Benvenuti al Giro!

This week’s podcast is all about the hardest, most storied, most climb-heavy, most sadistic, but perhaps most importantly, most impassioned, Grand Tour of all: the Giro d’Italia.

Hosted by Mike Tomalaris, a guy who looks Italian but is in fact a Australian-born Greek whose parents were born in Romania; and ably supported by Al Hinds, a guy who appears your archetypal Australian but could pass for Italian if his eyebrows were a bit closer together and who has one Greek grandmother, as well as Anthony Tan, an Australian-born Chinese Italophile fluent in la lingua Italiana, the motley trio first get stuck in to the thirteen Australians down to race the 97th edition of ‘La Corsa Rosa’.

Orica-GreenEDGE taking out the Belfast team time trial and putting their Italian champion Ivan Santaromita into pink. Michael Matthews nabbing the next road stage, taking the maglia rosa himself. On stage five, the first hilltop finish to Viggiano, Bling then passes pink to Pieter Weening after the Dutchman finishes in the top three.

And all entirely possible.

They should have talked about il percorso first but Tomo, the OGE patriot he is, went off-topic so dissecting the course gets second billing. By analysing the key stages and key climbs, they unlock the door to overall victory.

And, of course, they talk up the contenders: Evans, Rodriguez, Quintana, Uran, Pozzovivo, Martin, Roche… A one-horse race this Giro is not.