconds in their battle to win the leader's jersey as the Giro kicked off its last week with the steep climb. David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) held onto to his lead, although he saw it drop by about a minute to some of his rivals.

The challenge continues on Wednesday with another mountaintop finish on Stage 17 after a mid-race climb up and over Passo delle Palade ....   more »

Italy's Ivan Basso surged up the steepest climb at this year's Giro d'Italia to win Stage 15 atop Monte Zolcolan on Sunday and leap-frog eight other cyclists into 3rd place.

Overall leader David Arroyo survived in the maglia rosa, although his days at the front appear numbered. Tuesday marks the beginning of the Giro's final hellish week highlighted by two high mountain stages and an individual time trial.

Basso, a 32-year-old Liquigas rider, slipped away from the leader's group along with Australia's Cadel Evans and Italy's Michele Scarponi. Basso and Evans dropped Scarponi, then paced each other for a few miles of the climb up Monte Zolcolan, an awesome 6-mile finish that rises 4,000 feet at an average 11% slope.

Along the way, the pair passed the final three members of a six-man breakaway that at one time had more than a 9-minute gap on the peloton.

With about 2 miles to go on the climb, Basso steadily began pulling away from Evans .....   more »

The early favorites of the Giro d'Italia, such as Saturday's Stage 14 winner Vincenzo Nibali, started nibbling away at the huge leads gained by members of a breakaway earlier in the week.

Nibali and Ivan Basso (both of Liquigas), Cadel Evans (BMC), Michele Scarponi (Androni) all cut at least a minute-and-a-half off their deficits on the 127-mile race from Ferrara to Asolo. Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) finished closely behind them.

All but Scarponi and Basso are back into the top 10, but they still have huge time gaps to make up ...   more »

Team Saxo Bank's Richie Porte will wear the maglia rosa into the mountains of the Giro d'Italia as he protected the overall lead in Friday's Stage 13.

Manuel Belletti (Colnago) won the 138-mile race from Porto Recanti to Cesenatico in front of yet another breakaway at the Giro. His victory also marked the second day in a row that at Italian won the stage in his home country. 

Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) broke the jinx in Stage 12 on Thursday to become the first Italian to win a Giro stage this year.

The peloton begins a grueling and decisive segment of the Giro starting on Saturday ....   more »

A large breakaway, epic distance, multiple climbs and inclement weather all conspired to completely restructure the general classification of the Giro d'Italia as it reached its half-way point on Wednesday.

The turmoil elevated Tasmanian cyclist Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) 6 places to the 1st overall, while rival leaders Alexandre Vinokourov and Cadel Evans completely dropped out of the Top 10 after trailing the day's winners by some 12:30.

Beginning the day 2:26 behind Vinokourov, Porte is now about 10 minutes ahead of him in the overall rankings.

A prime example of the turbulance among the leaders is former Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre of the Cervelo team. He rose to 8th place overall ...   more »

US sprinter Tyler Farrar paired up with Garmin-Transitions teammate Julian Dean to win Stage 10 at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday.

It was the Wenatchee, Washington, cyclist's second stage win at this year's Giro and his fourth so far this year. He currently holds the points leader's red jersey.

The overall leaders remained unchanged, with Alexandre Vinokourov holding onto first place, 1:12 ahead of Cadel Evans.

The Garmin-Transition team shared time at the front of the peloton during the 143-mile race from Avellino to Bitonto to ensure that a successful breakaway didn't spoil what was expected to be a sprint finish. The three cyclists who led most of the bike race were reeled in about 10 miles from the finish.

HTC-Columbia didn't seem able ...   more »

You wouldn't expect to see the two top contenders for the overall lead of the Giro d'Italia going at each other in front of a mass sprint.

But there was race leader Alexandre Vinokourov chasing down Cadel Evans in front of the pack in the last 500 yards of Stage 9 in Cava de Tirreni on Monday.

The usual lead-out train of HTC-Columbia had derailed in the last couple of miles, and Evans took advantage of this free-for-all by attempting to beat Vinokourov in the sprint and gain some time on his 1:13 deficit.

