The 2011 Giro d'Italia is on the road

Giro 11 report Prologue/Stage 1
In The (Time) Zone by David Olle, Italy, +39 333 5959 217 (twitter feed @DavidOLLE)

For those in Australia, SBS2 does a daily report on the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) in the evenings, catch them if you can.

The Bike Race:
Italy is celebrating 150 years of unification this year and starting the 2nd biggest Grand Tour of the season in Torino.  From there the race traverses the Tyrrenian seaboard (over the ‘knee') south, all the way to Sicily's Mt Etna.  An air transfer helps the riders back over to the Adriatic coast (near the ‘calf') where they begin the run north, through the Dolomites, taking a quick rendezvous in Austria, before finishing in Milan.  Just 3,482 kilometres, and with 8 hilltop finishes, it will definitely be some super skinny guy donning the winners Maglia Rosa in Milan, at the end of this year's ‘Fight for Pink' May 7-29.

Giro d'Italia, May 7 - 29, 2011,

Stage 1,  May 7, Venaria Reale - Turin 21.5 km
Results
1     HTC-Highroad     0:20:59     
2     Team RadioShack     0:00:10     
3     Liquigas-Cannondale     0:00:22     

General classification after stage 1
1     Marco Pinotti (Ita) HTC-Highroad     0:20:59     
2     Lars Ytting Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad           
3     Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad

HTC's plan in the opening Team Time Trial (TTT) was to take 20 second  (max) turns to the halfway point, where the stronger riders would move to  longer, faster turns.  Mission accomplished.

Skippy report:  The old dog Robbie McEwen outsprinted his RadioShack teammates home (as you would expect) to take 6th place on GC (General classification). 

Cuisine Report:  Breakfast menu in the ‘Autogrill' (tollroad service station) fresh squeezed orange juice, cappuccino and a brioche €4.10  ($5.50)

Comment:   Alberto Contador is all teeth, skin and bones.  Marco Pinotti (pink jersey) is all teeth, skin and bone under a nose ‘breather-bandage'.  Team Leopard (sans scarves) are apparently happy with their 14th place.  I know it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game, but seriously, you have to PLAY the game, even just a little...lookout Euselesstel, they're on your tail.    

Tomorrow:  Stage 2, Stage 2, Alba - Parma, 242 km
Expect Cav to be in pink tomorrow night, after this long, but fairly flattish stage.  HTC will be flogging themselves early in this Giro, but that is what it is all about.  Unless our Robbie unleashes something special, which IS possible.

The Writer:  This is my 10th Giro, at the barriers, and my 23rd grand tour, enough said.