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.
"Steegmans had a problem with his gears and so I had to close a ten-metre gap with just 500m to go," said Cavendish after the race. "I had to go in the red to win the sprint." He turned on the afterburners passing and beating Elia Viviani -- who must have though five meters from the line that he had won -- into second.
Viviani crossed the line slamming his handlebars repeatedly, but that was frustration at himself for Cav beat him on pure speed and sprinting know-how alone.
So we're underway in the 2013 Giro d'Italia and contrary to what Cavendish, Viviani and the rest of the fast men might think, the real racing will begin for real tomorrow.
