The Giro d’Italia, the second biggest stage race in the world, and the Amgen Tour of California, North America’s biggest stage race, will be the source of a lot of channel hopping between Universal Sports and Versus. And downhill followers got an extra dose with the World Cup action from Slovenia, where Rachel Atherton and Greg Minnaar took top honors. You could watch it live, if you were awake, on Freecaster.tv.

This year’s Giro is providing some of the best day-to-day competition any stage race has witnessed in some time. The Amgen race just started earlier today and not much happened apart from a minor late-stage crash. After more than 100 miles, the leader and the rest of the riders finished separated by a whole 10 seconds. The result was understandable: Early stages typically are pretty tame, and hey, we’ve ridden much of Day One’s Cali route and by Northwest standards it is F-L-A-T.

There are numerous marquee racers in the Amgen Tour, however, including Lance the King and Mark the Mouth Cavendish (today’s winner), so let’s hope for some fireworks in days to come.

Full results (Lance is 69th, heh) here.

Bryn took home top position and Jill got third behind Tracy Moseley and Rachel Atherton, who’s shaping up as the rider to beat in downhill on the World Cup tour this season. Atherton won the 2008 world championship before suffering a horrific injuries in a head-on crash (with a pickup) while barreling down a road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, ending her 2009 season before it began.

With Rachel back on form and Melissa Buhl looking good as well, Jill will have her hands full in the downhill category this season. We’ll be watching and rooting for her!

Check Jill’s blog for the full report. She has a post-racing career as a writer for sure!

Pro GRT Round 1 from Goldstein Productions on Vimeo.

The Athertons? Mick Hannah? Santa Cruz Syndicate? The reigning world champion, Steve Peat?

And all those Canadians!

Word on the street is that this weekend’s big Pro Gravity Tour kickoff at Port Angeles will be the biggest collection of downhill racing stars the Northwest has ever seen in one place.

The reason: The big international pros from the Sea Otter Classic, including the Athertons and Peaty, can’t get back to the homeland because of the flight mess created by the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano. So, the reasoning goes, why not mosey on up to Port Angeles and mix it up.

The weather is supposed to be good Friday, so-so on Saturday, better Sunday. But the worst of it may be just a few showers to keep the course tacky. In any case, it’ll be a huge scene.

Check out Katie Holden’s redux of last year’s event above and Luke Strobel’s pre-run video below and below for a taste of the action. See you there!

[Update: Peaty just tweeted he's back home after all...looks like the resumption of flights is working against the PGRT, but it's always a scene no matter what!]