Boy! What a year this has been for the pro peloton! One thing is for sure, all of the excitement that was generated in 2008 will be carried through into 2009 and more so. Is anyone else excited about next year!!?? The 2009 season could not be packed with more drama and anticipation. We have the return of cycling superstar Lance Armstrong (Team Astana) as well as his former rival, Italian Ivan Basso (Team Liquigas) as well as the return of the entire Astana team into ASO races (knock on wood) including the Tour de France. Spain's Alberto Contador will finally get a chance to back up his 2007 yellow jersey, or will he? The return of Armstrong does complicate things which makes it all the better for us fans. I'm not complaining.

And what about the Giro? Will the centennial edition of this race be THE race of the year? Race director Angelo Zomegnan's quest to globalize the Giro and compete against the Tour de France's popularity will finally come to fruition thanks to an all-star cast of cyclists. All of the big names, save for Alberto Contador, will ride the Giro, making it the most greatly anticipated Grand Tour of the season.

Besides the two obvious races, Le Tour and the Giro, to keep tabs on, the other big event I can't wait for is the 2009 Paris Roubaix. Will big George Hincapie (Team Columbia) finally win his elusive cobblestone trophy? We in the states are always on pins and needles every year we watch this race and hope that all of the stars do align for the South Carolinian. He's definitely not getting any younger and his current crop of rivals are just as strong, if not stronger.

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The UCI is expanding the Pro Tour to Russia in 2009 by including a tour of the Sochi region. (This happens to be the site of the 2014 winter Olympic games.) What the heck is the UCI thinking? I'm usually a pretty big supporter of the UCI (as evidenced in my pro UCI rant here) because I feel that cycling does need a governing body to regulate the sport, but this is ridiculous! I totally understand globalizing the sport and making it grow but why grant Pro Tour status to an untested event? How the UCI can overlook proven events like the Tour of California or the Tour de Georgia is beyond me! It just seems logical to expand the Pro Tour with a race in the US rather than Russia.

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Now that the race is over, you might be thinking to yourself, what have we learned from this year's Giro? Well, let's see!

Here's a list, but in no particular order.

1. ASO sucks.
2. The Giro is harder, at least on paper, than the Tour de France.
3. The mountain stages in the Giro = WOW!!!
4. Astana confirms they are the best stage racing team in the world.
5. Johan Bruyneel and his director sportifs are geniuses.
6. Alberto Contador is good.
7. Contador can beat the best the Giro has to offer at 80% (okay, maybe 90%).
8. Levi Leipheimer was the biggest disappointment here, but he'll win the Dauphiné.
9. Danilo Di Luca is angry like a "killer". But maybe that's not such a revelation.
10. Di Luca hates ear pieces.
11. Di Luca likes yo-yoing in the peloton.
12. Riccardo Riccò is immature and a whiner.
13. Riccò and Di Luca enjoy showing off for the camera.
14. Gilberto Simoni is old.
15. But Simoni can still ride (mountain bikes).
16. Emanuele Sella!
17. What else?

Giro organizer's RCS should be applauding themselves today for making the correct decision to invite Astana. It would not have been as exciting of a race without them. Though it's almost sad to say, even right now, we can probably assume that Contador will not return next year to defend his title as he sets his sights towards a run at a second Tour de France title. But something tells me RCS will not be upset about that. This year, they have brought the Giro to another level and single handedly shown ASO what racing fair means. We know that ASO will not change their minds but we do hope that they have started to hear whispers behind their backs and begin to wonder whether they did the best thing for the sport. So with all due respect to Cadel, Alejandro and Damiano, it won't be until July 2009 before we know who the best cyclist in the world is.

Alberto Contador (Astana) sealed the deal by winning the 2008 Giro d'Italia, finishing 11th on today's final time trial stage into Milan. Confirming that the best man won, he was by far the fastest of the top GC contenders in today's stage and increased his overall lead over Italian prima donna Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) to 1 minute 57 seconds. Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) held onto his 3rd place by a scant 2 seconds over fellow Italian Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), who is clearly setting a tone before Ivan Basso joins the team after his suspension.

