Was that the worst day I've had on a mountain bike? Probably not, butit sure felt like it

Ontario Cup, Round 2: Mansfield Outdoor Centre

Well that was one of the worst days I've experienced on a mountain bike. That's all I could think throughout the race and even after I had finished and looking back now a few days later I'm having to really dig deep into the memory bank to remember anything worse. They say the body forgets pain quite quickly hence why people run marathons again, why woman give birth a second time and why I continue to enter these races, and so with that in mind maybe I have had worse, in fact I am sure I have and I've simply forgotten about it, a mechanism of the brain that allowed me to enter on Sunday.

It didn't help that I arrived a little later than I'd have liked. My wife and baby daughter had come along for the day out and as is apt to happen when you bring a baby anywhere, things come up you don't expect and you never arrive anywhere on time. As a result I got time for a five minute warm-up at best ... just a chance to run the old ticker up to about 150 beats per minute and back down again before taking to the cattle grid of my category ready to be shuffled forward to the start line and out into the misery.

And I knew what was coming. I'd done this course last year and it was starting in the exact same place: At the bottom of a steep climb. Probably only about 600 meters in length but one that got gradually steeper the longer it went and with an average gradient of 8 percent. When you're faced with something like that then you had better well of warmed up or you're going to get a nasty kick in the lungs when it comes time to start racing.

Man of the Ras

The final day was no gift, it was still incredibly fast and it was over 144.6 kilometres from Naas to Skerries, but with the adrenaline of knowing that every mile that ticked by was one mile closer to a finishing, we got by perhaps a little easier than in days before. The pace was intense on the final circuits but I found a group I was comfortable with and even had the legs to join in the sprint for the line. After all, the entire thing had been flat out for eight days so why finish any other way?

We went up on the stage as a team to pick up our medals for finishing and in collecting those medals we officially became Men of the Ras. I may have only finished 118th overall from the 129 that did finish, but finish I did. 51 didn't make it to Skerries. I was 1 hour, 39 minutes and 48 seconds behind the winner, Marcin Bialoblocki of Poland, but he's a professional and I'm an amateur who will be back in work tomorrow and setting out on this Ras the challenge was to get to the finish, and I did. In all I spent 28 hours, 46 minutes and 23 seconds in the saddle completing the 1,180.5 kilometre course, the most I have ever cycled in a week by quite a stretch.

All four of us on the Down Chain Reaction team made it to the finish and we were the only team to complete the Ras in which every member of the team was a member of the North Down Cycling Club. No guest riders here.

I look forward to a bit of a rest now and to enjoying some food I might not otherwise have been permitted to take during this race. Then I'll hope to take the form and fitness I've built from the Ras into the rest of the season and see where it takes me.

Nibali and Cav the men of a hard mans Giro

Sunday was a victory lap for Vincenzo Nibali. He coasted into Brescia with the Pink jersey over his shoulders and over the line to seal his victory in this years Giro d'Italia. The only thing that really stood in his way today was a crash that wouldn't allow him to finish; his two consecutive wins on Thursday and Saturday gave him a commanding lead that was never going to be in doubt today.

Not that an uncommanding lead would have been challenged on the final day. So long as the last day of a Grand Tour is a road race it'll tend to go uncontested by the big favorites. The only way we might have seen Nibali in the mix was if he were to dare to take on Mark Cavendish for the Red jersey points prize which Nibali was in the lead of going into Sunday's stage.

Of course he would never have stood a chance against Cav in a bunch sprint ... not even the other sprinters can hold a candle to the man from the Isle of Man, and so Nibali didn't risk it. He respected Cav's sprinting enough through these three weeks that seen Cav win five stages (including Sunday's) to understand that Cav was the more deserving winner of that prize. Pink is more Nibali's style.

A scene for the ages: Vincenzo Nibali rides alone through the snow to an epic win at the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo

The defining image of the 2013 Giro d'Italia and one that'll go into cycling history. Photograph: Sirotti

Yesterday I previewed this stage by talking about the day in 1968 when a young Eddy Merckx made the Tre Cime di Lavaredo climb iconic by attacking alone in the snow and riding to glory in what was his first Grand Tour victory. I titled that article, 'Memories of Merckx'. Fast forward 45 years and we had a real flashback as to what that day must have looked like, just in the place of Merckx in his World Champions jersey was Italian Vincenzo Nibali in the Pink jersey ramming home his dominance over this race by doing just what Merckx did and soloing to victory in the most atrocious of conditions for a win that will go down in Giro legend. It could well be titled, 'Shades of Merckx'.

