Held only once every year the prominent yet very tough Giro d’ Italia is one of the most prestigious and much anticipated cycling event not only in Europe but also in the whole world. This sports spectacle is also considered to be “One of the Grand Tours,” along side the Tour de France by the participating nations.

The event currently has backbreaking 21 stages that encompasses the Italian nation and even her neighbor the Netherlands that are tailored to test the endurance, athleticism, courage and wit of all the participants. The longest stage is perhaps the 11th Lucera-L’Aquila stage wherein participants will endeavor to tame some jagged mountains on this stretch en route to a lofty finish, while the shortest is the 1st Stage, which is an Individual Time Trial (or ITT as each of the participants attempts to submit the fastest time he possibly can) in Amsterdam. Overall, the event’s stages offers all the participants mountain ranges, sharp curves and lung busting paved roads to conquer.

This premier cycling event is participated by top-notch professional cycling teams that are bannered by superstars in the said sports from all over the world. Giro d’ Italia already produced great champions, which is fondly called “Campionissimo,” a honor bestowed to all previous brave winners that overwhelm and overcome the mystical mountains of this proud nation and displayed unparalleled and uncanny cycling skills, and cutting edge strategies. http://giro.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_p=wedstrijd

One of the most respectable sporting events in professional cycling, the Giro d’ Italia traces its humble beginning in 1909. The event blossomed to be one of the most exciting and much-awaited cycling events in the world.

The Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sports paved the way for the birth of Giro d’ Italia as it announces its grand debut on the seventh day of August in 1908, which is patterned after car race throughout Italy, which is organized by its chief rival Corriere della Sera. http://giro.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_p=wedstrijd This is Italy’s answer to the French Tour of France. The first ever Giro d’ Italia was finally launched on May 13, 1909 at around 2:53 pm. Loreto, Milan square was the historic site of the first stage of the first ever Giro d’Italia cycling race tour. The race covers 2448 kilometers that is separated into eight stages. Italian Luigi Gana collected three stages and the overall classification en route to becoming the first ever winner of the cycling event. http://giro.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_p=wedstrijd

The number of titles won in the event will indeed erect and cement the greatness of a cyclist. The event produced five time winners in Italians Fausto Coppi (1940, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953), and Alfredo Binda (1925, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1933), and German Eddy Merckx (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1974). Other multi-champions of the event are three time winners Carlo Galletti (1910, 1911 and 1912), Florenzo Magni (1948, 1951 and 1955) and Giovanni Brunero (1921, 1922 and 1926) which are all hails from Italy. http://giro.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_p=wedstrijd

The Italians dominated the event from 1909 to 1949, which is indeed astounding. The first ever non-Italian winner of the event was Hugo Koblet of Switzerland when he breaks the Italian's juggernaut by clinching the event’s 1950 edition. http://giro.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_p=wedstrijd

At present time, the Giro may not produce great champions like Coppi, Binda or Merckx since the competition becomes fiercer each year, nevertheless, the sporting spectacle is cinched to give millions of fans some drama and excitement, since the winner will only emerged after the pivotal mountain stages. If not, the last stage which is an ITT, will prove to be the final clincher for the brave cyclist who wants to be part of the event’s proud and glorious history.

The Giro d’ Italia, which is one of the most fancied cycling events in the world kicked off last May 8, 2010 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The second stage shifted to Italy on May 9, 2010. The 2010 edition of Giro attracted 21 crack professional cycling teams in the world as well as 196 top professional cyclists. The tour is consists of 21 grueling and exhaustive stages and ends on May 30, 2010 in Verona.

Before the tour started one of the event’s top favorite Franco Pellizotti and Tadej Valjavec were barred from joining for the violation of the biological passport.

Sky Professional Cycling Team, Team HTC – Columbia, and Garmin – Transitions, Saxobank, Astana, and Liquigas are among the favorites to win the team competiton title. While world champion Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso and Carlos Sastre are the early favorites to win this year’s much-coveted Giro d' Italia individual title.

Currently Alexandre Vinokourov of the Kazakhstan team Astana is currently leading in the tour after three stages in the individual category.