Another hot day, just for a change!
Another inaccurate race profile too 
The little bumps that appear on paper would have one believe that today was going to be easier than yesterday and that the sprinters might survive to the end. Far from it.
I had reconned this stage last week and had some sort of idea of what we would be facing in terms of steep but short climbs. There were just quite a few extra climbs that I was unaware of, especially the 2 laps of a finishing circuit. On the start line this morning I was told by a fellow Aussie rider that the race course had been slightly altered. Oh, just that they had included another uncategorised climb near the start – to warm up our legs no doubt. Not expecting this, I was very underdone in my warm-up (it was non-existent) so facing a fast 2-lap criterium followed by a climb was certainly leg zapping.
I’m still struggling through this tour. I made the first group today and was hanging in on the climbs to support our GC rider, Ashleigh. On a descent I was familiar with I had a gap with two other riders but there was no interest from them to drive it. Then I tried twice more on the flatter roads around the lake which is in my home area. Still nothing was sticking. Then, we started to climb again and I whilst I hung in for the first couple of rises, on the one at 10km to go I blew into little pieces. Fortunately I had some mates to ride in with. We weaved all over the last climb, looked after each other on the descents and rolled into the line together (well some still unnecessarily sprinted – but you tend to get that fighting for 25th place 
).
At the start it was team US riding on the front and keeping things organised. A 3 rider break consisting of one of the Aussies – Lauren Kitchen - went at 5km and stayed away until km 65. A good effort!
Team HTC Columbia then took over pacing it out on the front. They were also aggressive with attacks from 75-80km and then again in the finishing 17km circuit. They are looking like the most organised team at the pointy end of the race. The Safi rider Olga Zabelinskaya is consistently looking strong in the bunch. She descends like a demon and is climbing with the best of them. Marianne Vos has been biding her time in each of the last few stages and then, with an awesome amount of power, attacks and only a few can match her. It will be interesting to see how she manages the longer climbs in a few days.
Tomorrow we have a stage with two bigger climbs starting in Como. I’m hanging in – but only just. Seems like I’ve dropped some form for this tour – but then I suppose you can’t be on top of good form all year… unfortunately. It’s been a long year starting with Nationals in January and been full-on until now. There are going to be ebbs and flows that as a rider I have to accept. My corked thigh (from the crash in Stage 1) isn’t helping, robbing me of some power on the climbs. Still, I’m looking forward to the Stelvio stage – even if just for the experience of racing such an epic climb. Maybe also, it will be a little cooler up there – that would be really nice. Every day, I’m pouring litres of water over me as I ride, trying to keep cool. Fortunately I haven’t yet made the mistake my team mate Nimesha made today – she managed to pour Energy drink over her head thinking it was water! 
Till next time,
Vicki