Unlike Merckx in 1968, Nibali had no need to go on the attack to try and seize the race. He was already four minutes in charge before the day began and could simply have marked his rivals up the climb for glory. But true glory doesn't come about by doing that ... sure he would be the winner and he'd have the stage win from the day before and he'd still be a great champion, and many others would have gone conservative, but Nibali knew that to become a true legend he would have to destroy his rivals and win upon that famous mountain. Being the first to the top in the Pink jersey would truly mark his authority and doing it in these conditions would make him a hero in his home country.

He attacked with 2.5 kiloemtres to go on gradients that pushed 18% at times and rarely fell below 10%. His attack was more a turning of the screw than an out and out acceleration, but when he moved, nobody could follow. With the snow falling and the conditions getting worse and worse near the top he continued to build an advantage. The rest behind were in another race. Surrounded by wild, passionate and at times over excited Italian fans -- some clearly drunk and topless in the sub-zero temperatures running alongside and leaving me watching in fear that one was about to fall under the wheel of Nibali -- the 29 year old pressed on.

Punctures, punctures, punctures

I may have led some to believe over the course of this blog that the worst thing can befall a racing cyclist is a head-wind, a side-wind perhaps, rain, cold, or blowing up on a climb and seeing the bunch disappear into the distance. It's not. The worst thing is a mechanical issue. That can destroy your race when your body is still OK to continue. So far in this Ras I have had no issues with my bike, I hadn't even had a puncture ... until today.

What is it they say about buses? You wait around all day for one and then two come along at once? Well, in cycling -- for me at least -- the phrase for punctures is that you wait for that dreaded feeling on the surface below your bike for six days and then three come along at once.

I was hurting again this morning, as is becoming the norm at this stage of the Ras, and for the first 45 minutes or so I was having it tough, but then came the puncture and the 'having it tough' went to a new level. It happened it the worst possible place -- the bottom of the first climb. I quickly put it in an easy gear, jumped off and flagged down the neutral service vehicle for a spare wheel. Within seconds they had me back and running but I was now a bit off the back. Chasing the bunch on a hill is not my strong point so I really had to bury myself to keep in contact. Some of the team cards were good at giving me a bit of a tow and just as we turned left for the final bit of the climb and I was about to regain contact ... BANG. Puncture number two.

Memories of Merckx at Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Despite the route being changed tomorrow and a number of the climbs being taken out, it's still set to be an epic stage in the Giro d'Italia thanks to the races finish at the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo. It's a climb made famous by a young Eddy Merckx who won up there in 1968 en route to crushing a field of established veterans by 5 minutes overall.

An extract from the book, "The Story of the Giro d'Italia", Volume 1 tells the story of that day on stage 12 when Merckx -- at just 22 years of age but already the reigning World Champion and winner of the Paris-Roubaix, not to mention past winner of the Milan - San Remo (twice), Gent–Wevelgem and Flèche Wallonne -- announced himself to the world as a Grand Tour rider and one capiable of winning every kind of race in what would become the greatest cycling career we've ever seen. As you'll see, the conditions then sound very much like the kind of conditions we can expect tomorrow...

Ever heard the one about the cyclist visiting a doctor?

The headaches started last night closely followed by a sore throat. Five days into this thing and the immune system is starting to reject what the body is throwing at it. I woke up out of a slumber to the horrific sound of the alarm clock once again this morning and the last thing I wanted to think about was the unavoidable spectre of four more hours on the saddle. I needed to see a doctor.

Now, before you start leaping to conclusions by putting together the words cyclist, doctor, and medicine, this trip was strictly above board. He was the race doctor, there was no drip, certainly no needles and I came away with something to help my headache and throat but nothing that will help the legs.

The stage itself was flat for a long while before all the hills came to great us near the finish, but for the first 45 minutes I felt awful, doing my best not to throw up whatever was left in my stomach onto the riders around me. Thankfully I was able to hang in ok and gradually I came around, beginning to feel slowly better, or as better as one can expect to be in such conditions.

