Friday, April 19, 2024

Tag: Giro d'Italia 2010

Stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia 2010 – Redux

Apologies for not updating the site for a little while folks - we've both been very busy with our day jobs. Ed has been clearing the decks before heading over to Italy to cover the Giro d'Italia shortly, and so to get us in the mood we thought you'd enjoy revisiting one of our diary articles from Stage 11 of last year's race, a 262km haul from Lucera to L'Aquila, when a break of over 50 riders threatened to overturn the race completely...

New to VV: Toby Watson presents Tobe’s Blog

We're very pleased to announce that Garmin Transitions physiotherapist Toby Watson will be contributing articles to his new VeloVeritas blog.

Big Race: Small Race

Big Race: Small Race. Mid June has been and gone, and I find myself up in the northeast of Italy once again (Arona to be precise), this time at a couple of tiny one day races. We came through the same area for the finale of the Giro, where Ivan Basso turned the screws over the final few days to win the overall.

Kris Withington – Garmin Transitions Mechanic

If mountain biking is your thing, and you're not really into road bikes, how - and why - would you end up working as a mechanic for a ProTour team? We met Garmin Transisions mechanic Kris Withington recently on the Giro d'Italia, chewin' the fat at the start of Stage 12 in Citta Sant'Angelo, and so we thought it would be great to find out the answer to that question, and discover a little more about this Giro, as well as life on the road with a top professional team.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day Seven, Thoughts on That Break

We've completed our stint at the Giro d'Italia 2010, but we miss the turn for Rimini airport, the signage is dire, we're late already, off at Rimini Nord, through the tolls, U turn and back down the other side of the autostrada, there it is, dump the car, limp to the terminal. 'You're baggage is overweight sir,' abandon my shorts, T-shirts, carry my sweat shirt and jacket - still over, even though I can tell the bag weighs nothing like the 13 kilos they say it does.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day Six, Simply Surreal

We made sure we were in plenty time for the Giro d'Italia 2010 stage start today - our mission was to get pics of Diquigiovanni's Cameron Wurf for Jered Gruber but Cam didn't arrive at the sign on before our appointed time of bolting.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day Five, Tyler Farrar Again

Tyler Farrar again today... the Italians are like any other race, there's nice folks and not-so-nice folks - but in the main they're friendly and helpful. Until, that is, you stick them behind the wheel of a car - any car will do, doesn't have to be an Audi or a Jag, a clapped out Fiat is fine for acting like a juvenile, aggressive, ignorant, petulant twat.

United Nations of Awesome

United Nations of Awesome. Boombah! Or, as we like to pretend that the Italians say, Opahhh! So the last post I put through (earlier today) was 16km from the finish, and included a series of “hopefullys” all of which came to pass, meaning we won today! A great result for the team, and a super performance by the team.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Into Double Figures

We're into double figures. We’re now deep into the Giro, Day 10 in fact, and the cracks are starting to show! Firstly, there was a horrific incident of five of the team’s staff getting on the wrong side of some VERY raw, yet delicious steak, which fortunately didn’t lead to a team-wide outbreak of GIT problems. Thank goodness for Universal Precautions! Secondly (and as ever, less importantly) the riders are now in the hurt basket pretty much permanently.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day Four, Nae Middle

Ciao from il Giro d'Italia 2010, amici! I was saying to Martin that I'm a bit worried, I've been wakening up feeling great - always a bad sign. The trouble with my usual Giro partner in crime, Dave being back in Scotia and suffering from Giro withdrawal symptoms (he's coming to le Tour, though) is that everything we write and photograph is subject to close scrutiny.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day Three, Riders in the Mist

Today we saw Riders in the Mist... When I read folks saying that the Giro is better than the Tour, I have to shake my head. Better, how? The scenery in Italy can be stunning, sure - but like yesterday, it can be ghastly, too.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day Two, Strada Bianchi

Today is Strada Bianchi day. Once you have your Giro d'Italia creds you feel better, despite the fact that a colleague had organised them for you a week ago, it's still a relief to hang that pink lanyard round your neck and stick those big lumps of sticky-back plastic on the hire car windscreen.

Giro d’Italia 2010 – Day One, Arrivo in Viareggio!

Ciao, come sta? Viareggio on the west coast of Italy, 06:30 Saturday May 15 and VeloVeritas is on the Giro - well, not quite, we have our credentials to collect from the Gazzetta camper van, this morning at the stage start in Carrara. The trip down wasn't too bad, Edinburgh to Luton, then Luton to Pisa - there was an hour's delay at Luton, but we were on Easyjet, so no one gets too stressed.

Giro d’Italia Team Time Trial; 4 Hr Race – 4 Sec Difference

Yesterday was the Giro d'Italia Team Time Trial (TTT) a 33km shot through northern Italy where teams departed five minutes apart and raced the clock up the road. The order of starting was based on the overall standing of the best three riders from each team, with the slowest team going first, and the team of the race leader going last (regardless of how their team was faring).

The Giro d’Italia 2010: Good Times Bad Times

Good Times Bad Times - CIAO! The Giro d’Italia version 2010 has begun. We started racing up in Amsterdam (which, while not technically* part of Italy, was a cool place to start racing from) with a time trial, followed by two road stages. The start of a Grand Tour is always cool — the whole team starts to find extra gears, and the organisation is singing by start time.

At Random

Phil Young Memorial GP Des Gents 2006

The Dunfermline team of I. Condie and R. Wilson won the Phil Young Memorial GP Des Gents time trial by nearly a minute on actual time, meaning that they also won the race on handicap, but only by a small margin: eight seconds.

Kyle Gordon – “Selection for the Scottish Cycling Commonwealth Games Squad is my number one priority”

John Archibald has ‘done the business’ when it comes to qualifying for the individual pursuit at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia come the spring. But Scotland has another young man chasing qualification for those lung shredding four kilometres, Mr. Kyle Gordon; we had a word with him after his recent adventures in Europe.

Giro d’Italia 2012 – Stage 16: Limone sul Garda – Falzes/Pfalzen 174km

I watched the stage from Limone sul Garda and the finale at 'Casa Vik', today. It was kind of him to invite me over; I wouldn’t have made it home in time to see the finish. But it wasn’t the same, not being there, not being part of it all. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and more sentimental, but this year I felt the strongest connection to the race I’ve had in the seven times I’ve covered it.

Raleigh Relives the Golden Age With 40th Anniversary Edition

Celebrating Joop Zoetemelk’s success 40 years on from the 1980 Tour de France, Raleigh is releasing an anniversary edition bicycle and frameset of the TI-Raleigh.

Jimmy Rae – National Tour Winner

'I cycled from my house in the West End of Glasgow to Larkhall, that would be around 30 miles, rode a 140 mile road race - it went away down over Beattock - won it, then cycled home - so that was around 200 miles for the day.' Things were different in Jimmy Rae's day. VeloVeritas took a run up to Crieff Hydro to interview one of the very few Scots to have won national tours - Mr. James Rae. Ours neat list of questions went out of the window and we decided it would be best to let Jimmy off the leash, year by year, popping in questions where we could...

Scottish Vets Road Race Championship 2008

John Kermode did what VeloVeritas expected him to, at sunny but windy Alford on Sunday afternoon and successfully defended his Scottish Vets Road Race Championship; as the football commentators say; 'it was déja vu all over again' as he beat the same man he did 12 months ago in the same race, on the same course-Dooley's Graeme McGarrity.