11/05/2014

:01:10. > :01:21.The Giro bid goodbye to Belfast. Thousands watched Marcel Kittel

:01:22. > :01:29.stormed to victory. The German powerhouse has now won all stages of

:01:30. > :01:33.the tours. Michael Matthews will wear the pink journey as they had

:01:34. > :01:41.South over the border into Dublin this afternoon. We are here with all

:01:42. > :01:48.the live actions. Hello and welcome. It has been a bit showery here and

:01:49. > :01:54.I'm joined by Michael Hutchinson again. We are about 100 metres from

:01:55. > :01:59.the finish line in Dublin. We could not ask for a better spot. It is the

:02:00. > :02:05.best seat in Dublin. The Sprint will be right behind us. They have given

:02:06. > :02:10.us a bit of shelter but no walls, so we might have to grab umbrellas if

:02:11. > :02:19.it starts raining. There have been some heavy downpours earlier today.

:02:20. > :02:26.There is quite a kink in the course at 150 metres to go. It is a lot

:02:27. > :02:29.worse in real life. So with a bit of a tail wind, they might come into

:02:30. > :02:35.that very fast which could be interesting. Marcel Kittel will be

:02:36. > :02:40.very interesting indeed. He celebrates his 26th birthday today.

:02:41. > :02:47.This is the route that the riders are taking today. 187 kilometres to

:02:48. > :02:52.Dublin, a bit shorter than the stage yesterday on the north coast. It

:02:53. > :02:56.starts at Armagh city just below St Patrick's Cathedral. They head

:02:57. > :03:00.around the villagers down towards the border. From there, it is

:03:01. > :03:06.straight down to Dublin along the old road and along the coast. It

:03:07. > :03:13.will most likely finish with another bunch sprint right here in Dublin

:03:14. > :03:18.city centre. These were the scenes as the Giro rolled out of Armagh

:03:19. > :03:24.earlier. Fantastic support once again from those who came out to

:03:25. > :03:27.support the races. There is Michael Matthews wearing the leader jersey.

:03:28. > :03:37.Such a great performance in the time trial. He took it yesterday. This

:03:38. > :03:40.was very much a procession through the streets, letting everybody get a

:03:41. > :03:53.good look at the riders. A quick burst, one or two riders

:03:54. > :03:57.keen to stretch their legs and get a feel for it. You can see all the

:03:58. > :04:01.riders really preparing for what could be a wet day on the roads, all

:04:02. > :04:10.wearing their rain jackets and everything they can muster to keep

:04:11. > :04:15.themselves dry. So, beautiful scenes as they ride through the Orchard

:04:16. > :04:19.County. Nobody was more proud to see them than local rider Stephen

:04:20. > :04:27.Gallacher. He has been instrumental in planning this route. Is the start

:04:28. > :04:32.time much different? Realistically, I thought it would be very difficult

:04:33. > :04:36.to do. I thought there would be enthusiasm at a political and local

:04:37. > :04:40.level. I understood the logistics of what would be needed to bring a

:04:41. > :04:46.massive sport event over better than others perhaps, so I could see it

:04:47. > :04:56.from both sides. We obviously had the bid for this leg against other

:04:57. > :05:01.cities that were trying to do it. Thankfully, we were successful and

:05:02. > :05:10.on behalf of the work that they've done at the government level here,

:05:11. > :05:17.it is a credit to them. I really remember the exploits of some of the

:05:18. > :05:25.historical races, the romanticism of the sport, that is what planted the

:05:26. > :05:31.seed in me. It is fantastic to be involved in it. It must be a

:05:32. > :05:40.complete dream to bring them to your home county. Yes. Whenever you set

:05:41. > :05:51.back a step back you start to see the other side of it, the enthusiasm

:05:52. > :05:57.of young people. To bring a sport of this scale to the country at this

:05:58. > :06:07.time, it is like nothing else. Enthusiasm has grown so much. To

:06:08. > :06:13.bring all these top, top cyclists, it is a once in a generation chance.