Stage 19 cancelled; A good time for a positive drug test for Di Luca then?

There was two big pieces of news coming out of the Giro today. The first, which should have been the most important -- and was so to me -- was that the days stage had been cancelled due to terrible weather across the mountains in which they were due to travel. Freezing temperatures and snow left the race organisors with no choice but to call off what would have been an epic day of racing. Mark Cavendish -- fighting to hold onto his Red points jersey from Cadel Evans -- will have been delighted, while those climbers still looking for a stage win will have been disappointed. The other news was the positive drug test by Danilo Di Luca.

Positive test news is normally reserved for rest days when the media are looking for a story, but given that non had surfaced in the two rest days of this years Giro it seemed only fitting that this story would break on the day of an impromptu rest day thanks to the heavy snow.

Di Luca has had past issues with performance enhancing drugs and has recently come off the back of serving a suspension. Some poor team -- Vini Fantini -- believed in second chances and gave the Italian another shot, clearly believing that at the age of 37 he would have moved on from the dirty game and just enjoying his twilight years in the peloton. Well, today they were bitten hard and reacted with grave disappointment. So upset that they didn't offer Di Luca a ride away from the Giro, telling him to find his own way home.

The heart breaking story of how the loss of the Broomwagon cost one man his place in the Ras

You might have read at the bottom of Matty's blog yesterday my notes that twenty hard working county boys had been kicked out of the Ras for finishing outside the time limit. I had mentioned that Chief Commissaire Al Sutton and his assistant Paul Watson had stuck by new strict rules regarding the time-limit laid down by the UCI last year which say that extraordinary or exceptional circumstances aside anyone missing the cut off should be removed from the race. Well, one of those who missed out posted the following story online today and it would lead you to believe that these extenuating circumstances must need be pretty extreme given that what he went through didn't cut the mustard with the referees. Have a read...

Thank goodness for a head wind ... yes, really

I didn't sleep great last night. Exhaustion is beginning to set in. Technically I'm halfway there now but it would be a major disservice to my brain to try and convince it that it was all downhill from here. My optimism was not high this morning thanks in part to the bad sleep and also because of the heavy legs I was dragging down to breakfast. Generally I felt quite lethargic and was gearing myself up for a day of survival, as though this whole experience has been anything but.

The first climb of the day was relatively calm -- a first in this Ras -- and everyone held on but clearly everyone had felt a little lethargic this morning because that climb was used to stretch the legs for the next time we went up the pace was back to its chaotic best. The Baku team, who obviously had no problems sleeping last night, led the bunch up it at a frantic rate. The peloton was strung out immediately and guys started drafting out the back. I got up over the top with what was left of the bunch just about in sight and a crowd of us chased hard and got back on when the momentum momentarily went out of the front of the race.

It's a rare occasion when you'll hear a cyclist give thanks for a head wind, but today was one of those times. A stiff wind for the next 80 kilometres meant that things went slower than normal and I could drift to the safe confines of the middle of the pack and save some energy. A break of three or so had formed just over a minute up the road and the pro riders were happy enough to leave them out there for a while. I don't think any of us county boys disagreed.

Nibali storms to mountain time trial victory

Baring a collapse of epic proportions, not seen by a Grand Tour leader since Floyd Landis at the 2006 Tour de France, Vincenzo Nibali will this weekend pick up the trophy as the 2013 winner of the Giro d'Italia. Today, tomorrow and Saturday were to be his final test, but this afternoon when he stormed up the climb to win the individual time-trial by 58 seconds over his nearest rival, Samuel Sanchez, he ensured the next two days would be a formality.

The result increased his lead in the general classification over Cadel Evans to 4 minutes, 2 seconds with Rigoberto Uran in third at 4'12". Evans had a terrible day by his standards finishing 25th more than two and a half minutes behind Nibali. Having started three minutes up the road from the Italian, Evans was another few hundred meters away from being caught and passed. All Evans can really do now is keep the pressure on, try and attack and hope that a disaster befalls Nibali. That's not likely to happen though and the real battle is for podium positions. Michele Scarponi is the man outside the podiums looking in, just 1'02" behind Uran.

