What a great stage. I really enjoyed todays race and most is due to the fact my legs felt good and my health felt much better. This stage had a little bit of everything. 172km long with 3 climbs along the way the heavens dropping a little bit of rain here and there.
It took a fair while for the break to go as we raced on the wet roads for quite some time. Two riders ended up escaping in which one was Matt Lloyd a fellow Australian who ended up taking a great stage victory.
The first climb was 10km long at an average gradient of 5%. The bunch set a good pace up the climb but everyone made it over. I struck trouble on the decent, puncturing 1km in and after a change from the mavic spares car I had a 20km wet decent chase to get contact back with the peloton. I have to say I have never cornered so fast in the wet in my life. Matt White had me behind the car at high speeds and it was basically shut your eyes and hope you make it around the corner. I rejoined at the bottom of the climb and had a good 30km before the next 8km berg.
Up the next climb the field started to split and I was told to find a big bunch that had been dropped to ride into the finish. The aim is to try and save as much energy as I can over the next few days in order to have more energy to help Tyler in two days time. I went a little further then I probably should of on the climb but my legs felt good so I kept going. Half way up the climb David Millar who on our team is sitting 7th overall punctured and after a quick wheel change I dropped back with Dan Martin to help pace him back onto the main group. It was a hard task and after the stage David said he was sitting around 600 watts for a couple of km when we were chasing back on. That made me feel a bit better as to why it did hurt so much.
I pulled the anchor on a couple km from the top and road in with the big sprinters bunch that had been dropped. It was a good feeling that my legs are coming back. Todays 7th stage is going to be a wet one and we are heading over the white dirt roads of the Tuscany region. This will be a new experience for me and at 222km long it will be a tough stage.
Ciao
With one of the shortest stages of this years Giro at 162km long it was a fast start as many riders fancied there chances in a break away. 4 riders ended up escaping with no one of any threat for the general classification. This means the sprinter teams have to set the tempo of the peloton and bring back the break in order to have a sprint for the stage win.
Unfortunately even with Lampre, HTC Columbia and us trying hard to pull it back the break held on by a few seconds. A little bit frustrating for the team as Tyler won the bunch kick for fourth place.
I did not have a good day and still are feeling the effects of the bronchitis that I have had. Their have been thoughts of pulling out of the tour as I am really struggling to gain full good health but I am continuing to fight through the stages in hope that it will get better and I can compete at this level.
Cam
Tyler wins the bunch kick for 4th
The alarm goes off, open the curtains and its a perfect sunny day. So we think. On our way to the course in the afternoon the clouds start rolling in and with just over and hour before we start the thunder roars and yep we are going to get wet.
33km Team Time Trial which is going to have a little bit of everything in it. Some teams were getting wet at the end of the course, some in the middle and some at the start. Every team had a little bit of storm, a little bit of sunshine and a little bit of wind from all directions.
Even after losing Christian Vande Velde the day before to a broken collar bone we believed we were still a shot for the win. It was going to be tough on a flat, fast circuit like this one to hold the speed with one less rider but we gave it one hell of a crack. Unfortunately our run of luck with the weather was not a favourable one and we did not have the horse power today and fell away to an eighth place finish.
We averaged around 52km/hr but were 49 seconds off the pace of the winning team. David Millar has now dropped down on the overall classification but still holds a top ten. We will look for stage wins with Tyler Farrar over the next couple of days who has proven he is one of the fastest guys at this years race.
On a personal note I am feeling much better and am looking forward to getting stronger each day from now. I played as big a part as I could of yesterday in the TTT and although disappointed with our overall result the sensations of better form is slowly coming back.
Watch for the Argyle sprint train over the next few days.
Ciao
Cam
What a stage it was. Anyone who had the pleasure of watching Tyler Farrar’s win yesterday would of witnessed a perfectly executed sprint and one the whole team was very proud of. An excellent lead out from Murilo Fischer, David Millar and Julian Dean set Tyler up to deliver the Argyle Army there first Giro victory for 2010.
The stage was full of crashes with Tyler, David and Christian all involved. The team did a great job at helping each other out and staying calm to deliver a great win. Tyler is only 1 second off the pink jersey and with another stage today predicted to end in a sprint, we could be having the maglia rosa on our shoulders heading to Italy and the teams time trial.
On a personal note I finished with the second group. My body is on the mend and with a good day today I hope to line up in the teams time trial, ready to pull my weight in the green and gold.
A happy birthday also goes out to our Canadian Svein Tuft who yesterday celebrated his 33rd birthday and with the stage win he was more then pleased to spend his time in Amsterdam.
Cam
Hi Everybody
Well I have recovered nicely after the Tour of Romandie and am now starting to do some good, solid training in preparation for my next tour. I told you all that I would be doing Tour de Picardie in the middle of this month but now Garmin Transitions did not get a start in this race so I will be training basically by myself for the next 3 weeks leading into Bayern Rundfahrt at the end of the month. I do not mind this too much as I am very motivated and hope to put in some good rides there.
As you know (from reading his daily blogs as I hope you all are!) Cameron is currently racing in the Giro d’Italia and in doing so has not been very considerate to my feelings as now I have a lot of alone time in my apartment for the next 3 – 4 weeks! I guess I can forgive him as its a pretty big race! So I have been getting stuck into a lot of movies, courtesy of my lovely girlfriend Genna, as she bought me a portable hard drive and filled it up with a heap of movies!