:06:14. > :06:18.One of my initial roles was to assist RCS and give them local

:06:19. > :06:24.knowledge in planning the route. It was a chance to ride my bike when I

:06:25. > :06:30.could and to think, there will be 200 riders coming up over this hill

:06:31. > :06:39.in two weeks. That was a bit surreal. It is just fantastic and

:06:40. > :06:47.slightly surreal. One final point. You will sleep a lot next week. What

:06:48. > :06:55.has the pressure but unlike? -- been like? Yes, my family will be glad to

:06:56. > :07:01.see me a bit more, I think. Along with the rest of the team, I've been

:07:02. > :07:05.working very long hours. Sleeping has probably been a luxury over the

:07:06. > :07:10.last couple of weeks. But it is no different to anybody else. It will

:07:11. > :07:19.be a big relief, I think. I will certainly enjoy a few days off.

:07:20. > :07:24.Obviously relishing the opportunity to be involved with this great race.

:07:25. > :07:28.And we heard from Darren yesterday, he was so important in bringing the

:07:29. > :07:32.ten won to Northern Ireland. Michael, what have you made of the

:07:33. > :07:36.route over the past couple of days and what has it meant to this part

:07:37. > :07:43.of the world? We have showcased some fantastic scenery. I loved the

:07:44. > :07:50.route. Along the Antrim coast, the rocky headlands and the foreshore

:07:51. > :08:00.over that iconic road. Today, it is much more rule, the softer, rounder

:08:01. > :08:05.hills. -- more rural. I think it has showcased Northern Ireland

:08:06. > :08:09.beautifully. They will be getting to Dublin probably around 4pm depending

:08:10. > :08:13.on how fast they attack these roads. We will join the live racing very

:08:14. > :08:19.shortly, but let's just bring you up-to-date with some of the earlier

:08:20. > :08:23.events on the road. This was the riders approaching the border

:08:24. > :08:27.heading out of Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland. Again, just

:08:28. > :08:35.blown away by the crowds who have come out day after day, no matter

:08:36. > :08:41.what the weather. Just a wonderful brother of pink they are riding

:08:42. > :08:44.alongside. The roads have been two or three deep. It does not get a

:08:45. > :08:53.reception like this in its own country. Plenty of incidents as

:08:54. > :08:57.well. There was the odd crash or two yesterday, and we certainly remember

:08:58. > :09:13.Dan Martin going down heavily on the opening day. This man had a puncture

:09:14. > :09:19.after going down, I think he clipped a wheel. This is actually the

:09:20. > :09:25.breakaway, you can see there is a break array -- a breakaway and the

:09:26. > :09:29.pallet and decided to sprint even though there were no sprint points

:09:30. > :09:45.on offer. As a result, there was a bit of jockeying for collision. --

:09:46. > :09:55.the pelaton. The weather seems to have deteriorated a little bit.

:09:56. > :10:00.At the moment, they have 73 kilometres still to go and the

:10:01. > :10:07.breakaway up the road has now just about four metres on the main

:10:08. > :10:20.pelaton. Let's handover to our commentary team, Carlton Kirby and

:10:21. > :10:32.Dan Lloyd. A feud teams might have wet weather tyres. -- a few teams.

:10:33. > :10:35.But in general, pretty much just a case of letting a bit of pressure

:10:36. > :10:41.out of the tyres so there is slightly more grip available around

:10:42. > :10:45.the corners. The stages that were being talked up by Michael Matthews

:10:46. > :10:54.were five and six. When you said it, I thought, into Monte Cassino? !

:10:55. > :11:05.I'm just looking at that now and I can understand perhaps, but these

:11:06. > :11:11.are bumpy stages and I wondered whether it was an error. There was

:11:12. > :11:16.one area of the race which I thought would suit Ben Swift right down to

:11:17. > :11:20.the ground. I imagine it would suit Michael Matthews as well. I think it

:11:21. > :11:29.was something like stage seven, let me have a look. Yes, stage seven is

:11:30. > :11:38.pretty lumpy all the way through. They start on a long climb. They

:11:39. > :11:45.finish around 40 days to go. It is a long way for a team to control it.

