Wow, what a reception we got in the Netherlands for the opening three days of the Giro d’Italia. Although I wasn’t a part of the Tour de France when it visited London in 2007, (I watched the prologue from the roadside and the first stage on TV) – the crowds very much reminded me of it by their sheer volume and enthusiasm. Barely a kilometre went by without spectators (making it very hard to take a natural break!).

The prologue (or stage 1; it was a little too long to be classified as a prologue) was a great way to start the race. The noise from the spectators was deafening and it was hard to hear my race director in the radio at points. Bradley Wiggins proved once again that he is probably the best rider in the world at focussing on a goal and performing on the day. Carlos Sastre answered a lot of the questions as to his form, posting a very strong ride on a power course with a lot of corners.

As most of you probably saw on TV, the following two stages were stressful, to say the least. A combination of factors – wind, fresh legs, road furniture, corners, General Classification riders and sprinters wanting to be at the front along with their teams – led to multiple crashes and a few splits in the peloton. Unfortunately for us, a crash in the final 10km of both stages left Carlos losing around 40 seconds each day, despite being very well placed all the time. Whilst not the end of the world, it was frustrating to have ridden so well and still lost time to the likes of Vino, Nibali and Basso.

I’m sure a lot of the riders were pleased to have got those stages out of the way!

There was a chance that we were going to have to drive from Holland to Italy, with the volcanic ash clouds moving over Italian airspace, but luckily it cleared in time for us to fly down after the stage. It didn’t seem that much shorter though, arriving at Cuneo airport at 23:30 to a grand reception and dinner from the organisation and sponsors. By the time we had driven to the hotel it was gone 1a.m.

From a British perspective, it was fantastic to see not only Bradley win the prologue, but also first year pro Adam Blythe getting a 5th place on stage 3. The shift in cycling over the last decade has been incredible – I counted six or seven English-speaking riders in the top 10 of the prologue, something unimaginable a few years ago.