Giro d'Italia!

It's a new season in the Grand Tours! For the past two weeks, I've been following the Giro closely, through the live telecast on Eurosports.

This year's Giro is particularly interesting as it is Lance Armstrong's first major race since coming back from retirement.

While the strong Italian contingent (Di Luca, Cunego, Garzelli) turn up for their home race, some of the big names are missing. Among them are Contador (the defending champion) and Valverde.

As the race enter its 18th stage tomorrow, Armstrong looks far from his best. He has been struggling in the mountains, while his time trial performances are average.

His Astana teammates have not been helping him as much as he would like them to. People like Leipheimer and Popovych are not controlling the race as how they did under the Discovery Channel / US Postal Service team.

Armstrong needs to improve a lot more if he is going to challenge for the yellow jersey in France. In fact, his job might complicate further as there are doubts on whether Armstrong will continue as the team leader once Contador joins the team for the Tour de France.

Carlos Sastre, last year's Tour de France winner was having a quiet Giro until he attacked the two race leaders, Menchov and Di Luca on the last climb in the 17th stage.

However, it might be too late for him to catch the two leaders in general classification as they currently have about two minutes advantage on him.

Meanwhile, riders from Team Columbia High Road looks certain to win most of the sprints in the remaining two Grand Tours. Their tactics have been spot on during this Giro, with Mark Cavendish coming out winners in three sprints so far.

Their intention for Tour de France is laid out in the open when they pull Cavendish out of the Giro straight after his third stage win. While the rest of his competitors are struggling on Italian Alps, Cavendish is already preparing for the 'Big Tour'.

As for now, all eyes are focussed on the Giro's finale. There are another two mountain top finishes before the racers head into a time trial in Rome.

Menchov, with his 40 seconds advantage over Di Luca, remains as the favourite to win this year's Giro.

However, I am not writing off Sastre's chance. If he could narrow the gap between him and Menchov to under one minute before the race go into Rome, it could be his second Grand Tour win in two years!