:11:46. > :11:51.They have to take opportunities when they can.

:11:52. > :12:09.I think Orica GreenEdge and Team Sky might join forces on those days. The

:12:10. > :12:17.next sprint stage which Mark Cavendish won he was riding very

:12:18. > :12:21.hard. The only one that they dropped was Marcel Kittel whose team did a

:12:22. > :12:25.great job trying to get him back on but unfortunately did not succeed.

:12:26. > :12:28.In the end, there was a crash on the finishing straight and Mark

:12:29. > :12:37.Cavendish triumphed at of his team-mate. Marcel Kittel famously

:12:38. > :12:47.join that race, she picked up his -- he picked up his bike and slammed it

:12:48. > :12:55.to the ground in distrust. -- in disgust. There was a bit of a PR

:12:56. > :12:59.moment. He sorted it out himself without any help from the

:13:00. > :13:03.manufacturer or the sponsor. The next day he tweeted a picture of

:13:04. > :13:06.himself offering flowers to his beloved by saying they had to

:13:07. > :13:13.impress jewellers relationship, but it is only love. And it was amazing,

:13:14. > :13:18.he turned a PR disaster into an absolute triumph. He is good looking

:13:19. > :13:28.as well! Apparently he has booked himself into a cheap whitening

:13:29. > :13:31.clinic. -- teeth whitening. He is a near-perfect example of what every

:13:32. > :13:37.man would like to look like and what every woman would like a man to look

:13:38. > :13:45.like as well. He is a beast of a bloke, he speaks in P Gould --

:13:46. > :14:01.impeccable English as well, which always helps. The pace has picked up

:14:02. > :14:08.a little bit. I'm not quite sure who we are seeing there. Eurovision

:14:09. > :14:16.seemed to stop everything last night. A lady or a gentleman with a

:14:17. > :14:23.beard won it, I'm not sure which. But there you go. Speaking of

:14:24. > :14:28.beards, there seemed to be a crop of them in the pelaton at the moment.

:14:29. > :14:35.I'm always surprised when I see people with stubble, as there is a

:14:36. > :14:40.focus on being streamlined. I'm not on TV so I can be lazy in the

:14:41. > :14:48.mornings. I will have a shave tomorrow morning! BBC Two Northern

:14:49. > :15:00.Ireland, a warm welcome to you watching in. We are here, tell your

:15:01. > :15:05.friends. The big question is classes or no glasses. Looks like they are

:15:06. > :15:13.going for it today. You do get a lot of water kick up in the eyes. In the

:15:14. > :15:18.sprint you may see riders choosing to have the vision. You just have to

:15:19. > :15:20.blink more. It can be painful when you get rain in your eyes,

:15:21. > :15:29.especially at speed. Many people are asking what sort of

:15:30. > :15:34.protection is offered by being in the pack. Dan was talking about it

:15:35. > :15:37.earlier. If you want to test it out with resistance, when you are

:15:38. > :15:47.driving in the car, or somebody else's driving and you are a

:15:48. > :15:53.passenger, pick out the old road map and hang it out of the window, and

:15:54. > :15:59.you will feel just how much the wind is affecting, and how strong it is,

:16:00. > :16:03.and what a job the windscreen does in protecting you. It is the same

:16:04. > :16:09.deal having all those bodies in front of you. It is a bit like the

:16:10. > :16:14.windscreen. Don't do it when the Garda are around, although they are

:16:15. > :16:18.a extremely friendly here. Most times when you stop and ask a

:16:19. > :16:25.policeman, he points you in the right direction. Over here, they

:16:26. > :16:30.start asking you questions! I had a five-minute conversation today about

:16:31. > :16:34.the car I drive. The Belgian team, the latest to come toward the

:16:35. > :16:41.front. The very experienced Alexandra Pataki, 40 years old,

:16:42. > :16:47.getting a little bit too excited thereat the front. They are out

:16:48. > :16:50.there protecting the interests of Rigoberto Uran, second overall last

:16:51. > :16:56.year, with massive ambitions to equal or better that in this year's

:16:57. > :17:00.race. There are the golden arches towards the left. It looks like the

:17:01. > :17:07.cameraman is hungry. He pulls a wide view just so he can... Maybe he is

:17:08. > :17:09.after free food! Just look at these people. You are all magnificent.

