Giro 2005: 10 down, 10 to go

Rest day wrap-up by Anthony Tan & Les Clarke

An interesting week and a half in Italia. It took eight swaps of the maglia rosa in eight days before it found a little more permanent place on the shoulders of Danilo Di Luca, but with the 29 year-old just nine seconds in front, it's bound to be a temporary resting spot.

Certainly, the opening week has shown the full benefit resulting from the controversial introduction of the ProTour. And no doubt, a number of its detractors will have changed their minds about UCI President Hein Verbruggen's master road plan, if they've seen the quality of racing so far.

In many minds, it's the closest - and best - Giro in over a decade, which, for years, has been dominated by Italians on Italian teams, simultaneously discouraging a serious bid from an outsider. However, in 2005, while there are still plenty of Italians to be found at the top of the leaderboard, there are now more challengers from more than one team, and not just Italian-registered squadre - but Danish, American, German and Spanish, with a little Belgian and French as well.

The competition's been exciting and outstanding - and it can only get better. Here's our wrap-up of the first 10 days.

The Giro so far: Full round-up and analysis
Main
Start list
Map
Stages & results
Stage by Stage
Past winners
Photos
FAQ