Ricco!!

I pray his success does not cause cycling pundits to resurrect the "rico sauve" line and I hope Ricco is a name to watch in the next few years. Saunier Duval are pounding people in the mountains. Piepoli(who I am sick of being called "pint sized" and "pocket sized", etc) has been a serious veteran presence for Ricco and support for Simoni. Sad to think he and Simoni will be gone soon. DiLuca did not crack and that is huge for him. If he can avoid the one bad day he seems to be plauged with every year, he might just win the Giro! Mazzoleni is lucky not only to hold onto second, but to be engaged to the lovey Elisa Basso. That makes up for the aqua blue kit anyday. This is a great giro and is the podium(at least steps 2 and 3) is still fairly open. The time trial will be key and Zoncolon should be huge, but I am waiting to see if it is too hard to really make a difference.

Several other races wrapped up today. Vlad Karpets gets the overall at Catalunya. Sammy Sanchez got the win on the last stage-managing to beat Vino. Vino has been so quiet, his TDF will make or break his season. That is risky.
Jesse Anthony from Sierra Nevada got 4th in Ireland at the FBD Insurance Rás. Sierra Nevada stomped on this race.
All in all an exciting week in cycling. Good racing, doping revelations,etc. If the Giro is any indicator the TDF should be wide open this weekend and will suit and aggressive rider with a strong team.