Sure it would have been nice to have seen healthy Bradley Wiggins and Ryder Hesjedal at this stage of the Giro to see what kind of challenge they could pose to Nibali and it sure would have added more spice to the mountain time-trial, but you know, Nibali has just looked a class apart in May 2013 and despite Hesjedal's form a year ago and Wiggins's form in last years Tour, this is Nibali's Giro and I'm not sure anyone would have beat him in his current form.

Tomorrow's mountain stages were designed to hopefully see the final fight for the Pink jersey but things don't always work out that way. We were treated to a fight to the final day last year, but this time one man has crushed the field. These final mountain stages will be a victory lap for Nibali from which he can defend, conserve and maintain his lead. Or maybe he'll want to ram home his dominance and go for another stage win and extend his margin of glory.

A day in the Autobus

The profile of a Great White Shark's teeth, or today's stage ... It's hard to tell.

The Autobus in cycling was, to me, much like Santa Claus when I was a child. I knew it existed as I'd heard about it plenty, but I'd never actually seen it. That was until today when I found myself in it for most of the afternoon.

I woke up this morning fearing the worst but hoping for the best. I'd thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the Ras thus far, from the challenge of the racing to the camaraderie and craic of my team-mates and those on the other teams I'm racing against. I was even enjoying the tan lines I was beginning to develop from hours on the saddle, an initiation right -- if you will -- into the peloton. With all that in mind I wanted to make sure that I had as good a day as I could and stay within the time limit so as to continue my adventure.

There was 153 hilly kilometres in front of me between Listowel and Glengarrif. I've always had a fearful respect for Sharks and looking at the profile of this stage, it was like looking at the teeth of a Great White. Eight, yes EIGHT, cateogrised climbs on a course that was either going up or down ... it would be the toughest day of the week.

A day of suffering

It was a day that started off badly, got pretty dire in the middle and then tailed off towards the end. It was an awful day for me. I woke up in Nenagh with my legs feeling sore, the sure sign for any cyclist that you ought to remain in bed. Yet there I was, hauling my body out and onto the saddle for three and a half more frenzied hours on the Ras.

As I mentioned yesterday the first climb of the day came after just 10 kilometres, something I hoped I had dreamed of in a nightmare rather that committed to a blog, but there was no escaping it and with my legs heavy I knew I'd have to find a way to survive over it. Thankfully I mustn't have been alone in the sore legs department of the Ras as a lot of guys popped, and with me for company, went slowly out the back.

If I got an idea of what it was like to be Mark Cavendish winning the bunch sprint yesterday, I sure as hell knew what it was like to be him on the climb today, and this was only a third category. I put the very existence of tomorrow out of my mind and grinded my way up towards the top. Into a rhythm I began to catch a good few as we reached the top. On the other side I went all out to try and catch back onto the bunch. I knew that against a time limit I'd be in serious trouble if I didn't make back some time now.

Two good weekend rides courtesy of Queen Victoria

The weather was fantastic this weekend ... into the high 20's for large parts of it and the best part ... it was a long weekend. Thank you Queen Victoria. As a result we headed out of town and up to the lake for a few days and naturally I lugged along the bike. I had good intentions of getting out three days in a row and putting in a combined 150 miles, but like all good plans it didn't quite work out. But not to worry, I did get two good days riding in.

Saturday was especially nice, riding into the small town of Lakefield for a cup of tea and an egg sandwich on the patio of one of my favorite cafe's to cycle to -- mostly because of it's shaded patio. I didn't quite take the rides as leisurely and was pushing myself to maintain a decent average speed. The minimum target was 19 mph and if I could get it up over 20, I'd be delighted. There was little to no wind to speak of and so while I missed out on a good tailwind to really boost up the speed, I managed to avoid suffering into a stiff breeze. In all I done 47 miles and kept it at an average of 19.7 mph finishing at a relatives cottage for a few beers and some good stake. The post-ride meal and liquid of amateur cycling champions.

Sunday I didn't get out as early as I would have liked and feeling quite lethargic I cut short a longer ride and went for one without a cafe stop. It was roads I'd been on before but a circuit I hadn't done before, but if truth be told, given the temperature and the rising humidity (it would thunder quite heavily later that night) I'm glad I didn't go a lot further. Riding in these temperatures takes a little getting used to and I'm not quite used to it in mid-late May. But it was 31 miles more than I almost talked myself into doing before giving myself a slap, throwing on the gear and getting going before my body could reject the idea further. I also kept it up over 19 mph -- 19.1 to be exact -- and felt good for it.

