Wednesday & Thursday....race news

Wednesday, Stage 4, 115 kms

Wednesday was the first race in full sunshine. This was a welcome relief but added the element of heat and proper hydration to the race. The race took us through more beautiful countryside. It was a hilly route with 4 long climbs ranging from 4 to 15 kms with grades up to 12%.

Once again the race start was fast. The average over the first 20 km was around 40 kph. Then we hit the first climb and the race was on. Unfortunately I was near the back of about 200 riders when there was a small mishap that caused about 50 of us to slow down. This happened near the crest of a hill. The result was that we were dropped by the large group. On the first long climb of 10 km I rode with 2 other riders going the same pace. We would ride together for the rest of the race.

Overall it was a great day. Of our trio I was the strongest hill climber so I did most of the work on the hills. On some hill I would lead out and drop back to bring one of the guys back to the other one. On the down hill I sat at the back and let the 2 others lead out. There were 2 or 3 occasions where we could have dropped one of the group and I would sit up and encourage the racer to continue on. Neither of the 2 guys spoke any English but it didn't seem to matter. We crossed the finish line in 3 hours 24 minutes. A few minutes after one of the guys, Massimo, came up to me and handed me his cell phone. I asked who I was going to speak to. He said a friend from Canada. I took the phone and said hello. On the other end was a Canadian gal in Rome. She said Massimo wanted her to say hi to his new friend from Canada. It was a special moment.


Thursday, Stage 5, Team Time Trail

We completed the team time trial today. Yikes, it was tough. We went 31.5 km at an average of 38 kph. Our Team started with 6 racers; John, Chris, Dave, Marcus, me and a fellow we met here, Dennis, he is from Toronto. We dropped Marcus about 5 k from the start. Dave dropped half way. 4 of us roared along and finished strong. There were 79 teams in the event. We finished 42nd at 47:30. I worked very hard yesterday and my legs were tired but I managed to contribute. I think the team is very happy with the result.

Tomorrow is the last stage of the Giro. It is the mountain stage. We have done some big hills but tomorrow will be the toughest climbing of the week. I'll report out on it tomorrow.

Ciao!