When looking at the finishing profile into the historic town of Assisi it’s no surprise that Joaquim Rodriguez walked away with the win and took over the maglia rosa. Over the past couple of years he’s proved to be an incredibly classy rider who loves the steep and sharp finishes. With Contador sidelined until the Vuelta, Rodriguez is Spain’s shining star and the thread that keeps the Spanish connected to the Giro.

“Ahhh Pippo, What Are You Doing?” as David Harmon (Eurosport) yells he calls another messy sprint in the Giro today with Filippo “Pippo” Pozzato taking down many of the top sprinters at the final corner with 350m to go. The cameras didn’t catch exactly what happened but as Gossy went wide into the final left-hand corner Pozzato seemed to run straight into the side of him causing the lead sprinters to either hit the deck or come to a standstill. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt (that I’m aware of).

In a day when many frame makers have moved to carbon, titanium and retro steel, aluminium has taken a backseat with most high-end bikes. It was the alloy of choice ten to twenty years ago but is now relegated to inexpensive cyclocross and mountain bike frames. Fortunatley aluminium still has a place in my mate Roger’s heart and he managed to find a framebuilder in Springfield, Oregon who still specialises in using it.

I can’t imagine that too many of you stayed up to watch stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia on a Sunday night (I certainly didn’t), but from what I gather here are the interesting points of what happened.

Oakley’s Radars have redesigned with an hinge mechanism that easily releases its interchangeable lens in seconds. Oakley sent me some of their new Radarlock sunglasses the other day to try out and here are my thoughts.

I’m absolutely thrilled to wake up this morning and see Canadian Ryder Hesjedal take the maglia rosa. Ryder saw early success in mountain biking and has always been an enormous talent. Not quite as dominant as someone like Cadel on the mountain bike scene, but I remember following Ryder back when he and a guy named Rolland Green won almost every NORBA and World Cup between them during the year (I think it was 2002).

Paul Aubrey who typically writes our cyclocross updates has kindly given me a break today and has taken on the duty of writing his thoughts on Stage 6 of the Giro. Thanks Paul!

No surprises today in a typical stage for the sprinters. An early breakaway goes up the road, gets brought back by the sprinter’s teams, and a clean bunch kick. Below are the Giro d’Italia Stage 5 report, video highlights, photos and stage 6 preview…

Have a great weekend!