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In his latest blog for Eurosport-Yahoo!, Barloworld's British rider Chris Froome looks back on his first Giro d'Italia.

It feels strange being back home from the Giro D'Italia and having to cook and clean again - something which I have almost forgotten how to do after living in hotels for nearly a month.

My first Giro has been a great learning experience. I went in with high expectations hoping to hold a respectable position on the General Classification, which proved to not be as easy as anticipated.

I ended up 36th overall and seventh in the young riders' competition.

I found out the hard way that if you spend one day going too far into "the red" it can take you days to come right again.

On the 16th stage, which was probably the hottest day of the Giro and took us over four mountain passes on its 240km route, I thought I'd push the limits a bit as there was a rest day the following day, which would give me ample time to recover. So I thought!

I took a long shot by attacking alone on the second-last mountain pass, which didn't even pay off in the end, but left me completely wrecked and useless for the next three stages despite having a rest day.

I literally couldn't do anything but hang on to the peloton - and at some points to the 'groupetto' - for dear life! Only on the 20th stage did it lift and was I able to think about actually trying to do something in the race again other than survival.

The highlight for me during the Giro was being in the break on the 14th stage and having the possibility of winning the stage within my reach.

It was an indescribable feeling hitting the final climb up San Luca right at the front of the race.

I had to settle for sixth place on the stage after completely blowing just over a kilometre from the finish on a gradient that almost sent me rolling back where I came from. But nevertheless that day was a real highlight for me.

Riding up that climb, in what felt like a tunnel of noise around me from the yells of the enthusiastic Italian spectators, was incredible.

Coming out of the Giro, I'm feeling extremely motivated and keen to put three weeks of 'heavy training camp' to good use in upcoming races.

This weekend my Barloworld team-mates and I are racing in the Memorial Marco Pantani followed by Ster Elektrotoer next week...

Click on the link underneath the picture to find out more about Chris Froome and Team Barloworld

Chris Froome / Eurosport