The first big "Grand Tour" of the year starts this weekend - The Tour of Italy. I love the thrill of daily bike racing streaming online every morning and catching up on the events of the day in the evening and especially when it's around and in the beautiful country of Italy and the massive Dolomite mountains.
I have not done an in depth preview of the race but my thoughts are below; here however, are some links to the best reviews and information around I've seen so far.
What to Read to Get up to Speed
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The Inner Ring - A great overview and breakdown of stages you just can't miss.
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Steephill.tv Review - This is also the best place to find out where to watch live streaming coverage and also recap videos after the daily coverage.,
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CyclingNews.com - Always the gold standard for race overview and stage details.
Make or Break Results for the Team
A team can make their sponsors happy and their year by simply doing well or winning a single grand tour and nothing else. While BMC is likely gunning for the Tour de France with Cadel Evans defending his title, they have yet to make inroads this year in a big race and are not likely to do much in the Giro other than a possible prologue win by Taylor Phinney. Since the Giro is the first big tour of the year a teams lackluster results will not spell a doomed season as the Tour and the Vuelta are still on the horizon. However, once those tours pass without a win, looking back on a bad Giro can spell disaster when trying to justify the millions a sponsor has put out.
RadioShack Nissan is another team without much going on this year after Fabian Cancellara's wreck in the classics this year and only Chris Horner has appeared worthy of a podium finish after leading Tirreno Adriatico before ending 2nd overall on GC. With Chris heading to the Tour of California, Radioshack has sent Frank Schleck to Italy in an attempt to get a result. As with BMC, "The Shack" will be looking to their big result in July (and The Tour of CA) in hopes to salvage their season and make everyone forget the lackluster performances so far.
Sprinters and Non GC types
The Giro is unpredictable with climbs more intense and steeper than those in France and with teams sending a smattering of riders to compete and others to just train. Team Sky's World Champion Mark Cavendish will be riding as will Tyler Farrar of Garmin Barracuda and those two along with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Greenedge), and Possibly JJ Heado (Saxobank) will be fun to watch sprinting in the flat stages. Mind you, Tyler and Mark are here for Tour prep and likely they will be more interesting in the early stages rather than those later on after getting torn apart from the climbs or simply quitting before the race ends.
BMC's young Taylor Phinney is gearing up for a win in the opening prologue which would also give him the first Pink Jersey representing the overall lead. This is Taylor's chance to show everyone that he has the game to take an important win, and a win that he is made for and expected to take. He has a great chance, but don't be surprised if the young Jack Bobridge of Greenedge steals the show - or a complete outsider that no one even considers.
Overall General Classification
For the overall win the Giro can produce odd results. Italian Ivan Basso is a motivated rider for the Giro and a past winner of the race. The little climbing Venezuelan Jose' Rujano Guillen along with Katusha's Spanish climber Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver both have the skills to get a big lead from the climbs and hold on after the TT's for a possible win. Garmin is banking on Canadian Ryder Hesjedal with a great support team for the climbs of Peter Stetina and Christian Vande Velde. Also, Jack Bauer will be an interesting rider to watch for Garmin in this tour - especially if he is as fierce on the bike as his namesake in Fox TV's "24". The tricky part for Ryder is weather Christian is building up for the Tour more than here to support his leader and be willing to bury himself in that goal. Christian is a team rider, so likely he will do more than what is expected in this regard.
While RadioShacks Frank Schleck is an obvious great grand tour rider, he was put into the race as a last minute replacement and likely he has an outside chance at the podium but not the win. Frank has only once before ridden the Giro (without a podium finish) but has twice been on the podium in the Tour de France so we know his pedigree. Maybe it's just the fact that Frank wasn't on the original roster for the Giro that gives me pause to even expect a top 10 for him here this year. His heart belongs to France now and it takes a special kind of rider to reverse focus for the Giro at this stage of his progression. With that said, it appears the older Schleck brother is not likely to ever win the Tour while his brother is around and maybe that knowledge will give him the extra motivation to win the Giro and get his own degree of fame, fame his brother has yet to achieve (Andy's 2011 TDF win is by default after Contador was stripped of the title).
In Defense
Last years winner, Alberto Contador, is still suspended and won't be able to defend his title while 2010's winner Ivan Basso is back for another shot.
I expect to see an unexpected winner for the 2012 Giro and with the Italians having extra motivation for their national race basically anything can happen.
After a fun weekend of racing and many hours of sitting in the sun and watching others race, I needed a proper recovery. However, yesterday I started feeling light-headed and what a non medical expert might refer to as "vertigo". Others might say the symptoms mirror that of being drunk, but I'm just feeling blah. So I've been relegated to a day of recovery by default. No riding, and instead some relaxing and reading my two favorite topics. 