:17:10. > :17:26.Northern and Southern Ireland. I am informed that contract

:17:27. > :17:30.negotiations for riders are officially allowed to begin on July

:17:31. > :17:36.the 1st, which makes sense, because the Who's Who of cycling will

:17:37. > :17:40.descend on France, and indeed, Yorkshire, this year, throughout the

:17:41. > :17:45.Tour de France, which takes place in July. It is like a rock star

:17:46. > :17:48.welcome, and the riders love it. Mike Matthews yesterday got on the

:17:49. > :17:53.podium, and it was almost like the end of a set. It was phenomenal. He

:17:54. > :18:00.absolutely loved it. He spent time drinking in the moment. It has been

:18:01. > :18:05.an extraordinarily warm welcome the Giro has had this year. Yes, it has

:18:06. > :18:11.been great, and I think it always is when it starts outside the country.

:18:12. > :18:16.I lasted the Giro d'Italia in 2010, and it started in the Netherlands. I

:18:17. > :18:20.did the Tour de France that year as well. Very well received on both

:18:21. > :18:25.occasions. In Denmark, it was exactly the same, but I think it has

:18:26. > :18:31.superseded everything so far at least three days of here. Indeed.

:18:32. > :18:38.Some lovely slow motion going on. That is road rash par excellence. It

:18:39. > :18:43.looks like the plaster has slipped just a bit. There is no restriction

:18:44. > :18:48.on holding onto a medical car, incidentally. Sometimes, I have to

:18:49. > :19:07.wonder about some of the plaster requests. "I have a be staying. --

:19:08. > :19:12.bee sting. 's it is amazing how many bee stings I got on mountains! No

:19:13. > :19:15.restriction on holding onto the medical guy, but I suppose if you

:19:16. > :19:25.are found out, you will be in trouble.

:19:26. > :19:37.A small industrial town, this, apparently. The Boyne River around

:19:38. > :19:47.here. Possibly, the less said about that, the better. 65.5 kilometres to

:19:48. > :19:50.go. The cameraman's Kleenex is getting a good work-out today, as

:19:51. > :19:56.you can see. It is a forward facing camera. If he gets a little bit

:19:57. > :20:01.further forward, the rain will not hamper him too much. That was Nikko

:20:02. > :20:31.Boem. Team badly and. . It looks like just a tower. Is that

:20:32. > :20:39.a memorial, or just a remnant? Not quite sure. 64.8 to go. It is a

:20:40. > :20:44.shame, actually, that we have been dogged by rain today, because their

:20:45. > :20:48.arson beautiful scenes on the border between North and South. We were

:20:49. > :20:55.little bit lost yesterday looking for fuel. We almost ran out. Yes, we

:20:56. > :21:03.were on vapours. That would have been your fault. I told them to fill

:21:04. > :21:11.an hour previously, but he decided to go on.

:21:12. > :21:16.There was not much conversation as the miles to go before zero went

:21:17. > :21:27.down below 25. That looks like a Napoleonic

:21:28. > :21:33.defensive installation. I will find out for you in a few minutes. I have

:21:34. > :21:42.dropped my notes. Hard to attack something like that by running up

:21:43. > :21:45.the mound. If you were to tunnel in, and burn it down, the whole place

:21:46. > :21:50.would collapse. Obviously, that has not happened here. This is why

:21:51. > :21:58.miners were employed in medieval times to sack Cassells. What about

:21:59. > :22:03.that?! We have run out of conversation. Paolini in his every

:22:04. > :22:08.dynamic Hamlet at the frontier. Stage winner last year on the third

:22:09. > :22:13.stage, going into the pink jersey, which he held onto for some time,

:22:14. > :22:18.protecting his lead. Rodriguez, the Spaniard, just behind him. At the

:22:19. > :22:27.start of the day, he lost a massive chunk of time. Far from ideal

:22:28. > :22:31.situation for him. He goes to Italy, probably with one minute and 20

:22:32. > :22:35.seconds or just over, deficit to some of his key rivals, including

:22:36. > :22:43.Uran and Evans. That is not easy to make up. Blessing, there he is.

