The third week of the Giro starts with a 229 kilometer stage over 5 mountain passes, including the Passo Giau at an elevation of 2,236 meters (7,378 feet). The Passo Giau is the “Cima Coppi” of this years Giro, honoring Fausto Coppi and the highest point in elevation of the race.

Stage 15 profile:

Stage 16 brings some good news and some bad news for the peloton. The good news is that the stage is only 12.6 kilometers long, the bad news is that it’s almost all uphill. Gaining 650 meters in around 11km will be a stout test for GC contenders who will certainly be fatigued from the previous days effort during stage 15.

Stages 14, 15, and 16 is where the Giro will produce a definitive overall winner. Christophe Le-Mével, forth overall after stage 12 will hope to have three great days of racing so that he can hold his position on GC. Given the way Christophe has been racing, don’t dismiss the chance that he’ll jump into another breakaway and go for the Maglia Rosa.

Stages 17 and 18 look like transitional stages on paper, but that doesn’t mean they are without difficulty. With the race quickly coming to a close, stage 17 could be a stage for David Millar to go back out on the attack and try for a stage win.

The Tour of Romandie begins tomorrow with an exciting race format and great line up from Team Garmin-Cervelo. A 3.5km prologue opens things up with a pan flat course profile and what should be a sub 4 minute explosive effort perfect for prologue specialists.

Following the prologue the race moves into the hills for stages 1, 2, and 3. While there is a mountain top finish on stage 2, Romandie doesn’t have any high mountain finishes. The race course does have some significant climbing, but the overall classification will probably be decided during stage 4, a 20.5km individual time trial.

Giro d’Italia Stage 8 – First mountain-top

Well I am on the massage table finally after a post stage transfer of 2 hours. This is a good time for me to introduce to you my soigneur (french term for a person who takes care of) for the entire Giro this year, Sandra Ni Hodnae. Sandra is responsible for keeping my body in one piece during the race. An hour massage each night along with preparing drinks, race food, hotel meals and the list goes on. It is a very hard job and one I think ill stick to turning the pedals.

While we are talking about some of the staff we have on our team I thought I would let you know just how many staff members we have looking after us here at the Giro. We have:

* 2 x Directors
* 4 x Soigneur
* 3 x Mechanics
* 1 x Physio
* 1 x Doctor
* 1 x Bus Driver
* 1 x Chiro
* 1 x Chef
* 1 x Sports Scientist

TOTAL STAFF = 15
TOTAL RIDERS = 9 ( now 8 minus Christian)

As you can see we are well looked after in all avenues!

Now to Stage 8. 192km with our first mountain-top finish. A pretty stress free stage for our team as we all tried to save as much energy as possible for the two sprint stages to come. It was a fast start to the race with a few hills in the first 40km.

Giro d’Italia Stage 4 – Team Time Trial

The alarm goes off, open the curtains and its a perfect sunny day. So we think. On our way to the course in the afternoon the clouds start rolling in and with just over and hour before we start the thunder roars and yep we are going to get wet.

33km Team Time Trial which is going to have a little bit of everything in it. Some teams were getting wet at the end of the course, some in the middle and some at the start. Every team had a little bit of storm, a little bit of sunshine and a little bit of wind from all directions.

Even after losing Christian Vande Velde the day before to a broken collar bone we believed we were still a shot for the wind. It was going to be tough on a flat, fast circuit like this one to hold the speed with one less rider but we gave it one hell of a crack. Unfortunately our run of luck with the weather was not a favourable one and we did not have the horse power today and feel away to an eighth place finish.

Garmin-Transitions rider Cam Meyer will be racing the track world championships for Australia on a distinctively shaped new handlebar from 3T.

The Sphinx is a UCI-friendly bar with a flat, aero top section and bends that raise up before curving down. In between the end of the hooks and the bends, the bars feature unique, thin, aero profiles.

3T developed the Sphinx — named after the flat-forearm position of points racers — with Meyer.

“We know Cameron through Team Garmin-Transitions,” said 3T technical director Richard McAinsh.

That was the most unbelievable feeling! I went into the race confident that I could defend my world title but to have the rainbow jersey for another year is a just a dream come true.

I knew the race would be very fast for the first 50 laps and the sprints being very hard to win. I was very relaxed for this part of the race, saving energy, knowing that the second half would be where I could win.

Travis:

Cam and I are currently in Copenhagen for the 2010 Track Cycling World Championships. After a stressful 4-week training camp in Adelaide I made the team of six endurance riders to go to Denmark. I had been training for the Team Pursuit but as you know there are only four riders in the team for that event and unfortunately for the second year in a row I have just missed out on a ride in the Team Pursuit.

But I will be competing in the Scratch race which is the race I ran fourth in last year at worlds. I am hoping to go at least one better this year and make the podium which I think is a good possibility as I have had more track preparation this year than last. My fingers are crossed and I am looking forward to getting over to Girona and starting my first professional season with Garmin-Transitions!