Shortly after it was time to pack up and head back to city life once more for another week in the office. Still, it was nice going back knowing that the whole summer and more rides like these lie ahead in the months to come.

Victoria day Weekend / May 2-4 weekend, Saturday ride

Victoria day weekend / May 2-4 weekend, Monday ride

The Giro weekend (and first two days of this week): Nibali strengthens his lead

We went into the weekend with the Giro d'Italia still very much hanging in the balance, albeit with Vincenzo Nibali looking comfortable, and we've come out of it with Nibali even more in charge despite little chance in the overall.

Simply put, Nibali has done what's required to keep his rivals behind him, to keep them from gaining time on him and he's ticked off three days of racing, including today (Tuesday), putting him closer to his dream of winning his national tour.

Saturday's stage was perhaps the most decisive and since it put Nibali more than a minute ahead of everyone else it may be the stage we look back on as the one that really did seal the race for him. That said, there's still a lot of climbing to come ... the hardest stages lie ahead and the Italian won't be able to relax yet. He looks good but one bad day might yet swing this race and rivals such as Rigoberto Uran will be pushing the agenda and trying to force a mistake the rest of this week.

I won the bunch sprint ... and finished 84th

Matty is back with his blog on stage two of the An Post Ras...

While the boys of the Giro were taking their rest day today, the men of the Ras were back on the saddle for another round with the road. For us county riders Monday should have been a day we headed back to work, yet here we are with a week off, living the dream of big time stage racing. Some people use a week off and head to Majorca for some time on the beach, we were using the first day of our holiday's to ride 100 fast unforgiving miles, flat out, from Longford to Nenagh.

It was the longest stage of this years Ras and because it was flat I was expecting a high average speed. At sign on it was quite chilly and cold with some very light drizzle -- another perk to Longford over Majorca -- and as a result a lot of the guys were adjusting the pressure of their tires to match the conditions. On the roll out we were once again greeted by large crowds of support. School kids out wearing their green An Post Ras tops with green flags and cheering us off. The foreign teams must have been loving the Irishness of it all. But if there was any illusions that we'd be sitting back and enjoying the applause and the beautiful countryside, then they went out the window the minute the flag went down and the pace went up.

I made a big effort to stay near the front today -- a day in which I wanted to maintain good contact but without overdoing myself ahead of the hills tomorrow. I think you lose most of your energy concentrating on keeping near the front than from the actual riding itself. On one occasion I slipped towards the back and you could feel the difference immediately: When the pace went up, everyone was lined out back there and you could only hope that the elastic wouldn't snap in front of you leaving you twisting in the wind and desperately seeking a way back to the rear of the new bunch.

Around the 80 kilometre mark I'd already gone through both my bottles and so went back to the team car for more. Playing the roll of good domestique, I told the boys I'd get them some too. I waited for a few of the pro's to go back and then I went. I figured that if they wern't at the front doing the damage, then this was as good a time as any.

I was wrong.

Admiring the professionalism of the Ras from an eye in the eye of the hurricane

Until yesterday the eyes of the cycling world were firmly fixed on Italy as the Giro headed into the mountains, but that all changed when the 181 riders of the 2013 An Post Ras took to the start line in Dunboyne, Ireland. One of the eyes in the eye of the racing hurricane was Down Chain Reaction Cycles Matty Blayney, who having finished yesterday summoned one last surge of energy through his fingers to send in the following blog...

I know you were looking for a few hundred words to best surmise my first stage in the Ras, but I could easily have summed it up with just one: Tough.

We turned up at the start early this morning having spent the night before getting our massages and fending off the noise the gypsies were making outside the hotel. The big names and big teams of this years Ras had advertised their room numbers in the lobby and despite a sudden urge to place some early morning wake up calls I thought better and was glad to have fallen asleep as easily as I did despite the gypsies and my nerves.

When we arrived at the starting area there were hundreds of people about ... a real carnival atmosphere. Each team had been given three parking spaces each, which given the size of the Down Chain Reaction Cycles motor-home, made things a little tight. Still, there were photographers milling around between the teams and if the size and professionalism ahead wasn't clear before, then it certainly was when it came time to sign on.

