US national road race champion, Matthew Busche (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) is a rider, according to California eye wear brand, Spy, whose mind wanders on training rides.

This incredible footage is a visual realisation of Busche’s mental perambulations, apparently; achieved with a little help from Mike Montgomery, freestyle rider for the Specialized and Monster Energy teams, and another Spy sponsored athlete.

A word of warning: don’t try this home, unless you’re very, very good.

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Roberto Ferrari claims his first Grand Tour victory

The Italian rounded the final right-hand bend in second place with 450m to go and accelerated away from the field to claim his first Grand Tour stage victory.

Cavendish looked to exit the 90-degree corner in a huge gear and struggled to gain the momentum to challenge for victory, with the Manx Missile forced to settle for fourth.

However, the world champion did move into the red points jersey after Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) was distanced on the final climb, while Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) defended his overall lead.

Six riders – Simone Ponzi (Astana), Stefan Denifl (Vacansoleil-DCM), Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank), Mickaël Delage (FDJ-BigMat), Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol) and Adrian Saez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) – attacked early on the stage which, at 255km, is the longest in this year’s Giro d’Italia.

The group gained an advantage of more than four minutes at one point but, with the peloton looming large, Boaro attacked his fellow escapees with 30km remaining before being swept up with 14km to the line at the foot of the category four Vico climb.

Four riders, led by Denis Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) and Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM), attacked on the climb, before Astana’s Roman Kreuziger and Lampre-ISD’s Michele Scarponi bridged the gap to spark the peloton into action to reel in the escapees.

Cavendish successfully crested the climb in the peloton, installing the 26-year-old as favourite for victory, and his Sky team-mates set a relentless pace at the front of a strung-out bunch.

Technical finale’s have contributed to a number of crashes at this year’s Giro and, while the peloton successfully negotiated two tight bends, the third brought down a number of riders, leaving only a select group of riders to fight the sprint, with Cavendish too far back after the final corner to contest a place on the podium, leaving Ferrari to claim victory by a comfortable margin.

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Mark Cavendish peeled himself off the tarmac after crashing on stage three

With terrible crashes on the flat, heroics in the mountains, and GC contenders going head-to-head on the picturesque streets of one of Italy’s most historic towns, the 95th corsa rosa certainly hasn’t lacked drama.

With the longest stage, flights into the high mountains, and a third time trial ahead, the action looks set to continue at the same relentless rate.

Here are five of the most memorable moments from the first ten days.

Stage one – Phinney comes of age

Great things have been expected of Taylor Phinney since before his arrival in the WorldTour and on the 8.7km time trial on the streets of the Danish town of Herning he fulfilled the early promise that saw him recruited by Livestrong. His team-mate on that development squad, Team Sky’s Alex Dowsett, a man who, as British national time trial champion, knows a thing or two about racing against the clock, told RCUK that Phinney at his best was “unbeatable”. A nine second margin of victory over an in-form Geraint Thomas, fresh from victory in the Tour of Romandie prologue, would attest to that.

Stage three – Cavendish hangs tough

Anyone who doubted Mark Cavendish’s commitment to the Giro, a relatively minor engagement for the Manxman in a season in which he will contest the two biggest prizes of his career, would have been forced to reconsider after watching him peel himself off the tarmac leading to the finish line in Horsens after a horrific crash that also brought down then race leader, Phinney. Cav showed similar bravery on stage nine underling the sincerity of his pledge to ride to Milan if strong enough.

Stage four – Garmin-Barracuda nail the team time trial

On the wrong end of a sound defeat at the hands of Orica-GreenEDGE at Tirreno-Adriatico, Jonathan Vaughter’s argyle army lived up to their billing as favourites during the 33.2km team time trial in Verona, catapulting team member Ramunas Navardauskas  into the overall lead, a feat they would repeat five days later when Ryder Hesjedal pulled on the maglia rosa.

Stage six – Rubiano continues a proud tradition

Columbia has a proud history of success on the mountain stages of Grand Tours and Miguel Rubiano produced a ride worthy of Parra, Herrera, and Soler to ride clear (twice) of an elite group of escapees and finish nearly two minutes ahead of the peloton. The stage for Rubiano’s triumph was perhaps the most demanding of the first half of this year’s Giro: one with a saw blade profile, that included four categorised climbs.

