Italy was pretty awesome. We had some highs and some lows. Winning the TTT was awesome. I think we could of actually fixed a few things to take a few more seconds off but, it was nice to win as a team. It was also a plus to have the 1st and 2nd GC locked up. But, then we started to unravel a bit. We controlled the 4th stage with basically just Hanson, McKissick, and Myself, throwing Nydam in when we really needed to drill an important guy back. I had a nice little crash as we got swarmed through a narrow section and some dude decided to fall over in the middle of the pack. But, all was good the roads are so nice you barely get cut up. At the end of the day we spent 3.5 guys and didn’t have much left to help Garcia in the final kickers that day. The next day was crazy. Luppi had the Jersey and instead of trying to control it themselves it was obvious they had some previous arrangements with other teams. With only 5 man teams they got some Borat team to help them drill it to the base and then they ripped it to shreds on the 18k climb. Garcia was having some trouble that day and he and I just went backwards as we got to the top. The next day was very similar but, instead it had two narley climbs just not as long Nydam had a spill that day as well and got tore up a little bit. All in all I think the guys came away with a taste of success and a thirst for more.

In the end we were a little dissapointed but, I think it went very well. 4 out of 5 of our guys are neo pros with no Euro experience and they go over to their first race in europe and take a stage win and the leaders jersey. I think that is pretty impressive.