On the training side of things I thought I would tell you about my ride today. I managed to get in 5.5hrs and included going up the famous ‘Rocacorba’ climb to familiarise myself with it as I have a couple of days where I have to do threshold efforts up the climb. The reason the climb is famous is because a lot of guys test themselves on this climb to see how their form is. The climb is 13km long and has some pretty solid sections in it. I think the average for the climb is 8% so it is pretty tough.
So anyway I thought I would give you a little insight to how my training and life has been post Romandie! I might get back to my movies and I will be sure to write again soon.
Trav
What an interesting last 24 hours I have had. Yesterday was the opening stage of this years Giro. An 8.4km prologue around the streets of Amsterdam.
Riders had the chance of riding on the course for 2 hours in the morning when it was closed to all traffic. A fairly technical course with wet roads. This made the corners a little sketchy and a rider who is willing to sacrifice everything on the slippery roads with the chance of crashing was going to win the race. I felt pretty good in my morning ride and although the course did not really suit my style I was going to give it a fair go to test the legs out.
After returning to the hotel in the middle of the day for lunch my sickness hit me again and I was man down. Hot and cold fevers, coughing up stuff you don’t want to know about and the feeling of wanting to run to the toilet bowl every five seconds was not a good start for the first day of the Giro.
I went to the race feeling like a bomb had just exploded inside me and was told to take it really easy in the race, get through it safe and try to get some antibiotics in me after with a good nights sleep to help remove this from my body. Still being in the green and gold in front of millions of people watching world wide I was not going to go like a snail. I finished mid field and showed just maybe there are still some good legs inside me and if I can clear these sick feelings I can ride myself back into this tour.
Congratulations to Bradley Wiggins who handled I’m sure much pressure to come out on top of day one. We had David Millar post a respectable 7th with Svein, Tyler and Christian also putting in a good ride.
After 11 hours sleep I have awoken this morning to a better feeling. I have a little more energy and the sickness has calmed down a little bit. Hopefully a good sign that it is leaving my system. I am determined to finish stage 21 and help my team as much as possible. Fingers crossed for a good day on the bike and Go Tyler.
Until Tomorrow
Cam
Cameron in his 'Sweet' Kit at the Giro d'Italia Stage 1 Time Trial
What a cold day. 7 degrees and raining ment an easy 1 hour ride on the wind trainer to get the legs moving and the rest of the day relaxing. Fingers crossed for some nicer weather tomorrow to kick off the tour.
A big highlight today was the teams presentation. We were bussed into the centre of Amsterdam which was a new experience to me. I have never been into Amsterdam and what a vibrant city it is. Some nice looking ladies, coffee shops, clothes stores and the red light district. Oh sorry I was not ment to add that. Far from an Australian looking place that’s for sure.
Being presented in front of hundreds of people is always a daunting prospect but this year being my second Grand Tour I was much more relaxed and enjoyed the event. David Millar was our captain and talked to the crowd and before we knew it we were back to the hotel for massages and dinner.
I am looking forward to starting the Giro off tomorrow in Amsterdam. Huge crowds are expected and wearing my Australian Champion colours will be a proud moment. Look out for David Millar to be up there for our team and Tyler Farrar to place well and look to stay as close to the top in hope of taking the leaders jersey over the next couple of days. As for the green and gold, my aim is the team time trial and tomorrow is a good hit out for that.
Cam
We arrived into Amsterdam last night to find ourselves staying at the Mecure Hotel. Very nice I must say and with a room to myself it is a very relaxing way to start the tour. Once the racing starts I think my room mate for the whole Giro will be Tyler Farrar. Tyler is a great bloke and he is an awesome chance to take the leaders jersey so it will be exciting to room with a guy who will be fighting for the pink jersey in the first week.
I also found out today that we have our own team chef for the first week while here in Amsterdam. The first two meals I had the pleasure of tasting from him today were mouth watering. Beautiful salads, fish, chicken and rissotto were just some of the great dishes he made for us on day one. I am already looking forward to tomorrows lunch.
We went for an easy 2 and half hour ride today. It was 14 degrees and sunny which apparently is good conditions for the Netherlands. Here in Amsterdam you spend 90% time riding on cycle paths. Left, right, under, over and getting lost was the main part of our ride today. We were fortunate enough to have a local show us the way home and because of this the ride turned out not to bad.
Some media conferences in the afternoon finished off our day and with a good nights rest I am looking forward to jumping on my time trial bike tomorrow and being presented at what should be a huge teams presentation.
Until tomorrow.
Cam
Well in a couple of hours I will be boarding a flight bound for Amsterdam. Yes the Giro d’ Italia is starting in the Netherlands this year and I am looking forward to three weeks of pain but one hell of an experience. It is not my first Grand Tour as I did complete 13 stages of the Giro last year but this time im in for the whole hog. I cant say my last weeks preparation has gone all to plan. A stomach bug hit me last week and I became a couch potato for 3 days not touching the bike. I started to get better over the weekend only to be hit with a head cold this week. Not a good run of luck. I think the first couple of stages could be a big shock to the system but I am thankful I have a chance to have a hit out and ride myself into the tour with the fourth stage probably having the most importance on it for our team in this years tour. We will fly back to Italy after three days of racing in the Netherlands and after a rest day coming off the plane, we have the Teams Time Trial. We will go in as one of the favourites and hopefully can go one better then last year and win the stage and also have a chance of putting one of our riders into the Maglia Rosa.
So stay tuned to the website each day for daily reports on each stage of the Giro. Also the lead up days to the opening prologue, including the teams presentation.
Ciao
Cam