Garmin-Transititions Tyler Farrar watched this develop .....   more »

Chris Sorensen may have grown up in the flatness of Denmark, but he obviously trains in the mountains as the Saxo Bank cyclist beat the peloton to a mountaintop finish at the Giro d'Italia on Sunday.

The cold, foggy finish on the Monte Terminillo tested, but didn't take much of a toll on the overall leaders in the race on Stage 8.

Overall leader Alexandre Vinokourov and the group of rivals led by Cadel Evans all crossed the finish line about a minute after the Dane except for David Millar of Garmin-Transitions ....   more »

How tough was Saturday's Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia?

For one thing, it was 138 miles long. Also, it rained, hard at times; hard enough that a short section of the course was closed due to a landslide.

Compounding that, the peloton cycled over about a dozen miles of Tuscany's strada bianche, dirt roads. The rain, of course, turned the dirt to mud and the racers were covered in it.

Plowing through all this to victory, however, was Australia's Cadel Evans (above), who beat an elite group ....   more »

[Corrects Universal Sports schedule for Giro d'Italia]

The Giro d'Italia and Amgen Tour of California bike races will be running on simultaneous days for the week beginning this Sunday.

While the conflict created havoc for some teams that either had to choose between the two bike races or split their squads between California and Italy, all it's going to do for cycling fans is put them in front of the TV for more hours on days when they should be enjoying the fresh air.

Fortunately, the Giro is broadcast live in the mornings on Universal Sports, while the Tour of California will appear live in the afternoons on Versus ....   more »

Attacking in the early miles of a Giro d'Italia stage doesn't seem to be hurting anyone's chances for a stage win this year.

For the second day in a row, a member of a nearly day-long breakaway won the 103-mile Stage 6 from Fidenza to Carrara.

Australian Matthew Lloyd of Omega Pharma-Lotto dropped his breakaway partner, Rubens Bertogliatia of the Androni Giocattoli cycling team, on the final climb and sailed across the finish line for a solo victory.

There was no change in the overall leaders ....   more »

A three-man breakaway survived to win Stage 5 at the Giro d'Italia on Thursday with the hot breath of the peloton on their backs.

Jerome Pineau of QuickStep led the trio across the finish line in Novi Ligure after they rode ahead of the peloton for nearly the entire 100-mile distance. There was no change among the overall leaders, as Vincent Nibali finished the day with a 13-second lead over Liquigas teammate Ivan Basso.

Although Pineau won the stage, it looks like you can credit Japan's Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox) for delivering the breakaway to the top 3 finish.

The break had a 5:40-minute lead over the peloton ....   more »

The US-based Garmin-Transitions cycling team put itself in the pink at the 2008 Giro d'Italia with its performance at the team time trial, but that success wasn't repeated on Wednesday.

The Italian Liquigas-Doimo team beat the field by 13 seconds to elevate cyclist Vincenzo Nibali into the overall lead. He had started the day in 4th overall.

Previous race leader Alexandre Vinokourov dropped to 6th place overall after his Astana team came in tied for 5th at 38 seconds behind Liquigas. Australian Cadel Evans, who lost the pink leader's jersey after Stage 3, dropped further back after his BMC Racing team finished a dismal 12th place, 1:31 behind the winner ....   more »

While the Stage 2 victory of Tyler Farrar brought joy to the Garmin-Transitions pro cycling team at the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, Christian Vande Velde's crash and abandonment in Stage 3 on Monday must have brought sorrow.

It's the second year in a row that the 33-year-old US rider and team captain for Garmin has crashed out of the Giro in Stage 3. Last year, he broke five vertebrae, a rib and his pelvis.

Although there's no official confirmation yet, it appeared that Vande Velde broke or seriously injured his right collarbone when he crashed about 25 miles from the finish ...   more »

Cadel Evans takes overall lead

Washington state's own Tyler Farrar won the closing sprint in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, marking his third win of 2010.