Reigning Giro and Tour champs abandon

The year of 2012 was a special one for both Brad Wiggins and Ryder Hesjedal. That year both of them won their first Grand Tours and rode themselves into the annals of cycling legend. Things couldn't have went better. Fast forward into 2013 and both of them in their first bids to extend their Grand Tour victories have had a nightmare ... a nightmare that seen the pair of them retire from the race on the same day.

Hesjedal had come in as defending champion, determined to repeat and having built his season around the Giro. Wiggins was Tour de France champion and had arrived in Italy seeking the possibility of the Giro-Tour double and requiring a big Giro to prove to his team that he should be the leader in France and not Chris Froome whom they are leaning towards.

Both looked solid enough in the first week. Wiggins's Sky team won the team-time-trial and Hesjedal was attacking the rest on the first day with a steep hill. Then at the time-trial things began to come a little undone for both.

Cav hits the 100 mark; Wiggins sheds another three minutes

It was an up and down kind of day for British cycling at the Giro. Mark Cavendish, the finest sprinter in the history of the sport, won his 100th professional race in what is just his seventh season as a professional and the age of 27. Cavendish has rarely had it easier in the sprint itself, though he was left sweating it as the days break was only reeled in about 400 metres from the line.

The moment they got swept up, Cavendish burst around his leadout man Geert Steegmans and crossed the line at least a couple of bike lengths ahead of the nearest finisher, Nacer Bouhanni. It's the Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders' third stage victory at the Giro thus far.

"We came here wanting to win every sprint, and so far, we’ve done it convincingly, leading the peloton from start to finish," beamed Cavendish at the finish.

Giro gets a positive; contenders take a day off

Ever heard of Sylvain Georges or Heptaminol. Nope? Neither have I until this morning when it was announced that the former tested positive for the later and the former has since withdrawn from the race in what is the first positive test in this years Giro. And whatever Heptaminol is, it can't have helped him very much ... he finished 22 minutes down on Rigoberto Uran yesterday and was 81st overall more than an hour behind Vincenzo Nibali.

His team AG2R have yet to make a statement on the issue though I did have a quick look at their website and the anti-doping section and found the following remarks:

Prevention and fight against doping are at the heart of the priorities of the team AG2R La Mondiale. Leaders, riders and staff are constantly aware to craft every day for the observance of a doping-free sport.

Woops.

Nibali in control; Sky split team leadership; Hesjedal loses over 20 minutes

It was a sad sight for Canadian cycling fans watching Ryder Hesjedal trudge over the finish line today with his hopes of retaining his Giro gone in the wind of his rivals some twenty minutes further up the road. In what was the first foray into the mountains, Hesjedal blew to pieces while Nibali gained more time on the others and Rigoberto Uran Uran (he's Hungary Like the Wolf!) took Hesjedal's place as one of the overall contenders.

It's hard to know what's up with Hesjedal because he looked strong in the first week of the race right up until the time-trial on the weekend. I can only assume he's picked up some kind of a bug or that he simply just doesn't quite have the form he hoped he might. Or maybe he's the only one riding clean!

According to his team he'll spend tonight considering his options ... either to stay in the race and work for a stage win, or to go home in search of his form ahead of the Tour de France. I hope he goes with the former but would certainly understand his decision to go with the later. Hesjedal is a man of great pride and quitting the race he won just twelve months earlier won't come easy.

Thoughts from the rest day

How dare the riders of the Giro take a rest day after cycling 1,398.2 kilometres in just nine days! What do they think they are? Exhausted?

Alright so maybe a day off will do them good and do the racing good once they hit the mountains, hopefully that little bit fresher. So until the racing resumes tomorrow, he's a couple of quick thoughts:

An epic solo ride, Wiggins struggles and Hesjedal cracks in more dramaat the Giro

With about sixty kilometres to go and in the pouring rain, Maxim Belkov of the Katusha team, clearly decided he had seen enough. At that moment, at the top of the second to last climb he said goodbye to his fellow escapees and pressed ahead down the descent. It was wet, slippery and dangerous and thus inviting to anyone with true grit of which Belkov had plenty. The others couldn't go with him and by the bottom he had already forged a two minute advantage.

