The fight for pink has started with the opening 3 stages taking place in the Scandinavian Kingdom of Denmark. Despite being flatter than an Aebleskiver (Danish pancake), the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson, Lego and Vikings has certainly not disappointed providing a great opener to the Grand Tour. Here we go through a quick visual run through in case you missed any of the action.
BMC Racing have had a great start to the Giro. This is partly down to their meticulousness organisation. Even the team photos are specially coordinated so riders and staff match the bus colour scheme.
Bjarne Riis gets grilled before the opening stage in his home town of Herning.
BMC’s Alessandro Ballan ditches the need for a Garmin with these special shoes for the 2012 Giro d’Italia.
The opening time trial saw big crowds line the streets, but we wish someone would have told the lady in the sunglasses that she’s missing all the action!
Cut backs at this year’s Giro has meant some of the leader’s jerseys may not be as high quality as previous years…
Phinney checks for any spelling mistakes on his jersey. “B-M-C, yep all looks good!”
It seems the whole of Denmark were thrilled that the Giro was in their country… apart from this little girl.
There were a few cultural differences with the Giro heading north. The podium girls fathers were required to stand watch over the post race presentations… “Keep your hands where I can see them!”
Stage 2
The cycling press were out in force for stage 2, but spot the spectator who wondered into the press area accidentally.
Cav seems to be stood in hole, a rather big hole…
Cav checks out the view from the heights of the 6.5ft Phinney.
Great rear view…of Taylor Phinney’s pink BMC.
Similar to how shoes are thrown over telephone wires in the Bronx, the people of Denmark perform the same ritual with their old bikes…
The Danish love a good party!
Mark Cavendish sprints to victory in stage 2.
Cav seemed to have enjoyed his time in Denmark so far…
The excitement of collecting another leaders jersey was beginning to wear off for Taylor Phinney.
Stage 3
Colour clash, there’s nothing like the orange of the Euskaltel – Euskadi kit and the Giro pink to wake you up in the morning.
The Giro trophy has its own personal body guard…
“Friends, Romans, Countrymen…”
Classic move by Brett Lancaster’s team mate.
That’s right, the Giro has a mascot. We think it’s a chipmunk? Don’t ask us why…
Nike’s advertising budget has been slashed for this year’s Giro.
Matt Goss takes the win at stage 3 and hands GreenEdge their first Grand Tour victory.
Cav looses a bit of skin during a crash during stage 3’s sprint finish.
Taylor Phinney needed medical attention immediately after stage 3 after also being involved in the sprint finish crash. The pink jersey was presented symbolically to a local lad – the only Dane to be presented pink during the Giro in Denmark.
Taylor eventually made it to the podium eventually with ankle heavily iced.
Despite all the time Taylor Phinney’s spent on the podium during the first 3 stages, the BMC rider is still getting over his hover hand issues.
So there you have it. A little visual run through of the first 3 stages. Phinney is currently wearing pink as the Giro heads to Verona for a bit of team time trial action. PBK will be covering all the days action from 14.00 (GMT) on Twitter and Facebook. To be part of the conversation use the hash tag #OMGiro to voice your opinions about the race. To make things a little more interesting we’re giving away a box of 30 Science in Sport Go Isotonic Gels . To win simply predict who will win today’s team time trial stage in the comments section below. It couldn’t be simpler. In the event of several people predicting the correct outcome the winner will be picked out of a helmet at random.