Cadel Evans grabbed the maglia rosa from UK's Bradley Wiggins, who won the Stage 1 prologue time trial on Saturday.

Farrar, 25, hails from Wenatchee. His father, Ed Farrar, is an orthopedic surgeon in that central Washington city who is battling back from a life-threatening head-on bike crash versus an automobile one morning in 2008.

That same fortitude that keeps his father from giving up helped propel his son forward ....   more »

What epic bicycle race starts in Amsterdam this weekend?

The 2010 Giro d'Italia, of course. The three-week Grand Tour around Italy -- rolling out Saturday until May 30 -- often starts far from home. Work is even underway to launch the 2012 Giro in Washington DC.

Something as extreme as a trans-Atlantic transition might be necessary to maintain interest in the race in North America in coming years as the Amgen Tour of California has scheduled itself May 16 - 23, right in the middle of the classic Italian bike race.

That scheduling competition in May means that the cycling teams and racers have to choose between the two events.

Lance Armstrong, who competed at the Giro for the first time ever last year, and sprinter Mark Cavendish (Columbia), for instance, have opted to race in California (Armstrong's RadioShack team wasn't even invited to the Giro). 

World champion Cadel Evans, however, is racing at the Giro ....   more »

As strange as it may seem, a move is afoot to bring the Giro d'Italia bike race to Washington DC in 2012.

The Giro characteristically has begun the 3-week bike race for a few days in other countries before relocating to Italy for the bulk of the miles.  The Tour de France also will visit adjacent countries during its three-week run.

But never before has one of these races included a TransAtlantic flight as part of the race ...   more »

The organizers of the 2010 Giro d'Italia announced a rigorous 2,118-mile route last weekend for the bike race that rolls out from May 8 to 30.

With the rescheduling of the 2010 Tour of California to May 16-23, pro cycling teams and their members will have to choose between competing in the 3-week Grand Tour or the 1-week California event.

Here's what the Giro is offering in 2010;

-- Three days of racing based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to start;
-- Six mountain stages that include the Gavia, Mortirolo, Terminillo, Zoncolan, Plan de Corones and Pejo Terme;
-- Seven sprinters' stages ...   more »

Russian Denis Menchov protected his lead over voracious rival Danilo Di Luca in the final stage time trial of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, in spite of crashing on rain-slicked streets just a kilometer from the finish.

Riding hard on the 9-mile loop around ancient Rome, Menchov slipped on the wet street and crashed.  After slidding along the pavement, Menchov immediately got up and picked up his bike. His mechanic in the trailing team car quickly handed him a new bike, enabling him to cross the finish in 10th place.

In spite of the fall, Menchov put an extra 21 seconds on his margin over Italy's Di Luca, who finished the race in second place, 41 seconds behind Menchov.

Levi Leipheimer was the highest placed US rider in the Giro ...   more »

With everyone watching the showdown between Denis Menchov and challenger Danilo Di Luca, Belgium's Philippe Gilbert slipped out of the lead group with less than a mile to go and won Stage 20 in Agnani on Saturday.

Menchov and Di Luca finished together in the pack. Italy's Di Luca actually lost 2 seconds in his bid to dislodge Menchov from first place.

The result means that Menchov carries a 20-second lead over Di Luca as they prepare for Sunday's final stage, a 9-mile individual time trial around the streets of Rome. Menchov, who gained the leader's pink jersey from Di Luca in the Stage 12 individual time trial, is expected to retain that lead. ...   more »

Giro d'Italia race leader Denis Menchov stuck to his rival's rear wheel as Italy's Danilo Di Luca tried unsuccessfully to win back the pink jersey on Stage 19 on Friday.

Although Menchov finished in fourth place, right behind Di Luca, the Italian did gain 8 seconds on Menchov. Di Luca is now within 18 seconds with just two more stages to go in this year's bicycle race.

While that contest was brewing below, Carlos Sastre won the stage with an attack on the final climb of Mount Vesuvius. He improved his overall ranking by one rung to fourth place...   more »

Italian Michele Scarponi won his second stage of this year's Giro d'Italia on Thursday in a seven-man sprint that included Americans Jason McCartney and Danny Pate.

