Cipo wins!

I was rooting for the guy all the way to tie Binda's record, and he finally did today, after several near misses in the first week of the Giro. The fact that Alfredo Binda won 41 stages of the Giro over his career is impressive enough, and no one in the 50 or 60 years since has ever come closer than 31 (even Eddy Mercx "only" got to 25), but Mario Cipollini won five stages in last year's race to bring him so close that he just had to come back and tie, and hopefully break, the record this year. Now that he won Milan-San Remo, followed by his Giro showing last year, culminating in winning the world championship (and taking several weeks off in the middle when he suddenly retired after being snubbed the Tour de France once again, only to just as suddenly unretire in time for the World's), the only sad thing is that if and when he does break Binda's record and bows out of this edition of the Giro he may very well retire for good, and it will be a sad day for bike racing to see him go. Where most professional cyclists, including the Italians, are small, weasley-looking guys, Cipo cuts a dashing figure, lives the lifestyle of the rich and famous, and comes up with the results year in and year out to back it up. There a few young hotheads out there who could fill his shoes, but none of them are Italian, and somehow it's just not the same. You can't imagine Robbie McEwen being the heir to the Cipollini mystique, certainly, even though he's the same type of racer. It'll be a sad day when he goes, but at least I can say I saw him in his golden years. They should include Domina Vacanze in the Tour as a wildcard, since the team is strong enough to pull Cipo to the line day in and day out, and teammate Giovanni Lombardi is a topclass cyclist in his own right. But they'll probably be passed over yet again so that some third-rate French team like Bonjour can limp through the tour instead. One thing's for sure, if Cipollini breaks Binda's record, who ultimately wins the Giro this year will be only a footnote.