:22:44. > :22:49.Lovely bloke, actually, and he has sort of crept up on us over the last

:22:50. > :22:55.few years. I am always startled to find out how old the years. I always

:22:56. > :23:08.think of him as Roesch the younger, -- Roche.

:23:09. > :23:14.Yesterday, he was suffering with a knee injury. We hope that will not

:23:15. > :23:19.get any worse, but it doesn't seem to affect him too much today. He is

:23:20. > :23:22.in the wind for his team leader, detecting him and keeping them safe

:23:23. > :23:31.towards the front, saving as much energy as possible.

:23:32. > :23:41.These victories have brought a lot of popularity to cycling in

:23:42. > :23:47.Australia. He came fifth in a World Cup mountain biking race as a

:23:48. > :23:50.junior, and went on to huge things, winning the World Cup overall a few

:23:51. > :23:54.times. I don't think he ever managed to win the world Mountain bike

:23:55. > :24:10.championships, but he won the Road race Championships. 1998? 2009!

:24:11. > :24:20.A fantastic mountain biking. He has a real personality all of his own,

:24:21. > :24:27.Cadel Evans. Some people like it, others are mystified by it, but I

:24:28. > :24:34.really like the man. He is one of my favourite riders, and has been great

:24:35. > :24:38.for cycling. The way he won the Tour de France was amazing. Essentially,

:24:39. > :24:42.no one was helping him out on the big mountain climbs. Just a super

:24:43. > :24:46.solid rider. I don't know what he will end up doing, but we will see a

:24:47. > :24:55.lot more of him, I am sure, in the future. If you could just get a bit

:24:56. > :25:00.more chatty! Incidentally, Robbie McEwen has retired, and turning into

:25:01. > :25:03.a great commentator. I listened to him on the tour down under at the

:25:04. > :25:07.start of the year. Of course, a wealth of knowledge from, I think it

:25:08. > :25:12.is safe to say, the best sprinter Australia has produced. Inspired

:25:13. > :25:16.clearly by Mark Cavendish, who always said that Robbie McEwen was

:25:17. > :25:20.his hero. Who did I see the other day saying the same thing? I think

:25:21. > :25:27.it was Sam Bennett, the Irish rider, who is now a professional

:25:28. > :25:31.with a team who unfortunately aren't here. He is a sprinter as well, and

:25:32. > :25:36.he could have been in the top ten or even better on these first two

:25:37. > :25:41.stages. No one is attempting to bunny hop over the roundabout, which

:25:42. > :25:53.happens on occasion. Incidentally, thank you for all of your help with

:25:54. > :25:59.Drogheda. I know now how to pronounce that. 42.5 kilometres to

:26:00. > :26:06.go until the end. 60 kilometres left. That tells you we have about

:26:07. > :26:10.an hour and a half. We said three minutes and 33 would be the gap, and

:26:11. > :26:14.it is holding absolutely steady. Many of you have found is for the

:26:15. > :26:19.first time on BBC Two Northern Ireland. It is nice for you to join

:26:20. > :26:29.us. Likewise, to hear from you over in Canada, North America, even India

:26:30. > :26:35.and the Asian Pacific rim. Can you get beyond Australia? Are we in the

:26:36. > :26:44.Antarctic? It feels moderately cold today, speaking of which, but it has

:26:45. > :26:50.been cheerful nonetheless. The Dutch champion here, a number of the

:26:51. > :26:53.riders down. We have also got another one of the Carrow Road is.

