Let me give you an idea as to the state of Julian and yours truly. Yesterday, we packed our bags as always and got ready for the race. We made a clean sweep of the room and made sure that we weren’t leaving anything behind. JD even looked underneath the beds. Then, upon arriving at the hotel here 500 km away, we realized that we left a white elephant in the room. A 65 cm blue swiss ball!

Phone chargers? OK. But a swiss ball? We need some sleep.

Whitey, our sporting director, convinced me it was effectively a three week training camp with great food and chilled-out racing and would serve as perfect build up to the Tour de France. It’s stage four and I have come to the conclusion that although he was not lying to me, he was certainly not telling me the whole truth. Twenty-four hours ago I would have said he lied to me, but I have since slipped into “couldn’t care less” mode and will not accuse him of such behavior. Let me tell you about my day yesterday.

We won the team time trial - fantastic, much hard work, the best team to roll off the ramp. Christian and Z-Dave were exceptional. Christian carried us the last kilometers and crossed the line first because he took us there. He got the leader’s jersey, the second-ever American to do so and he did on the 20th anniversary of the first American’s win, Andy Hampsten. Very right.

Most grand tours would follow this with a gentle first stage, but not the Giro. We did close to 4,000 meters of climbing, spent almost six hours in the saddle and lost Zabriskie to a crash that was just not his fault and devastating to us. Julian Dean (right post crash) also went down in this crash and being the Kiwi Guy he is will not say how bad he is, we came to the conclusion at dinner when he wasn’t there that he’s very bad and just not letting on to us, a proper chap but sad to see. So we defended it incredibly well and Christian was so bloody unlucky to lose it by just one second. All he’d been doing was TTT work for the 10 previous days so the fact he could even finish that close on such an exceptionally hard day was impressive.

So we start stage three with a battle-damaged Kiwi Guy, no Z-Dave and one second off the leader’s jersey. The start is in the center of some coastal town in Sicily. We get misguided by the random organizational arrows and clueless police and lose the team cars in the process. The clock ticks faster than our bus and we end up running very late and parked a distance from the start. A team car tracks us down and unloads the bikes, we all kit up and prepare to tackle the Monday morning Sicilian traffic and make our way to the start only to realize Maggy doesn’t have his bike. A higher level of panic now ensues.

Fortunately Whitey remembers there’s a random bike in the bus hold so we grab that and chuck the Big Man on it. It’s way too small and has non-compatible pedals but nobody really cares by this point. We get to the start (which has been delayed especially for us) and set off. I realize I have the wrong wheels in and get them changed thinking I’ve got the time. I didn’t have the time.

I bump into Kiwi Guy in the confusion and we set off together, the start area is empty and there is no sign whatsoever of the Giro peloton. The neutral is 8 kilometers so we try not to fret. We set off and soon start fretting. The Lampre team car pulls up next to us and tells us to hold on, we grab on to each side and get accelerated up to warp speed. This is on a bumpy town avenue lined with people; Sicilian people don’t seem to have any fear of moving vehicles or laws. It was like the red sea parting, only we didn’t have the faith.

Eventually we did get on to the peloton, about 500 meters before Kilometer 0, the official race start. One good thing about the Giro is that nobody races from Kilometer 0, but I’m never complacent about such things as I’ve had a couple of bad experiences missing the old starty poo and it’s really not worth the pain.

Then we did Giro racing action for a couple of hours, just riding along, up, and around Mount Etna, as soon as we got to the top it started raining and we all got very scared and a little cold. The roads here are unsafe at the best of times. The reason Z-Dave (his first crash) and Kiwi Guy had crashed yesterday because a water bottle had exploded on the road and that small amount of water had created a mini ice rink because of the accumulated dirt on the surface. So we had the fear. Amazingly we made it back down to the coast without incident. Then the speed started to pick up and we started to weave along the coast and around the peninsula. The worst of the day was over, or so I thought. How very wrong I was.

Bradley Wiggins later told me that he predicted a massive pileup 2 kilometers before it happened. He had said to Cav, “I smell a massive pileup in the next 5 kilometers of around 30 guys.” I could have used this precognitive moment as I was right behind the guy who started what became a 40-man pile up. The road was damp and his bike disappeared from under him. I was getting Paris-Nice flash back. Fortunately I seem to have mastered the art of avoiding hitting the deck immediately in such a situation. Everybody around me fell before I did and so somehow I managed to fall in a heap on top of them all at a slower velocity as everybody was coming to a halt. Whitey was already at my side by the time I had managed to unfurl myself from the wreckage and free my leg.