The seven cyclists were the remnants of a breakaway of 25 bicycle racers who gained up to about 6 minutes over the peloton at one point on the 113-mile stage from Sulmona to Benevento.

Race leader Denis Menchov and chief rival Danilo Di Luca finished together in the main peloton, with Rabobank's Menchov maintaining his 26-second lead over Di Luca. No change in the standings for the other leaders, as Levi Leipheimer remained in 6th place, 4:32 back ...   more »

Italy's Franco Pellizotti took a solo victory at the summit of the Blockhaus on Wednesday, while Denis Menchov coolly hung on to the leader's pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia bicycle race.

Second place Danilo Di Luca attacked Menchov with all his power on the 15-mile climb, but Menchov seemed to effortlessly stay on his rival's rear wheel. Stefano Garzelli and Ivan Basso joined that chase group that loosely crossed the finish about 42 seconds behind Pellizotti.

Lance Armstrong attempted to bridge up to Pellizotti soon after he attacked at the bottom of the 15-mile climb, but couldn't quite catch on. ...   more »

Carlos Sastre exploded out of the pack on the final climb at the Giro d'Italia on Monday to win Stage 16 and bring himself closer to overall leader Denis Menchov.

Along the way, last year's Tour de France champion overtook breakaway leader Yaroslav Popovych, who appeared ready to hand his Astana team its first win of the 2009 Giro.

Team Astana suffered more disappointment as their favorite to win the Giro, American Levi Leipheimer, crossed the finish line nearly 3 minutes behind the winner and fell three places to 6th, 3:21 behind Menchov. He was pulled across the finish line at Monte Petrano by teammate Lance Armstrong ...   more »

Pre-race favorite Ivan Basso staged a short-lived attack on the pink jersey Sunday, but couldn't sustain an advantage as overall leader Denis Menchov retained the top spot of the Giro d'Italia for another day.

Italian Leonardo Bertagnolli took the solo victory on Stage 15 in Faenza. The 31-year-old was the sole survivor of a 16-man breakaway pack that formed about 11 miles into the 99 mile stage.

Despite lots of drama in the rollercoaster stage that routed the peloton over five climbs, the leaders remained intact at the end of the day. At one point 3rd place cyclist Levi Leipheimer lost contact with the Menchov group, but the Astana rider was able bridge about 29 seconds back to  the leaders' group.

Basso delivered much of that drama, as he attacked on the next to last climb -- Monte Casale ....   more »

Once in a blue moon the cyclists in a breakaway survive to the finish. Stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday was one of those days.

Aussie Simon Gerrans and 13 other members of the peloton attacked just 8 miles into the mountainous stage to Bologna; they remained out front for the remaining 99 miles of the race.

Their only impact on the overall contest for the pink jersey was to press Danilo Di Luca's LPR Brakes team into service to close the gap. Interesting that LPR Brakes took up that role, rather than Rabobank, the team of overall leader Denis Menchov ....   more »

The predominant sprinter of Giros d'Italia of the recent past once again couldn't muster the speed to overtake cycling's prevailing speedster of the present.

Team Columbia's Mark Cavendish took his third stage win of this year's Giro with Alessandro Petacchi trying desparately to pass as they crossed the finish line in Florence on Friday.

Petacchi, Ale-Jet, schooled Cavendish and his teammates early on in Stages 2 and 3 this year, but Cavendish has returned with victories in Stages 9, 11 and 13. The Brit can give some credit to Columbia teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen, who once again set up Cavendish in textbook fashion. ...   more »

As promised, the Stage 12 individual time trial shook up the standings of the 2009 Giro d'Italia as Danilo Di Luca finally gave up his pink leader's jersey to Denis Menchov, left.

US cyclist Levi Leipheimer stepped up one place to 3rd overall, 40 seconds behind Menchov and just 6 seconds behind second place Di Luca.

Comeback cyclist Lance Armstrong gained more ground on Wednesday, increasing his position to 12th in the overall standings, but dropping back to 6:34 behind the leader.