Stage 10 – Rodriguez shows his hand

Is 2012 the season in which Joaquim Rodriguez stakes his claim to a seat at cycling’s top table? Team-mate this year to Oscar Freire, his more accomplished countryman, it was Rodriguez who delivered in the Classics (victory at La Fleche Walloone) and stage victories at The Tour of the Basque Country. His victory on stage ten at the Giro was among the best of the race so far. When the road rises in the weeks ahead, Rodriguez is unlikely to wilt.

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Last year’s edition of the closed roads sportive came under fire after riders experienced overcrowded roads early on the 92-mile route but the organisers have moved the start to Bangor-on-Dee racecourse, south east of Wrexham, in a bid to spread out riders from the outset, before the route heads into rural north Wales.

The sportive on Sunday September 9 will pass by the villages of Llangollen, Carrog, and Minera, and takes in a host of the toughest climbs in the Clwydian range, including Panorama and The Shelf, while the exposed climb up World’s End towards the end of the course will provide a tough test on the home leg.

The Horseshoe Pass also returns for 2012, with riders having the opportunity to measure their climbing prowess against Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas. The Etape Cymru ambassador, who is currently riding the Giro d’Italia in preparation for the Olympic Games, recorded a time of 14 minutes and 22 second in training on the Horseshoe Pass last year.

“The Etape Cymru is one of the toughest closed road events in Britain and as a proud Welshman I am delighted to support it,” said Thomas. “The 92-mile route offers cyclists a challenging but fabulous opportunity to enjoy our spectacular Welsh scenery in the safety of a closed road environment.”

Chris Boardman, who used the Horseshoe Pass climb in training throughout his career, added: “The Horseshoe Pass and the surrounding area are just stunning places to ride a bike. Being fairly local, I’ve used the Horseshoe Pass throughout my career and it’s a real test of the form. It’s a tough climb that just keeps on going but the views from the top are worth it.”

Entry costs £55. Head to www.etape-cymru.co.uk for more information.

Scott Thwaites (Endura Racing) wins round one of the Halfords Tour Series

Thwaites, who went into the race in red-hot form after winning the Tour of the Reservoir on May 7, outsprinted Bernard Sulzberger (Raleigh-GAC), Rico Rogers (Node4-Giordana Racing) to victory.

With team-mates Dean Windsor and Jonathan McEvoy placing fourth and eighth, Thwaites’ Endura squad also took the team honours after the first round of the 11-race series, with Team UK Youth second after placing four riders in the top ten.

A brief escape containing Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Ed Clancy and former British champion Kristian House of defending champions Rapha Condor Sharp, plus Windsor, went clear early in the race, but, with the peloton strung out after a super-fast start to the season, the trio were reigned in.

Team UK Youth moved to the front as the laps ticked down, with Yanto Barker driving the pace at the front of the peloton, but, with Thwaites entering the finishing straight second wheel, it was the Endura man who jumped with several hundred metres to go to power to victory.

Endura Racing lead the team standings after round one

“It’s a good race, the circuit’s really good,” said Thwaites, who also won last year’s Stoke-on-Trent round. “I think everyone was a bit shocked with it being the first crit of the season. It was tough so got the heart going.

“We [Endura Racing] said that we weren’t going to go for a leadout, as that automatically writes one guy off, so it was all four of us trying to stay on the front.

“I was second and thought I might as well take it up now, about 500 metres out. You’ve got to take a few risks to win, and I took a few. I absolutely ragged it all the way to the finish.”

Highlights of the Kirkcaldy round of Tour Series will be shown on ITV4 on Wednesday (May 16) at 10pm. Round two of the takes place in Durham on Thursday May 17.

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Halfords Tour Series round one – Kirkcaldy

1) Scott Thwaites – Endura Racing
2) Bernard Sulzberger – Team Raleigh-GAC
3) Rico Rogers – Node4–Giordana Racing
4) Dean Windsor – Endura Racing
5) Chris Opie – Team UK Youth
6) Yanto Barker – Team UK Youth
7) Niklas Gustavsson – Team UK Youth
8) Jonathan McEvoy – Endura Racing
9) David McGowan – Team UK Youth
10) Graham Briggs – Team Raleigh-GAC

Team standings after round one
1) Endura Racing – 10pts
2) Team UK Youth  - 9pts
3) Team Raleigh0-GAC – 8pts
4) Node4-Giordana Racing – 7pts
5) Rapha Condor Sharp – 6pts
6) Metaltek Scott – 5pts
7) Team IG-Sigma Sport – 4pts
8) Cycle Premier-Kovert – 3pts
9) Team Hope Factory Racing – 2pts
10) Herbalife LeisureLakesBikes – 1pts

Boardman Bikes sprint standings after round one 
1) Marcel Six – Metaltek Scott – 10pts
2) Bernard Sulzberger – Team Raleigh-GAC – 8pts
3) Kristian House – Rapha Condor Sharp – 6pts

A relaxed Rodriguez sits primed, ready for action, ahead of a stage in which he started as favourite for victory. 