“You all right mate?” To which I replied, “Wow, I’m like Harry Houdini…Where’s my shoe?” So there I was tip-toeing among the bodies and bikes trying to find my shoe which had been ripped off. This was a first for me and gave the whole situation an air of ridiculousness. Anyway, I chased back on, changed my bike and got ready for the finale. This is where it got really dangerous. I miraculously missed another crash coming around a left-hander at high speed with about 15 kilometers to go. All I saw was a cloud of dust as somebody went off to the right, then guys falling off to the left, including Stuey, Macca (who both broke their collar bones), and Maggy (who was basically OK). The guy in front of me rode straight over the legs of a Tinkoff rider and I squeezed through last.

Now we were in the proper final. We went up a short cobbled climb and then were on what was basically a singletrack road with blind corners and walls on either side. Everybody had the fear and was pumped with adrenaline by now, so it was crazy fast. Amidst all this chaos Christian (right in pink) was holding his place at the front like it was a Chicago training ride - very impressive. Bettini pulled off one of his typical defying-the-laws-of-physics moments while making a right-hander that was much sharper than he expected and instead of hitting the curb and body slamming the wall as any mere mortal racing cyclist would, he hopped onto the curb contorted his body and twisted his bike and nonchalantly slid off the pavement back into the peloton. INCREDIBLE.

I was so impressed I even went and told him, with 4 kilometers to go. At this point Whitey comes on the radio and says, “Now boys, the last 3 kilometers are descending and narrow, real dangerous so be careful.” Brilliant. It was like being on a rollercoaster and by this point I was in the spirit of the whole thing and was having a great time. Not many people get to experience such craziness and I was relishing the whole malarkey. We crossed the line in one piece, jibbering wrecks, but in one piece. We’d made it through 230 kilometers of Giro racing in Sicily and were now off the back to the mainland. The worst was behind us. Oh how very very wrong I was… TO BE CONTINUED.

P.S. Stuey finished with his broken collar bone. In an SMS he sent to me later, he said, “I’m ok - just fuggin frustrating bro. Get taken out by some stinkoff c$@. Not happy. Mate if my legs aren’t broken I’ll finish. You know that. Was only one bone.” I love Stuart.

Coming into the final kilometers, two in the group launched an attack that Maggy attempted to catch, but couldn’t. Finishing nearly 12 minutes in front of the peloton and the maglia rosa, six of the riders in the break took over the top six places in the general classification, putting Vande Velde in 11th.

Slipstream Results Stage 4
1. Matteo Priamo 5:24′49″

9. Magnus Backstedt +43″
75. Christian Vande Velde +11′48″
121. Ryder Hesjedal +12′42″
142. Pat McCarty +12′42″
145. David Millar +13′04″
162. Julian Dean +13′58″
180. Danny Pate +16′53″
182. Chris Sutton +16′54″

Slipstream GC
1. Giovanni Visconti 27:14′04″
2. Matthias Russ mt

11. Christian Vande Velde +9′23″
76. David Millar +12′40″
86. Ryder Hesjedal +15′42″
125. Magnus Backstedt +27′57″
170. Pat McCarty +44′54″
172. Julian Dean +45′38″
180. Danny Pate +52′21″
186. Chris Sutton +58′57″

*Recognizing the overall fatigue of the peloton after an intense and somewhat chaotic start in Sicily, the Giro d’Italia organizers shorted today’s stage by 30 kilometers.

Your season so far has been impressive - 4th GC San Dimas, 10 GC Redlands, 9th U23 Liege and 6th Fleche du Sud. How have you been able to put everything together for such a solid spring?

I am very happy with my spring campaign this season. In past years, I haven’t taken a break in the off-season due to MTB and cross racing. At the end of last season, I was ruined and in dire need of a break. I didn’t even touch my bike in October and started hard in November and was really rested. I have trained harder than ever before because I wanted to come out with guns blazing at San Dimas. I was gearing for a strong spring instead of peaking later in the summer like past seasons.

What’s your proudest moment so far this season - the Liege 9th
Liege was a great result, but I am most happy with my 2nd place in the uphill TT at San Dimas. I really wanted to win becasue it is the perfect course for me. I trained specifically for that with Allen Lim. I lost to Oscar Sevilla by 7 seconds, which stung. If I’m gonna lose to anyone though, he’s not a bad one to choose. But I beat every other domestic pro in a pretty stacked field. I’m proud of it because I showed what I’m capable of to all those who didn’t believe in me after a rough season.

You are in Europe racing now and what is your schedule, your goals?
I have two more races here. Vuelta Tarragona and Ronde de L’Isard. Both are mountainous stage races and suit me perfectly. There’s an uphill TT at Tarragona and I’m very motivated for that. Hopefully some redemption against those Spaniards after San Dimas, ha ha! My goal is to win over here. I know I have the legs and have been very close to winning multiple times already. But something has always gone wrong, whether it’s tactics or a breakaway staying away. The legs are good now and it’s just a matter of time until the rest of the cards fall in place. After Isard, I return home for the summer and the Tour of Pennsylvania.

