As I post this the riders are currently in the middle of stage 16 which features a mountain top finish that is both plenty long (18 kilometers) and very steep. Team CSC has been seen at the front of the peloton with both Julich and Voigt doing plenty of the work, Basso is looking cool as a cucumber.
A solo rider (Rubiano Chavez) has broken away on the second climb of the day and is getting a fair amount of time (around 4 and half minutes) as the peloton is not working to hard at this point with the big climb still to come.
Today’s stage runs next to Lake Como Italy (prior to the last climb of the day) which is incredibly beautiful and just outside Milan where the tour will end this Sunday. The city of Lake Como like so many other great cities in Italy is dotted with grand old buildings such as the basilica which is more than 400 years old.
Riders to watch in the finial climb are Gilberto Simoni who lives near todays stage, Damiano Cunego who like Simoni is a billy goat and enjoys the climbs as well as Tom Danielson and possibly Savoldelli who will try to stay with the leaders but has been having a tough time at this years Giro and has complained about allergy problems. Of course Ivan Basso will either attack himself or will mark any rider who attacks him.
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