Today marked the end of the Giro d’Italia, and what a spectacular edition it turned out to be. In what was supposed to be a showdown of Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin, for the most part looked like anything but, as Simon Yates took the race by storm early on and looked unbeatable up until the end. Froome, having crashed while performing a recon ride of the stage 1 time trial, didn’t show any signs that he would be a factor in the race, slowly bleeding time at various points, though somewhere staying close enough in striking distance. Dumoulin on the other hand, provided a very steady performance, but also seemed incapable of matching Yates in the mountains. Going into stage 18, the race looked pretty much over: Yates had a narrow 28” lead over Dumoulin, but the there consecutive mountain stages didn’t appear to offer any advantage to Dumoulin. Froome seemed to be too far down in the standings with a gap of over 3 minutes behind Yates, and many including myself had earlier questioned whether it was even a good idea for him to stay in the race with his looming participation in the more important Tour de France beginning only a month after the end of the Giro.

This year’s edition of the Tour of California is upon us, having kicked off earlier with a circuit race in Long Beach, that saw the young Colombian sprint phenom Fernando Gaviria handily outkick Aussie Caleb Ewan and a late charging Peter Sagan. The Tour of California is always a fun race, attracting well known European riders who enjoy coming to take in the sun, stay in posh hotels, and expand their spotlight in vibrant California. The focus of this year’s race appears geared towards the sprint teams, as perhaps you could expect by looking at the roster of sprinters competing in this race, including Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish, Gaviria, Ewan, Alexander Kristoff, Sagan, let alone solid or up and coming sprinters from smaller teams. Cavendish makes for an interesting participant, as we haven’t seen much of him since his crash during last year’s Tour de France, though he’s likely rebuilding form for this upcoming July and here more to collect a hefty participation check as he simply wasn’t much of a factor in today’s sprint.

This weekend featured two summit finishes, up the Montevergine and Campo Imperatore (Gran Sasso) on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. As I expected, the Montevergine proved to be a non-factor in the battle for the overall, save for the young Ecuadorian Movistar rider, Ricard Carapaz jumping out of the pack late in climb to take 7 seconds over his competitors. At 5%, Montevergine is more of a power climb, where the big riders aren’t as hampered by their larger weight as their power counts for more, and moreover aerodynamics becoming a non-negligible factor provided the climbing speed is high enough, which it turned out to be on a relatively easy gradient.

Thursday’s ascent up Monte Etna provided the first summit finish for the contenders to show themselves, and it featured some pretty exciting racing. Simon Yates took the Maglia Rosa while finishing side-by-side with teammate and talented climber Estaban Chavez, who had started the climb as part of the day’s early breakaway. Yates was the only contender to sneak out of the group of favorites, putting in a searing attack in the last few kilometers to take 26 seconds over the next group, containing the likes of Thibaut Pinot, Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome. Rohan Dennis, who had previously been in the Maglia Rosa, did his best to limit the damage, before eventually conceding over a minute on the stage.

As noted in my last entry, this year’s Giro d’Italia offers no less than 7 stages ending with substantial climbs. Summit finishes are great as they offer a unique opportunity to glimpse into the capabilities of the overall contenders, as if you’re contending, you pretty much have to go full gas uphill!

The 101st Giro d’Italia got underway today, highlighted by the long awaited showdown between four time Tour de France champion Chris Froome, and last years Giro d’Italia champion, Tom Dumoulin. Chris Froome and Team Sky strike an intimidating presence for any Grand Tour they line up for, having the resources and talent to methodically control and eventually win the races they target. Up until recently, it didn’t appear there was a rider capable of taking down Froome: Nairo Quintana has represented the most serious challenger (being a gifted climber) but lacks in time trial ability (i.e. raw power given his diminuitive frame), hindering his ability to consistently challenge Froome. A near miss at the 2015 Vuelta a Espana saw Tom Dumoulin realize his grand tour capabilities, which led to his transition from a time trial specialist to a grand tour rider.