Now at the mid-point of the three week bicycle race around Italy, it remains to be seen if Menchov's Rabobank team can help him protect the lead, or if Leipheimer's Astana teammates can help him whittle away at Menchov's lead ...   more »

You know it ain't easy, but Mark Cavendish made it look that way again as he won a bunch sprint for Stage 11 at the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.

US-based Team Columbia set up the Brit in textbook fashion as the peloton raced into Arenzano.  Cavendish rewarded their efforts by powering across the finish line first; it was his second stage win of this year's Giro.

Danilo Di Luca remained in the pink jersey as the overall leader of the Giro after the stage, but faces a major challenge from US cyclist Levi Leipheimer in Thursday's individual time trial.

Leipheimer is an expert time trialist and is expected to do well enough in the 37-mile ITT from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore to close the 1:40 gap to Di Luca....   more »

Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca gained valuable time on his rivals at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday as he attacked in the closing miles of the mountainous 200-mile stage 10.

The advantage that Di Luca gained over Denis Menchov, Michael Rogers and Levi Leipheimer may be the margin he needs to survive Thursday's time trial in the pink jersey.

This was Di Luca's second stage victory at the Giro. He won Stage 4 a week ago when he rocketed past Maurice Soler in the final 100 yards and has held the pink jersey ever since.

In Tuesday's victory, Di Luca attacked an elite chase group to close the gap to Franco Pellizotti on the final descent with less than 6 miles to the finish. He maintained his lead and crossed the finish line about 10 seconds ahead of  Pellizotti and Menchov ...   more »

With all the protesting at this year's Giro d'Italia, I feel like I've been transported back to the 1960s.

First Astana faded out most of the sponsors on their jerseys to protest not getting paid. Then on Sunday the entire peloton decided to ride en masse to protest the dangerousness of the circuit race around Milan.

The whole world was watching as the cyclists pedaled along at a leisurely 21-23 mph for lap after lap. In fact, the entire peloton stopped before completing the 4th lap, and race leader Danilo Di Luca took the microphone:

"We are going on. We wanted to stop and say thanks for your presence, but we don't feel the need to risk it anymore. The circuit is not adapted to our security."

Some cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, had been critical of the routes earlier in the week. Friday's 25-mile dangerous descent to the finish into the rain, for instance, drew criticism from Armstrong, among others ...   more »

It was a long day in the saddle for the 194 cyclists who pedaled 155 miles through the mountains in northern Italy and Austria on Thursday, but Michele Scarponi is probably feeling no pain.

The Diquigiovanni cycling team member broke from the peloton with a small group early in Stage 6 and survived in the front all the way to Mayrhofen.

All the pain was felt by his breakaway companion Vasili Kiryenka, who suffered a mechanical near the finish then cramped up as he tried to catch Scarponi.

Italy's Danilo Di Luca retained the pink jersey ....   more »

No one could match Russian cyclist Denis Menchov's burst of speed inside the last mile on the way to winning Stage 5's mountaintop finish at the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday.

Tuesday's stage winner Danilo Di Luca finished right behind Menchov, but an important three seconds ahead of race leader Thomas Lövkvist of Team Columbia, thereby taking over the race lead and the pink jersey.

Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner finished just 9 seconds behind Menchov, solidifying their status in top 10. The Astana teammates are 4th for Leipheimer and 8th for Horner.

The most well-known Astana team member, comeback cyclist Lance Armstrong, failed to hang on ...   more »

Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca rocketed past Mauricio Soler in the final 100 yards of the first mountaintop stage of this year's Giro d'Italia on Tuesday.

The steep terrain on the 100-mile stage from Padova to San Martino di Castrozza helped defeat the early leaders of the race such as Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, and put Team Columbia's Thomas Lövkvist in the leader's pink jersey.

American Lance Armstrong, who started the day in 5th overall, stayed in the middle of a chase group all day, but was content to let the others attack in the steep final few kilometers. He finished 15 seconds behind the winner and dropped to 6th place overall. ...   more »

Ugualmente Male! US cyclist Christian Vande Velde has crashed out of the Giro d'Italia bicycle race.