World champion Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) and maglia rosa Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) share a joke in the peloton.

The rolling 186km stage, classified as medium mountains, showcased some of Italy’s best scenery.

That included the stunning medieval city of Assisi, where fans lined the street waiting for riders to do battle on the steep climb to the finish.

The narrow streets were the perfect battleground.

Katusha and Garmin-Barracuda controlled the pace at the front of the peloton in aid of their team leader’s, Rodriguez and Hesjedal.

That put Rodriguez in the perfect position going into the climb and, in this picture, the pint-sized Spaniard sits patiently on the wheel of Astana’s Paolo Tiralongo, ready to attack 

And attack he did, surging away from NetApp’s Bartosz Huzarski and Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti to claim his first Giro stage victory.

Cavendish finished the stage alongside fellow sprinter Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas.

Rodriguez earned a 20-second time bonus for victory to move into the overall lead, 17 seconds ahead of Hesjedal.

Joaquim Rodriguez produces his trademark uphill kick to win stage ten

The stage – a rolling profile with a fierce two-part climb to finish – looked tailor-made for a punchy rider in the mould of Rodriguez and this year’s La Flèche Wallonne champion duly delivered on Assisi’s cobbled, narrow streets.

Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel), Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Francesco Failli (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Matthias Brandle (NetApp) and Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM) formed an early break which stayed away until seven kilometres to go, when the combined force of of the Garmin-Barracuda and Katusha, working on behalf of previous race leader Ryder Hesjedal and Rodriguez respectively, reeled them in.

Team Sky’s Rigberto Uran attacked under the two kilometre banner at the top of the the first of the two steep finishing climbs, and gained a small gap on the chasing group on the subsequent descent, with John Gadret (Ag2r La Mondiale) on his wheel.

But the duo couldn’t hold the advantage as the roads ramped up for a second time, with Rabobank’s Tom Jelte Slagters leading the charge at the front of a strung out and select group of riders.

Rodriguez then unleashed his trademark kick to claim his first Giro d’Italia stage victory, with NetApp’s Bartosz Huzarski claiming second ahead of Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti.

Hesjedal finished sixth on the stage, six second behind Rodriguez, who earned an additional 20-second time bonus to victory to move into the maglia rosa for the first time in his career.

Giro d’Italia stage ten – result

1) Joaquin Rodriguez (SPA) – Katusha – 4:25:05 hours
2) Bartosz Huzarski (POL) – NetApp +2″
3) Giovanni Visconti (ITA) – Movistar – same time
4) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Colnago-CSF Inox +6″
5) John Gadret (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale – same time
6) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda
7) Tom Jelte Slagter (NED) – Rabobank
8) Dario Cataldo (ITA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep
9) Roman Kreuziger (CZE) – Astana
10) Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Team Sky

General classification

1. Joaquin Rodriguez (SPA) – Katusha – 40:27:34 hours
2. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda +17″
3. Paolo Tiralongo (ITA) – Astana +32″
4. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) – Astana +52″
5. Benat Inxuasti (SPA) – Movistar +52″
6. Ivan Basso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +57″
7. Damiano Caruso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +1’02″
8. Dario Cataldo (ITA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +1’03″
9. Eros Capecchi (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +1’09″
10. Rigoberto Uran (COL) – Team Sky +1’10″

This isn’t a complaint to the Chancellor about VAT, but a comment on one of the more brutal climbs on my regular loop: a monster that’s a thrill to descend, but offers a rather less enjoyable climb.

The approach is rolling and the road surface ‘draggy’. The combined effect is to slow progress and deplete energy reserves before the climb begins; an inauspicious start.

The road narrows as it rises and is overhung with trees on either side, creating the impression of an even steeper gradient than the already vertiginous ramp beneath the wheels.

This is inner ring territory, the ascent begun in the middle of the block before shifting steadily downwards. Hands on the tops of the bars, perched on the nose of the saddle, weight shifted forwards, the early stages of the climb are best tackled in a seated position.

Two-thirds of the way up, the road rises cruelly, forcing a shift to first gear (no point holding anything in reserve – this is a hard as it gets) and a move out of the saddle.

Realising I’m hunched over the bars, I visualize Contador, and force myself in to a more upright position and an attempt to ‘dance’ on the pedals.

