10 conclusions from the Giro d'Italia

1. Joaquím Rodriguez's stage win in Assisi has not taught us anything we didn't already know. Heading into the race he was in form, the route suited him, and a number of his rivals had failed to show any consistency throughout year. But what's made Rodriguez's race lead possible hasn't just been the time bonuses (yes, they've helped) or the fact that three stages have been tailor-made to his qualities, but his and Katusha's ride in the team time trial. Finishing second, five seconds adrift of the well-oiled Garmin machine was as impressive as anything we've seen in the race so far. In a race where time gaps have been small but not insignificant all of the Spaniard's rivals would have been expecting Katusha to lose time in Verona.
However, after nearly 40 kilometres of time trialing Rodriguez leads the race by 17 seconds. Psychologically, for a lot of his rivals, it will feel like a lot more.

Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.