You'll remember from this photo that Vande Velde became the second US cyclist ever to wear the Giro's pink leader jersey last year when his team won the opening team time trial stage.

Things didn't go quite as well this year, as Garmin-Chipotle finished in second place on the Stage 1 team time trial on Saturday to Team Columbia. Then Vande Velde crashed out on Monday.

He was sitting in 8th place overall when he crashed. ...   more »

Update: Universal Sports comes to the rescue!

The sports programmer will offer Giro d'Italia coverage on a live webcast and a slightly delayed TV broadcast beginning Saturday.

See the Universal Sports Cycling Dashboard for more information as it develops. Apparently the deal was just inked earlier Thursday.

Previously: If you're thinking you'll catch coverage of the Giro d'Italia on Versus -- the "all-Lance-all-the-time" network during the Tour de France -- then guess again.

Unless events change, Versus will be completely out of the picture for coverage of the Giro d'Italia, which begins Saturday and runs through May 31. That omission even includes the network's Sunday cycling show, which is in hiatus until June 7, and its website ...   more »

That failed sprint up Pinos Altos in the Tour of the Gila last Sunday must have sent the message to Lance Armstrong that he's not ready to win the 3-week Giro d'Italia that starts on Saturday.

In a dramatic turnaround, the 7-time Tour de France winner announced Tuesday that he'll ride in support of Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer, the 3-time winner of the Tour of California and winner of last week's Tour of the Gila.

Armstrong had said early in his comeback season that he wanted to race to win the Giro; it would be his first appearance in bike race around Italy. But a broken collarbone suffered in a crash at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in March delayed his training ...   more »

Lance Armstrong -- at 7 Tour de France championships -- will be joined by a host of cycling champions at the 2009 Giro d'Italia.

Carlos Sastre, last year's Tour de France winner, has signed on for the Giro, and Denis Menchov, winner of the Vuelta a Espana in 2005 and 2007 also announced his intention to compete.

Five Giro d'Italia ...   more »

The Team Garmin cyclists must be licking their collective chops on Saturday after learning that the 2009 Giro d'Italia opens with a team time trial in Venice.

An opening team time trial in the Giro last year put the US-based team -- then known as Team Slipstream-Chipotle -- in the leading position with Illinois-raised Christian Vande Velde in the pink jersey.

The Giro rolls across Italy (with brief visits to Austria, Switzerland and France) for 2,105 miles from May 9 -31. It finishes in Rome with a time trial, the first time the bike race has skipped Milan as the finish since 1989 ...   more »

First-time Giro d'Italia competitor Lance Armstrong taped a message for the 2009 course presentation in Venice on Saturday in which he reviewed some of the challenges of next year's bike race.

The press has been saying that Armstrong is racing the Giro d'Italia in May to win, then the Tour de France in July to support his Astana teammate Alberto Contador. But on Saturday he said:

"I know there's a lot of  talk about the pink jersey. I'm excited to race hard, but Ivan Basso is my favorite. ....   more »

The 100-year anniversary of the Giro d'Italia rolls out of Venice on May  9, 2009, and some big names in cycling already have announced their intentions to compete.

Leading the list is Lance Armstrong, who is coming out of retirement for 2009 and says he's in it to win. He's never before competed at the Giro.

Others include:

-- Carlos Sastre of Spain, winner of the 2008 Tour de France;

-- Cadel Evans of Australia, back to back runner up at the Tour ...   more »

After protecting a slim margin in the pink jersey for the past six stages, Alberto Contador won the Giro d'Italia on Sunday with a comfortable lead of one minute and 57 seconds.

Early on it was reported that perhaps the last-minute addition of Astana to the Giro's peloton had put the team off their game; Contador was on a beach vacation with his girlfriend when he got the phone call the week before the race.

