A really gray, rainy, sloppy stage 9 for the Giro had me wondering if I was watching the Tour de Puget Sound. Although frankly the Pacific Northwest has had better weather since the start of the Giro than the first week of race stages in the Netherlands and Italy.
Despite the goop, the finish was dry and thrilling as somehow out of the pack we found Cadel Evans, No. 2, and Alexander Vinokourov in the pink jersey battled out the slight uphill finish, only to be passed in the final seconds by HTC’s Matthew Goss and fellow sprinters Filippo Pozzato (KAT) and “Rainboy” (from Wenatchee) Tyler Farrar (GRM) for the top 3 places.
It’s supposed to get colder and wetter around here this week, but nothing will compare to the images of pro racers going 30 miles an hour, bunched together, in driving rain on slick pavement. Thankfully no major crashes, and hopes for better weather to come!
Now it’s off to Versus to await this afternoon’s undoubtedly more pleasant (weather-wise) second stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Flat flat flat (the terrain, let’s hope not the tires)!