[dc]T[/dc]he first (and perhaps most beautiful) grand tour of the year arrived and has wound it's way around Italy for a week now. As always, the Giro has been surprise after surprise, with rain and slippery roads playing almost as big a part as the racers themselves. How has the first week developed and what might we see in the coming two weeks?
As for the protagonists (or antagonists depending upon which side of the fence you're on), Katusha is here thanks to the CAS ruling that placed them into the World Tour, although without the defending second place Joachim Rodriguez. Ryder Hesjedal (defending champion) lined up next to Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali, Michele Scarponi, Robert Gesink and the odds on favorite, Bradley Wiggins. It was anyone's guess who could challenge Wiggins for the overall honors of the 2013 Giro, especially after his and Sky's dominating performance in the Tour de France last year. But as has been shown through the first week, the Giro is an unpredictable and fickle mistress, causing a number of the GC contenders to come to grief and leaving us all to wonder who will take home the coveted Maglia Rosa.
Stages
In the past few years, the Giro has been criticized as being too intense. Too demanding. Flat out too hard. Michele Acquarone has done a fantastic job in balancing the act in order to ensure star quality participation and exciting racing from beginning to end. Balancing time trial kilometers with mountaintop finishes, flat sprint stages and stages suitable to allow a break to go clear and somehow managing to not tip the balance towards one specialist or another is a difficult task indeed. Let's see how the stages developed.
Stage 1
A short 130km circuit race type stage around Naples showed off how Italy is rebuilding the former industrial miscreant of the Italian coastline. A relatively flat par-cours was tailor made for a bunch gallop, and despite some issues with his leadout train, Mark Cavendish was able to freelance his way to the pink jersey with the stage win.
Stage 2
The short (17.4km), hilly, technical TTT on the island of Ischia was supposed to be relatively benign. It put a couple of teams on the back foot, however: Garmin and BMC conceded 25 and 37 seconds to Wiggins and Team Sky, who put Salvatore Puccio in pink. Nibali lost only 14 seconds to Wiggins, keeping things close.
Stage 3
The 222km third leg of the Giro began in the lemon capital of Sorrento, crossing several punchy climbs on the way to Marina di Ascea. It was here that Hesjedal, Nibali and Evans showed that they understood the ways of the Giro: there's no place to hide and no point in sitting back waiting for something to happen. Attacks flew early and often, catching the normally cool Sky train unawares. By the end of the day, Luca Paolini (Katusha) had soloed away on the day's final descent in order to take the Maglia Rosa by winning solo. Evans and Hesjedal soaked up the remaining bonus seconds, recouping some of the time lost to Wiggins in the TTT. Scarponi lost about a minute after crashing behind a couple of Blanco riders and needing a bike change, putting serious doubts on his chances for a Giro win. The bad weather was an omen of what was to come.
Stage 4
The longest stage of the Giro, the 246k leg from Policastro to Serra San Bruno was marred by rain, cool temperatures and crashes. Paolini remained in pink after a sprint win by Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox). Wiggins lost 17 seconds after being caught behind a split in the peloton on the final rain soaked descent of the day.
Stage 5
Rain was the name of the game again in stage 5, a 203km slog from Cosenza – Matera. John Degenkolb (Argos – Shimano) put an exclamation mark on the day after his leadout man washed out in the final wet corner about 500 meters from the line. Paolini again remained in pink, with the main GC contenders opting to be cautious and finishing in the bunch.
Stage 6
2 years to the day that Wouter Weylandt crashed and died in the Giro, Mark Cavendish again raised his hands in victory, saluting the departed number 108 on the podium in a touching display. Pink remained with Paolini, and the GC guys sat in waiting for Saturday's time trial.
Stage 7
San Salvo to Pescara was supposed to be a lumpy transition stage. In practice, it saw a change of leadership (the Maglia Rosa now rested on the shoulders of Benat Intxausti after Paolini was dropped in the finale) and it saw the Sky fall. Wet roads have proven to be the bane of Bradley Wiggins, with a crash forcing him to concede nearly 1:30 to the rest of the GC favorites. Nibali also hit the deck in the drenching rain, but was quickly back up and riding. For the first time, the break succeeded and Adam Hansen (Lotto – Belisol) prevailed, dropping Emanuele Sella (Androni – Giocattoli) for the win. After this stage, it Wiggins was in a bad way, but the following day's 55km time trial would be the determining day.
Stage 8
Alex Dowsett won the day over Wiggins, but the biggest surprise of the day came from Nibali, Evans and Hesjedal. Nibali showed how much he'd worked on his time trialing over the winter, putting in a surprise performance that only saw him concede 11 seconds to Wiggins. Evans put in a strong effort, conceding 29 seconds, while Hesjedal lost a minute and a half, putting his Giro defense hopes in serious jeopardy. Wiggins had another tough day, with a puncture early on requiring a bike change. Scarponi put in a decent performance, keeping himself in contention. At the end of the day, Nibali had ridden himself into pink with his amazing performance.
Stage 9
The 170km leg from Sansepolcro – Firenze was again beset on all sides by wet weather, and true to form, Wiggins struggled again. At one point nearly a minute behind the main GC favorites, he managed to claw his way back to the group to finish on the same time. Maxim Belkov soloed away from about 35km out to a magnificent solo win as riders behind sniped at mountain points in the ever competitive Azurra mountains classification. Hesjedal cracked on the last climb of the day, losing another minute to his rivals and almost certainly putting the Giro out of reach.
Looking Ahead
Mountains punctuate the second week of the 2013 Giro, including a mountaintop finish upon the mighty Galibier. Vincenzo Nibali is sitting in pink and will be looking to extend his lead over the other GC contenders on the steep slopes that characterize the Giro, while the other GC contenders will be looking for time anywhere they can get it. Bradley Wiggins may well be completely beaten at this juncture and discarded out the back of the peloton like so many used bidons.
No matter what happens, it will surely continue to be one of the best Giros in recent memory.
