Round up of the Giro in the Netherlands

10th May 2010

So six weeks or so before the Tour de France comes to Holland, the Giro d'Italia has had three days of racing that have shown the strengths and weaknesses of holding a bike race in the Netherlands.

Round up of the Giro in the Netherlands

Holland has a reputation as a country dedicated to the bicycle - but "normal cyclists" - e.g. those not in a mass bike race - will use the bike lanes. The Netherlands in trying to encourage cyclists and cycling has then tried to lower traffic speed in key places -  which means a large number of islands, humps and narrow chicanes to slow vehicles.

All of this "street furniture" has been the problem over the last two stages of the Giro - where bikes have unexpectedly bunched together or slowed and caused ripples of crashes.

On the positive side - the crowds lining the streets for the Giro have been huge - creating a great atmosphere and the riders have all embraced that. Saturday's time trial in Amsterdam was brilliant - big crowds, excitement and no problems. However these last two stages aren't as good - Sunday's stage was chaos, Yesterday's stage was slightly less crash filled, but still nervy.

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