In spite of their slow start, Contador and his team finished strong in the last week in the mountains. The Spaniard gained the overall lead in the mountains on Stage 15 last Sunday, and held onto to it throughout the week, for the past couple of stages with only a four-second margin ...   more »

Challengers attacked Giro d'Italia leader Alberto Contador through the mountains on Saturday. But at the end of the day the Spanish rider for Astana retained his 4-second lead in the three-week race that ends Sunday.

Italian rival Riccardo Riccò and Contador matched each other over the Passo Gavia, Passo del Mortirolo and the Aprica. Neither one gave up a second to the other, although Ricco sprinted in to finish just ahead of Contador.

The lead group attacked each other on the second climb of the day, the Mortirolo, with its average 7.9% gradient. But amazing climber Emanuele Sella attacked at the beginning of the smaller third climb, the Aprica, no one could match him ...   more »

Alberto Contador held onto the slimmest of leads -- by just 4 seconds -- as the Giro d'Italia routed the peloton over three major climbs on Friday, including a mountaintop finish.

The winner of last year's Tour de France faded as challengers attacked on the final climb, and at one point he had lost his overall lead "on the road." But Contador had one last push left for Monte Pora and it gave him the margin he needed to survive.

As the peloton heads over Mortirolo and the legendary Gavia for Saturday's penultimate stage, Ricardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) sits just 4 seconds behind and defending champion Danilo Di Luca sits in third place, 21 seconds behind ...   more »

Cycling veteran Jens Voigt, left, beat Paolo Bettini (and the rest of the peloton) at his own game on Thursday at the Giro d'Italia on a course that will be used for the 2009 World Championships.

Current world champion Bettini attacked early in the race and drove about a dozen riders in a breakaway on the 91-mile Stage 18 from Mendrisio to Varese.

But it was Team CSC's Voigt, 36, who made a solo attack from the breakaway with about 24 miles left. His move tore apart the group, as different bunches in 3's and 4's tried to catch up. Among those unsuccessful chasers, Bettini. ...   more »

The sudden controversy concerning UK's Mark Cavendish, left, at the Giro d'Italia doesn't involve tainted urine samples or blood doping allegations.

The issue is whether or not Cavendish let High Road teammate and lead-out man Andre Greipel win the Stage 17 sprint to the finish line in Locarno on Wednesday.

Cavendish has two stage wins of his won at the Giro, and observers noted that he sat on Greipel's wheel through the sprint and never accelerated to win the stage. It would have been his third stage win at the Giro; no Briton has ever won three stages of a major cycling race, laments the Guardian newspaper ...   more »

Italy's Enrico Pellizotti won the ever-climbing 7.9-mile time trial on Monday, but couldn't dislodge Astana's Alberto Contador from the overall lead.

The Spanish cyclist, who just attained the leader's pink jersey after Sunday's stage, finished Stage 16 in 4th place but widened the margin over his nearest rival -- Riccardo Riccò -- to 41 seconds.

After Tuesday's rest stage, the peloton swings into Switzerland for part of a 90-mile 17th stage from Sondrio to Locarno that has only one climb. Cyclists with a design on a championship will have to look ahead to the mountain stages on Friday or Saturday or Sunday's final stage -- a time trial around Milan...   more »

Surpassing Saturday's winning effort, Emanuele Sella drove a breakaway for all of Stage 15 and survived the six major climbs to cross the finish line with a two-minute gap at Passo Fedaia.

Spain's Alberto Contador, left, fought his own battle among the GC contenders, eventually grabbing a half-minute lead over his nearest rivals for the pink jersey. Five riders sit a minute or less behind Contador, however.

Monday's individual time trial may be the stage that solidifies the lead for an overall champion for the Giro d'Italia, which ends next Sunday. The 7.9-mile race against the clock climbs right to the summit of Plan de Corones, at times taking a 16%, 20% and even 24% gradient to the top ...   more »

Italy's Emanuele Sella won the mountainous Stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia by more than 4 minutes with a solo breakaway some 30 miles from the mountaintop finish in Alpe di Pampeago.

