The 2010 Giro: Each week in pictures

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The 2010 Giro d'Italia was a spectacular feast of intriguing cycling, with intense competition and mystery until the very last days. Every week was difficult for different reasons, which kept fans on the edge of their seat until the end.

With the dust settled on the year's first Grand Tour, Cyclingnews presents a three-part feature that captures each week of the event and displays some of the race's best images, captured throughout Holland and Italy.

In this second part, we look at week two, where the race hit the mountains, a massive breakaway defined the second stanza of the event and rewarded the endeavour of a Giro debutante, while the Italians finally got their first stage winner of this year's edition.

When the dust settled week two set up a massive run to the finish with the race certainly up for grabs.

André Greipel's Giro drought continued in the rain of stage nine (below) as teammate Matthew Goss HTC-Columbia's first stage win of the event in a hectic sprint finish and received the requisite congratulations (above).