:26:54. > :27:00.What a bad time they have been having. That does not look good for

:27:01. > :27:05.the Steiner rider. Working per Scarponi and our in the overall

:27:06. > :27:10.classification. Is that Scarponi closest to us in the black? It is.

:27:11. > :27:14.The former winner of this race, back in 2011, has come down. He is

:27:15. > :27:19.straight back onto his spare bike, but he does not look too happy. I am

:27:20. > :27:27.not surprised. Ferrari is here, incidentally, for lamb praise. Their

:27:28. > :27:31.chosen sprinter today. At least he has plenty of team-mates around him.

:27:32. > :27:37.The problem is, they have also fallen, so there has been a big bike

:27:38. > :27:42.change. They have been thrown asunder. One of the Oracle riders,

:27:43. > :27:46.perhaps two of them, there as well, it must have happened close to the

:27:47. > :27:49.front of the bunch. We did not see exactly what happened there, but

:27:50. > :27:53.everything is not looking too good. Agnoli as well there. A key

:27:54. > :28:00.lieutenant governor between leaders and the climbs, and he is also not

:28:01. > :28:05.looking happy. He is waiting for his spare bike to get going again.

:28:06. > :28:16.Agnoli, he has got a bit of a face rash as well. They have been

:28:17. > :28:19.damaging their visages. Not a hugely high pace, but we were chatting

:28:20. > :28:32.about it. No one is really knocking it back.

:28:33. > :28:42.Back and underway, but this adds to the discomfort, certainly today.

:28:43. > :28:45.This is not a nice site. Know, and I mentioned yesterday, with these

:28:46. > :28:49.opening stages of grand Tours, always very, very nervous. You have

:28:50. > :28:54.the sprinters teamed up towards the front, the leaders and their teams

:28:55. > :28:57.protecting them as well, and it simply does not all fits. It means

:28:58. > :29:02.everyone crowds together to protect their position, and Italy when the

:29:03. > :29:06.roads are wet, and it only takes a very small touch of wheels, and

:29:07. > :29:11.there will be a domino effect. Ten or 20 riders can come down. We saw

:29:12. > :29:15.it in the Tour de France 2012. Around 50 guys on the floor, and

:29:16. > :29:27.some of them with very severe injuries, in fact.

:29:28. > :29:33.With the rain capes and lack of numbers on display, it is a bit of a

:29:34. > :29:39.lottery out there. But these guys are not happy with the cameras. They

:29:40. > :29:42.just want to get on with their job. This is being a professional

:29:43. > :29:46.cyclist. But a long way back for some of these fellows. Even though

:29:47. > :29:53.there are 50 70 so kilometres remaining, -- 57 or so, this will be

:29:54. > :30:01.a deficit to them, I am afraid. Moreno Moser, handed that

:30:02. > :30:06.essentially by Peter Sehgal, who is not here. But he is a tough egg in

:30:07. > :30:10.on the last. It is never going to be his day-to-day, but it is just not

:30:11. > :30:22.what he wants. Certainly not this early in a grand tour, to pick up

:30:23. > :30:37.bruises. There is a truce in the pelaton at the moment. Certainly if

:30:38. > :30:40.the pink jersey goes down more often than not they will sit and wait

:30:41. > :30:48.until they get back on before resuming the chase. The breakaway

:30:49. > :30:53.may not have had too much of a chance before. Things looked to be

:30:54. > :30:57.getting slightly better for them. That can make people more nervous,

:30:58. > :31:03.if they have to go really fast to catch the breakaway riders. That is

:31:04. > :31:11.again when crashes can start to happen. Let's keep our fingers

:31:12. > :31:17.crossed for everybody. They are gently chugging along at the moment.

:31:18. > :31:22.Taking the opportunity to have a feed on some of those gel bars. This

:31:23. > :31:30.is moderately pleasant riding the sum of those guys. Some of them have

:31:31. > :31:38.gripped where they shouldn't, and they will be feeling damp and dirty.