The high mountain passes on Saturday also served to shake up the overall lead, with Gabriele Bosisio taking the pink jersey, leading Astana's Alberto Contador by just 5 seconds.

On Sunday the real fun begins, though, as Stage 15 features six climbs over 94 miles, including the mountaintop finish at Passo Fedaia. Expect more changes in the overall standings ...   more »

Mark Cavendish scored his second win at the 2008 Giro d'Italia of Friday with a commanding two-bike length sprint finish at the walled city of Cittadella.

The 23-year-old passed 3-stage winner Daniele Bennati in the sprint. Teammates on High Road, which is now a US-based team, led out the peloton in the final kilometers.

Although the overall leaders remained unchanged, with Italy's Giovanni Visconti in No. 1, Saturday's stage from Verona to a mountaintop finish at Alpe di Pampeago might shake things up ...   more »

Italy's Daniele Bennati scored a Giro d'Italia hat trick on Thursday with this third win in 12 stages, with 9 stages remaining in the three-week tour.

The 27-year-old sprinter for Liquigas beat Team High Road's Mark Cavendish in a photo finish, both slightly ahead of Australia's Robbie McEwen of Silence-Lotto.

Bennati's dominance this year is amazing, considering that he's in his 7th year as a pro and he had never before won at the Giro...   more »

With a little help from his QuickStep team, Giovanni Visconti, left, held onto the pink leader's jersey for another day at the 2008 Giro d'Italia on Wednesday in spite of being dropped twice and crashing once.

But it was Alessandro Bertolini who stole the show, winning the 123-mile mountainous Stage 11 from Urbania to Cesena in a sprint he won after a one of his breakaway companions crashed in the final kilometer.

It marked the first Giro d'Italia win ever for the 36-year-old on the team Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni. Bertolini and another rider attaked earlier in the race and were caught by three other cyclists who all battled for a stage win...   more »

Although Giovanni Visconti held onto the overall lead of the Giro d'Italia after Tuesday's individual time trial, you could see the favorites climbing in the standings.

Despite a fractured elbow suffered on Saturday, Alberto Contador finished 2nd overall for the day, climbing from 8th into 4th place, 6:59 behind the leader. Astana's Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer also made big gains, as the German rose from 15th to 6th overall and the US's Leipheimer rose from 22nd to 14th.

More changes are expected in the leader board on Wednesday, after a 123-mile mountainous stage between Urbania and Cesena. There are four mountain passes, including Monte Carpegna which features a 14% section and the short, but not so sweet Sorrivoli...   more »

As the Giro d'Italia begins its second week, the Italians remain very much in control of the race in spite of its international cast.

On Saturday's Stage 8, Riccardo Riccò of Saunier Duval won again (also Stage 2) in a bunch sprint in Tivoli, and Quick Step's Giovanni Visconti, left, held on for another day as winner of the overall leader's pink jersey.

Except for Slipstream-Chipotle's initial team time trial win on Stage 1 that put Christian Vande Velde in the lead, Italians Visconti and Franco Pellizoti have held the maglia rosa for 7 of 8 stages ...   more »

For the second day in a row on Thursday, the breakaway arrived first at the finish line at the Giro d'Italia and seriously shook up the overall lead.

The 11-man bunch shattered the standings after this 143-mile stage, dropping the previous leaders by 9 minutes or more down the general classification.

Italy's Matteo Priamo of CSF Group Navigare won the stage in Peschici. Another member of the breakaway, Italian cyclist Giovanni Visconti of Quick Step took the overall lead. ...   more »

A perfectly executed breakaway with four other cyclists put Slipstream's David Millar, left, in the perfect position for a Stage 5 win on Wednesday at the Giro d'Italia.

But with about a kilometer to go on a 9% climb to the finish at Contursi Terme, the Scotsman's chain broke as he strained to keep up with eventual winner Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff). Millar threw his bike over the barrier in disgust and waited for a replacement to finish the race.

The rest of the peloton finished about 30 seconds later, leaving Italian Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas in the overall lead, with Slipstream's Christian Vande Velde 1 second behind. ...   more »