Twenty metres from the finish in Fuiggi, Alessandro Petacchi looked to have another stage victory in the bag. He then stopped pedalling.

Spain's Francisco Ventoso couldn't believe his luck. He had done all the hard work in pegging back Danilo Di Luca; now his main rival for the win was gifting it to him on a plate.

None of us could fathom what we were seeing. Ale-jet is a rider so ruthless, the idea of him throwing in the towel (unless in the mountains) is totally foreign. We're used to seeing Concorde, but here we got Ryan Air.

So, why did Petacchi crumble? As hard as it is to get into the

There's a time and
a place for most things, but today any attempt at a light-hearted cycling blog
would completely inappropriate. Instead, Saddles' thoughts go out entirely to
Wouter Weylandt, his friends, team-mates and family.

BS invites you to
share your memories and offer your condolences to an explosive rider for whom
stage three of a debut Giro last year brought sweet success - but stage three one
year on, the ultimate price.

RIP WW, 26 years young.

He may be dating a Page Three glamour model, but sometimes things don't go Mark Cavendish's way.

Many people would have watched the closing moments of Sunday's stage two and thought that Cavendish's outburst following Alessandro Petacchi's narrow win was the latest petulant outburst in a short career which has seen Cav two-finger, mouth off and snarl his way to the top.

Except that he was entirely justified this time. Petacchi clearly veered into Cavendish's path on two occasions in the Parma finale, making a ham-fisted attempt at fair sprinting.

Had the Sidi cycling shoe been on the other

Reclining on the sofa of his luxury Port Stephens apartment with live coverage of Paris-Roubaix on the box, it was only apt that Saddles cracked open a bottle of d'Arenberg pinot noir.

Currently on his own tour Down Under, BS has grown accustomed to Australian wine - especially the red variety - and the time difference meant that this year's Hell of the North started just after Saddles had savoured a dinner of seared tuna followed by local barramundi with crispy skin and a chorizo ratatouille (truly historic).

When choosing a wine from the local drive-through bottle shop (only in Australia...)

One
thing is certain: the winner of the 94^th Giro d'Italia will be a
mighty strong climber.

With
40 major mountain climbs, seven summit finishes - including one zesty uphill
time trial - and time bonuses on all the uphill finishes, this year's race
looks set to be a battle between proven climbers such as Alberto Contador,
Vincenzo Nibali, Denis Menchov, Joaquim Rodriguez and Michele Scarponi.

The
race's first mountain-top finish comes as early as stage seven with a 17km climb
to Montevergine di Mercogliano. Two days later the riders will have to tame
both sides of the Mount Etna volcano on

Following two months in Australia
and a few days in Hong Kong, Saddles returned to the UK this week to discover
that, when not mesmerised by the peachy rear of the perma-tanned sister of a
commoner named Kate who married a balding prince called William, everyone was
harping on about AV.

More precisely, either a
resounding "yes" or "no" to AV.

Just why everyone was so
interested in Alexandre Vinokourov is another matter - he's not even racing the
forthcoming Giro, which starts in earnest on Saturday in Turin and will be
covered in its entirety by Saddles (lucky you).

If Saddles had to vote

With 40 major mountain climbs, seven summit finishes
and numerous transfers, the 94^th edition of the Giro d'Italia will
hardly have the sprinters chomping at the bit.

In fact, following stage 12's likely bunch sprint in
Ravenna on Tuesday 19^th May there are no flat finishes at all - so
don't expect many (if any) of the peloton's fast men to make it all the way to
Milan.

It's a bit much to ask the sprinters to slog it out through
the mountains for more than a week and then not even reward them with a chance
to dispute the race's final stage. As such, it will be a big surprise if the
winner of

The world of cycling was plunged into turmoil on the Monday after Alberto Contador decided, following days of failing to cut Andy Schleck's slender lead, that he would try a new tactic and actually ride ahead of his rival instead of alongside him.

Armchair pundits were divided on the controversial twist with some claiming Contador's attack was pretty exciting compared to watching a battle of attrition EVERY... DAY... while others were disappointed that the Spaniard would have the audacity not to give Schleck the requisite two-minute lead going into the decisive time trial in the Medoc just to