The Russian isn't much of a climber, but he can clearly hang tough when he needs to for he had gotten to the top of that previous climb with what was left of his twelve man break and then on the final climb he was able to go up with enough pace to keep a gap that had only been increasing to the foot of the climb and once he went over that, there was no doubt the victory would be his.

Indeed, so impressive was his descending skills that he only would have needed to go over the top a mere ten seconds ahead of the man behind and he'd have left them behind on the way down.

That kind of riding takes supreme confidence, but if you have it then you can do some serious damage on a day when the rest are cornering timidly. Belkov stayed clear to the line winning what is sure to be one of the finest solo victories of this years Giro.

Brit wins Giro time-trial ... and he's not named Wiggins; Nibali takes control of GC; Hesjedal in trouble

If you were told this morning that the winner of today's individual time-trial would be a British cyclist you wouldn't have been very surprised. You'd have assumed that Sir Brad Wiggins did what was expected of him and crushed the field pulling back all the time he lost the day before and perhaps even finished his afternoon wearing the Pink jersey.

And so it was a British cyclist who won the time-trial, just it wasn't Wiggins. It was Movistar's Alex Dowsett. Naturally all talk after the event was about why Wiggin's didn't win it, though it has to be said, if Wiggins was on a shocking day as many feared he was when he came through the 26km check 52 seconds down on Dowsett, then what does that say about the rest that he still finished second?

Wiggins clearly kept something in the tank for he came very strong in the final sector finishing just ten seconds behind Dowsett, but no doubt he wasn't himself for Vincenzo Nibali came in just 11 seconds down on the Olympic time-trial champion and with it he took the Pink jersey. There were rumours throughout the day that Wiggins was carrying a stomach bug -- something Sky would quick to deny -- or perhaps he was just lacking a little form due in part to the stresses of the day before, but either way it's ensured this race is very much up for grabs.

Mayhem in the rain; Wiggins loses advantage of the TT

Adam Hansen wins in awful conditions that seen Bradley Wiggins struggle. Photograph: Sirotti

I mentioned that following the team-time-trial, Bradley Wiggins was in great shape in the early going of this Giro 2013. He had gained time on his rivals and if he could only sustain it to the weekend he could really seize control in the individual time-trial. Yet he lost bonus seconds to Ryder Hesjedal and Cadel Evans a day later, he lost 17 seconds the day after that when he got held up in a crash and, following a few quiet days in which sprinters John Degenkolb and Mark Cavendish took the spoils, it all came apart when he crashed on a descent near the finish of the stage and never regained contact with the GC group, losing 1 minute, 24 seconds.

And it wasn't just the crash that caused him. The hard racing actually put the 2012 Tour de France winner into a little bit of trouble. A lumpy stage in terrible weather didn't appear to sit well with Wiggins and as his rivals pushed forward, Wiggins could be seen slipping back a little. He tried to get himself together on the descent of the days final climb -- climbs that it should be pointed out are far from the big ones we'll see later in this Giro -- but crashed on a wet hairpin. As a result he looked timid the rest of the way and coughed up what essentially could have been his gain in tomorrow's time-trial.

What I mean by that is that Wiggins might have been expected to take up to 1 minute 24 seconds out of the rest in tomorrow's time-trial, yet now finds himself needing to do that just to get back on terms with them in the GC. This was huge for his rivals who clearly aware of what damage he could do against the clock have spent a couple of days this week attacking hard and trying to force the issue.

Hesjedal lays down a psycological marker and takes back a few seconds

It was a tough stage over a grueling 222 kilometres with two tough climbs near the finish and thus the first chance for the rivals of Brad Wiggins to try claw something back. No it wasn't the mountains and if it were the Tour de France we'd see a domestique go clear and win the stage with the favorites tucked safely into the bunch unwilling to risk anything this early in the race, but the Giro seems to bring a different mentality out of its competitors and we seen it in full display today.

Luca Paolini won the stage on his own by 16 seconds and as a result - with time-bonuses added in -- became the third man in three days to pull on the Pink jersey, but it was Ryder Hesjedal who will come out of it with the most confidence. Twice he attacked his rivals and on one occasion on the climb of Sella di Catona (a category 3 climb not expected to be such a factor), he got clear. He did so a little too far out from the finish and rather than risk riding alone and tiring, he sat up to wait, but what he did do was strike an early psychological blow into the confidence of his rivals, not to mention shrink what was left of the peloton down to a select group.

