The 2011 Giro d'Italia makes a full tour of the country, to celebrate 150 years of unification

With eight mountaintop finishes, including a re-run of this year’s climb up the cruel slopes of the Zoncolan, the 2011 Giro looks to be pushing race director Angelo Zomegnan’s agenda of making a distinctive, innovative and above all difficult race.

Zomegnan’s stewardship of the Giro in recent years has forced the Tour de France organizers to up their game, and he’s devised a spectacular route for 2011 that touches on all parts of the country on the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification.

Starting with a 21.5km team time trial in Turin and ending in the shadow of Milan’s magnificent duomo cathedral, the race includes a stage in Reggio Emilia, birthplace of the Italian Tricolore flag, and a dirt-track finish at  the top of the 18.5km, 9.2% climb of the Colle de Finestre. There’s also a rare trip to the tip of Italy’s boot, into Sicily. Race favorite Vincenzo Nibali will surely relish the double climb of the Etna volcano in this stage that starts in his home town, Messina. But his old team-mate, Roman Kreuziger, has already declared himself up for the challenge, and it looks like a characteristically explosive start to the grand tour season.

Too explosive for some? Cycling News is reporting that Team Sky’s Tour de France contenders will skip the Giro because it is too difficult. Straight-talking star Bradley Wiggins recently pointed to over-exertion in the Giro as one factor behind his disappointing performance in this year’s Tour.

Full stage profiles, videos and analysis on the official Giro site.

On display in Turin during the Giro d’Italia 2011 presentation was a special Gir0-themed Pinarello equipped with the long-awaited Campagnolo electronic shifting system.

The system, it seems, is superficially similar to Shimano’s DI2 system, but uses finger paddles on the brake hoods instead of buttons. It will also run with Campagnolo’s 11-speed cassette – one more cog than Di2′s 10.

Campagnolo have confirmed that Movistar are the only team to be using the system in 2011. They’ll be riding Pinarellos similar to the one on display (Pinarellos are now the Giro’s official bike), and will effectively be the Campag test team, smoothing out any glitches in the system before the big boys get a hold of it.

Another photo after the break…

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Photo submitted by Austin Frey: UCI3 at Harbin Park. Day 3 at the Cincinnati Cross fest.

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Ever waited for someone to turn up at your group ride and not known where they are?

The new Rapha Rendezvous iPhone app will make this a thing of the past, the makers claim. It provides a sleek and simple way of organizing groups, managing who’s coming and finding out in real time where they are if they sleep through the early-morning wake-up call.

There may be other ways of doing this, but the company has a point: endless round-robin emails, text messages, phone calls and messages on forums can be messy and ultimately confusing.

The app obviously requires everyone present to have an iPhone (the company is looking in to Android development), but as a hub for organizing rides it looks to me like a good use of technology, well thought out, intuitive and fun.

Best of all, it’s free.

Click below for more pics showing its chat and location-specific features.

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PRESS RELEASE: Lance Armstrong will compete in his last professional race on international soil at the 2011 Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide.

On a Bicycle SA ride with South Australia’s own international cycling star Stuart O’Grady today, Premier Mike Rann and Race Director Mike Turtur today confirmed that Lance Armstrong will ride in the elite UCI ProTour race from 16 to 23 January 2011 – for the third and final time.

“This is an amazing opportunity for cycling fans across the globe to head to Adelaide and be part of history as Lance competes in his farewell ride as a professional on international soil,” Mr Rann said.

“Lance is a true hero of the sport and we are delighted he has chosen to compete again in South Australia and make his international farewell here.”
Lance Armstrong launched his comeback to professional cycling at the 2009 Santos Tour Down Under, and returned in 2010 to debut his new team, Team RadioShack.

“The impact Lance has had on the Santos Tour Down Under and the interest in cycling in South Australia has been astounding,” Mr Rann said. “I would encourage people not to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to watch Lance compete for
the very last time here in Adelaide in January.”

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Bike racks come in many versions these days. There’s roof mounted or hitch mounted and some you have to take the front wheel off while others will take the bike with both wheels on. Every version has it’s pros and cons and the Yakima Hold Up is no different. This hitch mounted rack allows you to simply load the bike on with both wheels, lock it down and go.

UPDATED 11/4/2010: Tyler’s long-term review of 4-bike extension added.

Read our impressions of Yakima’s top-of-the-line hitch mount rack after the break…

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You might  be familiar with Tim Kölln and his photographs of  professional road racing from his work for Rouleur Magazine. And, if you were an early-bird to reading that mag, you mihgt have seen his photos entitled ‘The Peloton’ in issue 4 – a series of portraits of pro riders taken against a white background, the moment they climb off their bikes at the finish of major races such as the Paris-Roubaix.

For me, they are some of the most beautiful and insightful photos of road racing, and now Rouleur is publishing them in a book. Kölln spent five years travelling with the pro peloton to all the big events, and succeeded in capturing a whole generation of riders, from big stars such as Mark Cavendish down to the lowliest domestique.

It comes out on November 19th and is certainly pricy, but it looks amazing; Keep reading for some examples of the black-and-white portraits, or visit the website for more info, pics and pre-orders.

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Photo submitted by mcalaff, who says, “MTB riding at 2000m in the Catalan Pyrenees. Between the spokes the top of Taga (2040m).”

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Prologo brought their full line of saddles, but the triathlon specific saddles got the attention. Photo: C. Johnson

Prologo saddles are relatively new to the saddle market, but big name riders like Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen haven taken to them quickly. In addition, Kona favorite Terenzo Bozzone will be riding one on race day. Read after the break to learn more about this emerging brand and what makes them unique. (more…)

Along with Answer Components, ODI was on hand to show off some new stems with their Flight Control Series of All mountain and DH stems. The long standing grip maker is offering beautiful new stems that are machined out of 6061 solid block aluminum, and should have a very high stregnth to weight ratio. Available currently in an AM 50, AM 70, AM 90, and DH 50 sizes, the new stem line will cover most of the popular sizes as riders go shorter on stems and wider on bars.

Ever wish there was a better way to figure out where to position your bars in the stem? ODI has the answer after the break!

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Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve heard of TOMS, with their slipper-ish little shoes and commitment to donate a pair of shoes to those in need for each pair purchased. Well, it appears they may have started a movement here, because following them in that spirit is Los Angeles-based Study Footwear. Study uses part of their proceeds to create their line of school supplies, which are then donated to students in need.

As if that wasn’t a reason enough to buy yourself a new fancy pair of kicks, they are releasing a new model called “The Bike Drop,” which tauts a few toe cage-friendly features like a ballistic nylon toe cap and an extra firm sole. See the details  and more pictures after the jump…

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“PathLessPedaled.com” by russroca.com.

Russ and his girlfriend, Laura, have been on an open-ended bicycle tour for the past 15 months. They’ve wanted to see what it was like to give up all their stuff and live simply, out of panniers, while touring the US in search of others who also live simply. Read about it on their blog, The Path Less Pedaled.

To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to the world, go here.