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Alberto Contador (Astana) successfully defended his maglia rosa on the last mountain stage of this year's Giro. In what was a brilliant display of tactics by Johan Bruyneel and Sean Yates in the team car, Astana was able to manipulate the outcome of the stage so that Contador could have an arm chair ride to the finish.

Two massive climbs including the Passo Gavia and the Mortirolo weren't enough for public enemy number one, Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott), to take 4 seconds from Contador. Although the fireworks didn't start on the Gavia, the climb still lived up to expectations as it was still littered with snow at the top and, coupled with the unexpected rain, it was almost 1988 again. In it's first genius move, Astana was able to insert Antonio Colom into a break on the Gavia effectively giving them the edge over the other contenders. This then forced Danilo Di Luca's team (Team LPR Brakes) and Gilberto Simoni's team (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni)) to chase on the descent and in the valley so that Colom wouldn't have such a huge advantage over the Mortirolo. If he went over the climb ahead, Contador would have a teammate ready to help if he was in trouble. This is what the other teams did not want to happen.

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Italian Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) finally put his legs where his mouth was by setting off on a dramatic escape 50 km from the finish during the descent of the 3rd to last climb. With the help of his teammate, Il Falco Paolo Savoldelli, the two quickly built a lead of over 2 minutes. There was no panic back in the chase group containing leader Alberto Contador (Astana) and all of the other favorites. Most, including me, thought Di Luca's attack was suicide and too far from the finish.

Contador's teammates Antonio Colom and Andreas Klöden bravely brought him to the final climb before the rest of the action commenced. Contador accelerated but couldn't distance anyone. Finally, Italy's Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) put in a full forced effort that no one could respond to. Remember, he was only 41 seconds behind at the start of this stage. Di Luca powered on to finish 2nd on this stage after Belarussian Vasili Kiryienka (Tinkoff Credit Systems), who was the lone survivor of an earlier breakaway. Riccò followed shortly after gasping for each breath. Then the countdown began.

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German tank Jens Voigt (Team CSC) won today's stage after leaving his breakaway companions with about 36 km to go. Stage 18 traversed over this year's world road race championships course and was dominated by a big breakaway that included both Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) as well as Voigt. None of his companions were able to catch Voigt as he cruised to his first ever stage win in the Giro d'Italia.

It was once again piano for the peloton as conserving energy for tomorrow's stage was crucial. Once again, the fireworks will reappear for the final push through the Alps. The Italians will have a hard time defeating a team like Astana who are so experienced at delivering a win in a grand tour. They might be more interested in consolidating their positions considering none of them can time trial better than Alberto Contador (Astana). Don't forget, this race ends with a final individual test to Milan on Sunday. We look forward to seeing Levi Leipheimer cap this Giro for Astana with a stage win of his own.

Top 10 Results for Stage 18
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC..............................................3.22.46
2 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step........................................1.07
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes
5 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas..............................................2.04
6 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
7 Félix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld
8 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
9 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col) Rabobank
10 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne............................2.06

See the complete results here.

Team High Road dominated today's mass sprint to take the top 2 spots in the standings. Brit Mark Cavendish, in a very charitable way, gifted the win to his German teammate André Greipel by not overtaking his final lead out man. As a result, both Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and Erik Zabel (Milram) missed out by following the wheel of the guy that actually slowed down in the last 50 meters. Genius!

It was piano, as they say in Italian, for the GC contenders as they took today off while looking forward to the final push in the Alps starting on Friday. Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) did go back to his team car a few times though. Apparently, he wants to spend even more energy before the Alps. He's just too strong! Look for him to slip even further down the standings by Sunday.

Top 10 Results for Stage 17
1 André Greipel (Ger) Team High Road..................................3.27.05
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
6 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Barloworld
8 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank
9 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
10 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

See the complete results here.

Here's a video of the epic time trial stage. I believe this is in German. Enjoy!

Italian Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) pulled a coup by taking the win on one of the hardest time trials any cyclist will ever face. Pellizotti won by 6 seconds over, who seems to be the Italian hero of this year's Giro, Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) and moved up to 5th overall. Spanish Tour champ Alberto Contador (Astana) consolidated his lead by finishing a solid 4th, just behind old man Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni).