Wiggins, Cadel Evans, and Vicenzo Nibali all found it tough at times and on the descent down towards the finish, Hesjedal again forced the issue putting pressure on the rest. With Paolini not regarded as a big favorite, his descending skills were allowed to take him even further as he opened a decisive gap the he held to the line. Evans who recovered on the descent took second in the sprint with Hesjedal third as both pulled back some vital seconds on Wiggins leaving the Canadian just 17 seconds back on the Englishman.

Wiggins gains on rivals in team-time-trial

One of the buzz phrases in modern day cycling is 'Marginal Gains'. Grabbing seconds here and there while you can and defending what you've got in order to win big races. If that's the Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins tactic for the 2013 Giro then they've got off to the perfect start in gaining nine seconds over the nearest team in today's team-time-trial.

Racing between Ischia and Forio, Wiggins and Sky completed the 17.4 km course in 22 minutes, 5 seconds moving Wiggins's team-mate, Salvatore Puccio into the Pink jersey. Indeed, had Cavendish stayed with Sky he'd still be wearing the race leaders jersey this evening!

It was a bad day out for Ryder Hesjedal and Garmin as they lost 25 seconds to Wiggins along with Vincenzo Nibali who lost 14 seconds. Marginal loses equal marginal gains and given that last years Giro was won by just 16 seconds you get an idea as to how important that might be. And who said cycling wasn't a team sport?

There's that Cavendish win I told you about

A familiar sight. Photograph: Roberto Bettini

I said in the preview something about all the stages being wide open except the flat ones from which you can en-scribe the name Mark Cavendish as the winner. So here we are after day one of the Giro and the man spraying the champaign as stage winner and new wearer of the Maglia Rosa is none other than Cavendish.

The stage itself was a circuit race, on a longer course and then a shorter one ... an alternative way for the fans to see all the riders than via a prologue. It was short at 130 km and given how flat it was, ad the fact no time would be lost as it might be in a prologue, it was more like an opening ceremony to the tour for everyone except the sprinters.

With all that in mind it was therefor a tailor made stage for Cavendish in a tour that doesn't have too many and he took full advantage of the opportunity to win in a fantastic sprint. Still, it wasn't made easy for him. He had to come from quite a ways back, starting his sprint late after almost getting boxed in following his leadout man Gert Steegmans dropping his gears and losing the wheel in front.

Giro d'Italia 2013 preview

With time limited, here is a brief preview of the 2013 Giro d'Italia. Will Sir Bradley Wiggins of Kilburn win his second Grand Tour or will Canada's Ryder Hesjedal defend his title? They're just two of many big name favorites in what is one of many questions in a tour that's sure to be as wide open as they come.

One look at the route for this Tour and you can see why many think this race has more than enough potential to be better than the Tour de France. Indeed, last years Giro was without doubt the most thrilling of the three big Tours and the organisors have done themselves credit by putting together another route that should see racing from the start and drama right to the finish.

And thanks to the Giro being slightly below the Tour in terms of prestige, coverage and thus pressure to deliver, you might well get the racing right from the beginning rather than watching riders watch one another until the third week.

The race starts out flat which will almost certainly result in a Mark Cavendish win, but it doesn't stay flat for long. The team-time-trial will sort things out a little before some rolling stages throughout the first week will either give one of the favorites the opportunity to seize the initiative or see some dramatic break go clear, stay clear and grab hold of the Pink jersey.

Mountain stages appear all throughout the three weeks with a trip up the Galibier at the end of the second week, building into a massive crescendo towards the end with a trip up to Tre Cime di Lavaredo -- made famous by Eddy Merckx in 1968 -- on the second to last day. There's also two individual time-trials, a 54.8 km flat one in which you can all but pen in Wiggins as the winner, and an uphill one which could be wide open and could more than swing the balance of the GC.

This year the Giro finishes in Brescia as opposed to Milan.

Suffice to say, anything flat will have Cavendish's name on it while the rest is anyone's guess. My head says Wiggins and my heart says Hesjedal, though as a duel citizen of Britain and Canada I'd be happy for either to be right.