:31:39. > :31:55.Not nice. A shame that Ferrari was caught out in this. I'm not 100%

:31:56. > :31:59.sure it was him. 56.3, four minutes now and it really has knocked back,

:32:00. > :32:10.nobody has the will to punish those who bad trouble. When sky first came

:32:11. > :32:14.into the pelaton they inspired a lot of jealousy because of the funding

:32:15. > :32:22.they had. They turned up in their Jaguars which did not help things.

:32:23. > :32:30.It's very old though. What year is it? I call it a classic! But when

:32:31. > :32:41.sky were in trouble they were actually being attacked earlier on.

:32:42. > :32:45.They came onto the scene with a bang, there is no doubt about that.

:32:46. > :32:48.They were advertising how much better their buses were then

:32:49. > :33:01.everybody else's. And people thought, we've been cycled --

:33:02. > :33:03.cycling for a long time. One man came up to me and said, if they

:33:04. > :33:14.could reinvent water than they would? ! You can hear them talking

:33:15. > :33:22.about the investment sky put into their team. Their bus was nicknamed

:33:23. > :33:26.the death Star in a humorous moment. All the teams have pretty smart

:33:27. > :33:30.looking buses these days. In our efforts to bring the

:33:31. > :33:34.behind-the-scenes access, Gavin Andrews our reporter has been able

:33:35. > :33:41.to have a sneak inside that famous Team Sky bus. The bikes are

:33:42. > :33:53.state-of-the-art. Talk us through this. You're very welcome. We got

:33:54. > :33:57.two of buses. Basically, they were designed primarily for rider

:33:58. > :34:03.comfort. We tried to create a lot of space. We ripped everything out and

:34:04. > :34:08.started from scratch. We wanted to replicate a business class lounge on

:34:09. > :34:15.an aeroplane. A meeting room at the back, rider food and bars etc. So it

:34:16. > :34:27.doubles up as a bit of a mouse large area, there are two sets of sliding

:34:28. > :34:37.doors for a bit of privacy. -- a bit of a massage area. Two showers as

:34:38. > :34:42.well. The floor was made lower so the tour guys can get in. And there

:34:43. > :34:46.is space if one guy has an accident and he is covered in road rash,

:34:47. > :34:55.somebody can get in and help him to rub down. Just a small kitchen

:34:56. > :35:07.area. Very important copy machine which gets a lot of use. -- coffee

:35:08. > :35:12.machine. Hydration drinks and yoghurt just to give them some food

:35:13. > :35:19.after the race. They've all got their own spot? Yes, they've all got

:35:20. > :35:22.their own individual seats. They were specially designed, a bit

:35:23. > :35:35.narrower than an aeroplane seat but extremely comfortable. You can try

:35:36. > :35:39.one out. They were about ?1000 each. They recline, they swivel because we

:35:40. > :35:45.have meetings on here sometimes as well, so they can all face each

:35:46. > :35:51.other. At the front, there is a big screen projector. Primarily we are

:35:52. > :35:53.here to look after the riders. We need them to be in good shape, well

:35:54. > :36:07.recovered with good morale. need them to be in good shape, well

:36:08. > :36:16.atmosphere to work in. Have a seat, we'll kick back and watch a film,

:36:17. > :36:26.what do you say? Sounds good to me. We remember the Orica GreenEdge bust

:36:27. > :36:34.last year getting stuck under the arch. That reminded me a bit of our

:36:35. > :36:41.bus ride down to Belfast last night. Yes, with the reclining seats and

:36:42. > :36:47.the showers! Now, let's get back to the racing because they are still

:36:48. > :36:58.going, five breakaway riders at the front. There is a rest day tomorrow,

:36:59. > :37:12.there are no climes at all, so he has badgers eat for the next few

:37:13. > :37:18.days now. -- he has that jersey. Four minutes behind is the main

:37:19. > :37:22.peloton, including Michael Matthews in the pink jersey. There was a

:37:23. > :37:27.suggestion he came down in that crash but that does not seem to have