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Alberto Contador (Astana) finally did what most expected of him in this year's Giro. He took over as leader of the race but it wasn't easy and it definitely is not final. Italian Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) won his second straight stage by going into an early breakaway on what proved to be a tough day for Team Astana.

American Levi Leipheimer and German Andreas Klöden were all dropped on the penultimate climb and lost a huge amount of time today. Even Contador got distanced briefly on that same climb but was able to fight back to join the rest of the contenders on the descent just before the final push up to the summit of the Passo Fedaia. Once on that climb, it was mostly tempo until the final 5k when Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) jumped clear. Contador and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) took up the chase and for a moment distanced both Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) and Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni). In the end, it was a game of yo-yo amongst the GC contenders and Contador proved to not have enough and lost some seconds to the others. We hope that he can gain some ground in tomorrow's uphill time trial to the summit of Plan de Corones. The two remaining time trials mean his rivals would have to put some minutes into him to have a chance, so the pressure is all on them.

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Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank) proved today that he is not just here to train for the Tour de France. First among the big GC favorites to come home, he showed that he has the will and the form to challenge for this year's Giro after a monstrous stage through Italy's Dolomites.

Italian Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) broke free from an earlier breakaway to win this epic stage while the main contenders began what will be a long battle for the maglia rosa. The big loser of the day, unfortunately for me, was Levi Leipheimer (Astana). He was dropped when the fireworks began and conceded 5 or so minutes to the other front runners. Andreas Klöden also lost ground while Alberto Contador gave up a half a minute or so to his rivals. Today clearly didn't turn out the way Astana had planned for but there is hope since both Klöden and Contador should be getting stronger as the Giro goes on.

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Mark Cavendish (High Road) won a relatively uneventful stage 13 in a sprint over yesterday's winner Daniele Bennati (Liquigas).

Two main news points today include Mr. Cocky, Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) attempting a breakaway at km 26. Can we please start the real action? All of this showing off for the camera is annoying. Apparently, Di Luca hasn't learned to conserve energy ahead of this weekend's storm of mountain stages. He may be paying for all of this acting soon.

The second news point is a break in the peloton 5 km from the finish meant contenders Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott), Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) losing a few seconds, peanuts compared to this weekend's possible time gaps. Stay tuned!

Top 10 Results for Stage 13
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road..............................4.11.07
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
3 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
6 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre
7 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
9 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
10 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank

See the complete results here.

Italian Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) won a controversial photo finish over Brit Mark Cavendish (High Road) in today's 12th stage. Race officials awarded the win to Bennati after analyzing the photo. What makes it controversial is that a lot of people believe Cavendish actually pulled ahead at the last millimeter when looking at the footage! Maybe there is a reason why Italians have won the last 11 Giro's. In any case, it was a great sprint by, who are clearly, the two fastest finishers in this year's race.

Tomorrow's stage should be ditto. But then again, it is the Giro. So we will see how it unfolds.

Top 10 Results for Stage 12
1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas....................................4.05.29
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
4 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
5 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
6 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
7 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Scott
8 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
9 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

See the complete results here.

Today's post will talk about one of the most important cycling traditions still existing in the pro peloton; what should not happen when the leader of the race (or any other potential contender) crashes.

Team LPR Brakes and Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) seemed to not understand this. When maglia rosa Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) went down in a crash that also involved many other riders including Levi Leipheimer (Astana), Riccò, Danilo Di Luca and Paolo Savoldelli decided to attack. Of course, no one knows whether they knew there was a crash or not but the aggression lasted long enough that race radio would have informed them. Another clue would have been the countless other riders screaming at Riccò, Di Luca and Savoldelli to stop. What's wrong with these guys? Is winning their national tour getting to their heads that they don't think rationally?

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Italian time trial specialist Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) was a surprise winner in today's 10th stage. He managed to hold off the Astana strong men by 8 seconds over Spain's Alberto Contador and 20 seconds over German Andreas Klöden. American Levi Leipheimer finished 9th, at 1:01, giving Astana 3 riders in the top 10 today. This is total domination!

Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank) finally showed his good form today and gave notice that he is in contention as well. All of the pure climbers lost their customary couple of minutes except for Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni). What's up with this guy? Isn't he suppose to be 50? He lost less than a minute to all of the contenders and is poised to shine once again in the high mountains.

