SSG

Today marks the start of the second Giro. This iteration perhaps more reflective of just what it means to race a Grand Tour and to be a professional cyclist.

Stage 5 may well be the perfect re-immersion for the peloton..it offers strade bianchi, the first glimpse of real climbing (two cat 3's) on a constantly undulating route that offers up a Poggio-esque finale that may well see a small group jump away to an inspiring victory.

The only real question is of the riders motivation. Certainly the past 36 hours have offered a lifetimes ride on a roller-coaster of emotion and it remains to be seen if they will plug into the task at hand. I think they will embrace the familiarity of the rolling peloton and the release offered by hard riding.

It favors the roulers like Dario Cioni, Popovich, DiLucca (which is a brilliant tactical play if he can take time and get, or at least get close, to the pink jersey) or perhaps Scarponi comes looking for early advantage....