What are your goals for the U23 Worlds?
I honestly haven’t thought about that at all yet. Worlds is always late in the season, and being such a big one day race, one needs a lot of luck at the right time. But if I’m at the start line, I can promise I’ll fight like a cornered dog until the end.

What do you like about and also miss when racing in Europe?
I like how the racing is always fast over here. In the US, when it goes hard, it’s just as fast, but there’s more lull in between. Here there’s just a higher tempo to it all day long, which I like. I miss home though of course. I like the life I have back in the USA and my friends and family and girlfriend are top notch. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Before I knew it, I was in a race winning break, and I rapidly switched into race winning mode. I started to get ultra switched-on and even a little short-tempered, a sure sign I’m in the zone.

It was hard.
I was feeling totally in control, but it was hard. I averaged 154 heart rate for 5 hrs. I have a max of 190 when fresh. So I was hurting myself, and yet I never doubted myself. I decided to win the sprint. So all I had to do was not hesitate a second when the other four started attacking me in the final. Because that was what they had to do. They all knew I would beat them in a sprint, so that would be their tactic.

I did this until my chain broke. I was so raging and so focused that all the energy I had for winning the race was taken out on my bike. I’m not that person, I don’t see red. But I think it’s quite funny I did that. I’ve yet to see the footage…

Anyway, probably the nicest thing is seeing how affected by it Whitey is. He’s never affected. Makes me remember how much he cares. The same goes for the whole team here. They’ve been lovely.

I love Grand Tours. I’ve got 15 more stages to rectify today. Brilliant.

After looking at the chain that Mr. Millar broke today, the mechanics are plain dumbfounded. It didn’t break on the pin, but right in the middle of the link.

Why!!?? WHY?!!! (Screaming at the sky and looking scornfully at [insert denominational deity here].)

Anyhow, I guess this stuff happens. I mean, we only won the TTT by 6 seconds. And I’m sure that somewhere in those 6 seconds is some good luck. A corner we took faster than anyone else, but didn’t crash, something… So, you have to take the good with the bad, the ups with the downs.

I mean, how fun would it be if this team was just riding well or “good” everyday. No, no…We are either excellent or in a ditch crying.

I wouldn’t have it any other way, would you?

JV

The five worked together well and built up a solid gap of six minutes quickly. Their lead got up to just over nine minutes before the peloton decided to react. But it was too little too late and the five had a gap of two minutes with just 5 km to go.

Things were looking good for Millar as the strongest of the group…until just inside the 1 km banner when his chain broke! Since the mechanical happened within the last three kilometers, Millar was given the same finishing time as the last rider in the break. He also earned 6″ in time bonuses during the stage and moved up in the overall classification.

“There is not much to say but bad luck! Nothing more, no body to blame,” said DS Matt White. “We will try again soon.”

Slipstream Results Stage 4
1. Pavel Brutt 5:04′52″

27. Christian Vande Velde +31″
104. Magnus Backstedt +3′03″
107. Ryder Hesjedal +3′03″
111. Pat McCarty +3′18″
119. David Millar +25″
143. Julian Dean +8′53″
158. Chris Sutton +13′27″
166. Danny Pate +13′27″

Slipstream GC
1. Franco Pellizotti 21:46′49″
2. Christian Vande Velde +1″
3. Danilo Di Luca +7″
4. Morris Possoni +8″
5. Vincenzo Nibali +8″

64. David Millar +2′02″
81. Ryder Hesjedal +5′26″
160. Magnus Backstedt +29′40″
174. Julian Dean +34′06″
175. Pat McCarty +34′38″
180. Danny Pate +37′54″
188. Chris Sutton +44′29″

Tired from the long transfers and sore from all the crashes, the peloton took its time today on the flat, 187 km stage to Catanzaro Lungomare.

The average speed for the first four hours of the race was only 36 kph as the peloton let Verbrugghe get up to a ten-minute gap during his solo-break. Then, with about 10 km to go, the speed went up to 69 kph! as race entered the final finishing circuit.

Finishing in the main peloton, Christian Vande Velde, David Millar and Ryder Hesjedal all maintained their respective overall times with Christian still a second back in second.

**Photos coming soon.**

Slipstream Results Stage 4
1. Mark Cavendish 4:49′09″

41. Christian Vande Velde mt
51. David Millar mt
67. Ryder Hesjedal mt
166. Chris Sutton +10:18
176. Julian Dean +10:18
177. Magnus Backstedt +10:18
178. Pat McCarty +10:18
179. Danny Pate +10:18

Slipstream GC
1. Franco Pellizotti 16:41′26″
2. Christian Vande Velde +1″
3. Danilo Di Luca +7″
4. Morris Possoni +8″
5. Vincenzo Nibali +8″

76. David Millar +2′14″
85. Ryder Hesjedal +2′54″
178. Danny Pate +24′58″
180. Julian Dean +25′44″
184. Magnus Backstedt +27′08″
188. Chris Sutton +31′33″
190. Pat McCarty +31″51″