THE GIRO: TOTAL AWESOMENESS

That was epic. Totally and completely awesome.


The 100th year anniversary of the Giro d'Italia was everything a bike race should be. Including being exciting up until the last km of the race. I actually watched the last part of the stage online at Universal Sports and saw the top 10 be sent off. Rainy time trials are always exciting.

Di Luca was on top at the first time check but I didn't think he could hold it. He's just not a good time trialer. Denis Menchov, who I was cheering for, was going good as usual. Then, towards the end, I was checking out the updates on Bike Forums. I flipped back to the live coverage and see Denis Menchov climbing on a new bike and being pushed. My reaction was "Oh my gosh, what just happened, oh my gosh, he could lose" and then "goooooooooo!!!!". If I was acting like this and am not an ever loyal supporter of Menchov, imagine what the Raboback guys were doing. When he crossed the line I had no idea if he had won or how close it was. I didn't see Danilo Di Luca finish so I didn't know what was going on. Di Luca and Menchov didn't really have an emotion on their faces (not like that's a surprise). I was checking BF to see if someone knew what was going on and found the following reactions:

"Menchov down!!!!"

"!!!!!!!!!!"

"Menchov goes down! Think he is close enough to still take it all though..."

"oh ****."

"Omg"

"omfg"

"Lol"

They obviously didn't know. And then on the live coverage they were just showing the replays of the crash, which was pretty cool, and the bike exchange. The mechanic who jumped out of the car seemingly before Menchov even touched the ground and tgot the bike out and under him by the time the guy had stood up was awesome. He deserves a pretty big reward for that.

Then they finally show the GC and that Menchov had won. And then they replay the crash. Then the people surrounding Menchov and then the crash again. Each time they replayed that though, I'm just amazed at the mechanic. He was good.

When they put the camera back on Menchov, it looked like he was smiling. He was actually showing some sort of emotion. I think this might be the first time I've seen him do that. I mean, Di Luca doesn't display much emotion either, he just looks tough, but Menchov is about the same level as he is. When I see Menchov smiling and yelling while throwing his arms up, I was a little surprised.

Watching Menchov smiling on the podium really made me feel the right guy had won. I didn't want Di Luca to win so the next toughest looking guy had to take the title. Menchov raced smart, he knew what he was doing, and he was strong, all the while looking tough.

This Giro is an example of why I love cycling. The race was truly epic.