As expected, the GC was shaken up today. Thanks to his long breakaway, Italian Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) kept the pink jersey while Contador and Klöden moved up to 4th and 6th respectively.

If the riders were hoping for a respite tomorrow, they are not going to get one. Stage 11 will be a mountainous stage as it winds through and ends in Marco Pantani's hometown.

Top 10 Results for Stage 10
1 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre..................................56.41
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana.......................0.08
3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana.....................................0.20
4 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team High Road............................0.36
5 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes.................................0.44
6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank..................................0.46
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas.....................................0.54
8 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Team CSC...........................0.59
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana....................................1.01
10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni......1.02

See the complete results here.

We found out today that defending Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana) has a slight fracture in his elbow. This diagnosis was made during today's rest day following his crash on Saturday's stage.

Contador promises to continue but admitted that this condition may affect his aerodynamic time trialing position tomorrow. VAI CONTADOR!

Speaking of the time trial stage, Astana's Andreas Klöden will be under more pressure to perform following the announcement of Contador's injury. He has shown he has good form and we hope he'll be able to show his class by outdistancing everyone (except for Levi Leipheimer, of course). Stay tuned...

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) took his second stage of this year's Giro after a closely fought sprint between him and fellow Italian Paolo Bettini (Quick Step). Australian Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) looks to be back in form as he took a well placed 3rd.

It was a relatively uneventful stage except for when Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) tried his luck with an attempt at a breakaway with less than 20 km to go. One has to wonder if he will pay for his futile efforts later when the Giro really gets tough. As a fan, it seems that Riccò is getting to be a bit too cocky. This seems to be all too common for these Italian contenders. Di Luca likes to go back and forth between the head of the peloton and his team car to display how strong he is, Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) likes to complain that the only reason he is getting beat is because Basso is an alien and Riccò seems to love wasting energy on a stage he should be conserving his energy. Based on his past time trialing, Riccò needs as much energy as he can muster on Tuesday. Most pundits think that he'll lose some significant time to the Astana boys and possibly Di Luca if he can discover his time trial form.

We'll have to wait and see as the Giro takes it's next step. Expect a major shake up on GC after Tuesday's time trial.

Top 10 Results for Stage 9
1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas......................................5.30.06
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
6 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
7 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
8 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
9 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
10 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale

See the complete results here.

Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) showed today that perhaps he is the leading candidate for this year's Giro. He stormed out of the peloton to claim today's 8th Stage, his second this year. He outkicked compatriot Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) to gain the valuable 20 second time bonus given to the winner of each stage.

While this day ended with another sharp climb, some of the action happened mid-race when Alberto Contador (Astana) went down in a crash that claimed his teammate Steve Morabito. Contador was able to chase back but didn't contest the finish as he was just content on not losing any time. All of the other favorites arrived safely with the same time as Riccò ready for the next big test on Monday.

One has to think whether Riccò will be good enough in the high mountains fully a week from now. If he is this good, will he be able to keep his form? We can assume he will lose valuable minutes to some of the other GC contenders on Astana so his 20 seconds may go a long way.

Tomorrow's stage should be one for the sprinters as everyone would want to save energy for Tuesday's time trial. Monday is a rest day.

Top 10 results for Stage 8
1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott.............................4.41.05
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
5 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) LPR Brakes
6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
7 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
9 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes
10 Félix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld

See the complete results here.

Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Team Milram) was fired yesterday by his team after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against him when he tested positive during last year's Giro for high levels of salbutamol, an asthma medication. Although the court ruled that he may not have knowingly taken the high doses of the medication, he was punished anyways because those levels constituted a performance enhancement. Petacchi's suspension is set to end on August 31st of this year since the ban was retroactive to when he tested positive.

Although sad for Petacchi, STL supports Milram's decision as there should be zero tolerance even if only for a stupid error. Milram's decision is also one of politics. In order to be guaranteed into the sport's top races, it has to show the organizers they are serious about anti-doping. Knowing that Astana was barred from the Tour de France for, what most people think, is one of the strongest anti-doping programs in the sport, no team wants to give ASO any fuel for the fire. STL knows that ASO will jump at any opportunity for excluding a non French team from their races.

See more about the article here.