Suddenly, the climb plateaus and I return to the saddle, click up a gear, and crest the summit with an enormous sense of satisfaction.

The view is an additional reward: a seemingly endless vista of unspoilt countryside overhung by an enormous sky of pure blue.

What goes up most come down, and the following descent is thrilling, a dead straight opening section heading into a sudden, sharp, right hand hair pin.

I shift to the back of the saddle, position the left pedal at six o’clock, press my left leg against the frame, left knee locked out, right knee pointing at the apex, rims aglow.

An edge is placed on the sixteen degree temperature and brilliant sunshine by a chilly breeze manifested as a headwind for almost the entire ride and I’m glad of the Castelli Compato gillet, a garment whose red and white ‘wind stopper’ logo in the Hexagonal shape of a traffic stop sign proves accurate.

Elsewhere, I’m clad in Vermarc’s Flanders kit (shorts, short sleeve, full-zip jersey, Roubaix-lined arm and knee warmers), with an ageing but still effective Endura FS260 base layer, polyester and adequate to today’s task.

The bike? Condor’s Super Acciaio, a machine I should have returned by now, but which I’ve fallen in love with, and which suits my needs perfectly: all the comfort of steel with a responsive race-oriented geometry to keep things interesting.

Weather forecasts predict more rain, but it feels like a corner has been turned, and cycling in the sunshine is a simple pleasure that renders the headwind largely immaterial.

As we write, the maglia rosa is clad in Castelli. Ryder Hesjedal’s Garmin-Barracuda team have been closely involved in the development of some of the garments we’ll be testing this month.

First among them is the Gabba jersey, the piece we’re looking forward to wearing the most. Based on a simple, potentially brilliant concept, a short sleeved, but waterproof jersey could be the perfect solution to the British summer.

The stretchy, polyester-elastane mix fabric (known to Castelli as Windstopper® X-Lite Plus) is finished with a host of pleasing details that include a long-drop tail (banded with reflective trim, a neat trick repeated at the top of the three rear pockets), full zip, high collar (lined on the inside) to keep out the rain, a subtle, black-on-black logo across the chest, and not so subtle, but always elegant red and white scorpion logo on the breast and middle rear pocket.

The arm pits are made from Castelli’s Nano Flex fabric (more of which later) lined on the inside with a Roubaix-type material, presumably to wick away sweat – something we’ll be testing. A silicone gripper band lines the hem, but not the drop tail, allowing the additional material to hang freely, and, hopefully, do its job of keeping spray off our rear end.

We’ll be pairing the Gabba with Nano Flex arm warmers on mild, damp days: a super tight, water repellant tube of fleece-lined polyester-elastene fabric, with a silicone gripper band at the upper end and an elasticated cuff. Stenciled with bright white ‘Nano Flex’ and Castelli logos on the outer edge, these look extremely ‘pro’, and are team issue kit for the Garmin-Barracuda boys.

A gillet is almost an essential item of clothing for this time of year, so we’ll be trying the Compatto rain vest. It’s a very close fit, which we like, and equipped with a high collar, long tail, elasticated hem (especially at the rear). The breast pocket is lined with a thin, polyester mesh, that will support light items like a phone or credit card, but doesn’t prevent the gillet from being packed tightly. Castelli are claiming resistance to wind and water from their Windstopper® vega fabric (56 per cent polyamide-nylon, 44 per cent PTFE) which we’ll test in the weeks ahead.

The Velocissimo shorts are an eye-catching affair in the black, citrus green, and white colourway; rather fetching, we reckon. The rear and crotch panels are hard wearing black, while the white side panels add a touch of pro peloton sophistication. We love the deep, laser cut hem, lightly coated with silicone on the inside for grip. The Kiss3 pad is among the thickest at the sit bones we’ve encountered, so we’ll be interested to see if that translates to comfort and stability on the bike.

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Castelli

Saddleback

Team IG-Sigma Sport’s Daniel Lloyd, a veteran of two Giri, and former Team Sky rider, Dario Cioni, give the view a rider’s eye view on how events could unfold over 255km.

The video is filled with facts and figures that reveal the effort required of the riders: some 6,000 calories burned on a stage, 90 to 95 per cent of heart rate required in the effort to make a breakaway, sustained for two to five minutes, sometimes more, before the bunch lets up and allows the escapees to go clear.

Lloyd and Cioni take to their bikes to experience the Vico climb, a 3.5km ramp to be encountered by the riders after 240km, and the run into the finish into Montecatini Terme.

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