:37:28. > :37:40.happened. Let us return to the action and join Dan and Carlton

:37:41. > :37:45.again. There is a double turn and then a gentle ramp climb to the

:37:46. > :37:50.finish line. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everybody stays

:37:51. > :37:54.safe. The sprinters at the moment are all intact. A couple have had a

:37:55. > :37:58.spell but they are back and ready to race. With just over 50 kilometres

:37:59. > :38:15.to go, today there will be fireworks at the end. A very good job out

:38:16. > :38:29.front. Do you have a pic today? -- a pick. I think the pic is obvious. I

:38:30. > :38:34.would like to go for Elia Viviani. I saw how well he sprinted in the tour

:38:35. > :38:39.of Turkey. He got it slightly wrong yesterday, as did his team, I think.

:38:40. > :38:47.They ran out of energy towards the end. Perhaps he just wanted to stay

:38:48. > :38:57.safe at the end it sure he got into a good position using the least

:38:58. > :39:05.amount of energy. I'm looking for somebody with a bit of an on-off

:39:06. > :39:11.switch. We are looking for outsiders, by the way. Giacomo

:39:12. > :39:24.Nizzolo was somebody I mentioned yesterday. His team is a young

:39:25. > :39:29.outfit. I think maybe somebody who will do it on their own. Roberto

:39:30. > :39:34.Ferrari was all on his lonesome yesterday, he finished fifth. If it

:39:35. > :39:46.starts to get nasty, people like Ferrari can take a fat -- take a

:39:47. > :40:02.bite. I'm going together NASA blarney. He is a kick boxer. -- I'm

:40:03. > :40:08.going to go for Nacer Bouhanni. They are heading towards the coast now.

:40:09. > :40:12.Then they will head inland and go south westwards, so that will be a

:40:13. > :40:18.change in direction for the cause. The wind has not affected the race

:40:19. > :40:24.too much so far. It is a westerly wind but it has been reasonably

:40:25. > :40:30.protected, the road. The majority of the time, it looks to me like

:40:31. > :40:35.they've had a tail wind. Whether that will change over the next few

:40:36. > :40:38.kilometres - you can see the road opens up quite a bit towards the

:40:39. > :40:41.coast and there will be more and more nervous people back in the

:40:42. > :40:49.peloton and perhaps more crashes, you never know. Let's hope not. It

:40:50. > :40:57.is a question of keeping hold of those rain capes, because you are

:40:58. > :41:03.going to need them again and again. There is a lot of warm weather gear

:41:04. > :41:10.as well. Rather strangely, as it warms up, it can feel rather

:41:11. > :41:20.pleasant. You can see the poly falls over the ground, Polly Keen sheeting

:41:21. > :41:28.with rice starch worked into it. -- polytheme sheeting. It biodegrade

:41:29. > :41:33.and the plans can grow through it. So it offers a greenhouse effect for

:41:34. > :41:39.the plans, gives it a bit of protection, then it rots away and

:41:40. > :41:52.the plant grows. Magnificent. I don't know how I know that. It was

:41:53. > :41:57.invented in Israel. A bit of a warning, the riders really do look

:41:58. > :42:02.after each other throughout little sections where there is road

:42:03. > :42:06.furniture. It is great to see the collective spirit within the

:42:07. > :42:10.peloton. Riders feel that they look after everybody, they know that you

:42:11. > :42:20.don't read it want anybody to ball, even if it is your worst enemy.

:42:21. > :42:24.Former winner of this race suffering from a puncture there. He will be

:42:25. > :42:38.helped back on by team-mates I'm sure. I don't think the wheel is

:42:39. > :42:48.quite straight. I don't know if he got a bit of a bribe. -- a rub. It

:42:49. > :43:02.is amazing how much you can read with just a dumb rub on the tire.

:43:03. > :43:10.Yes, if it is wet they will just let out a bit of air just to give them a

:43:11. > :43:13.bit more grip. I have seen a whole bike changes when the weather

:43:14. > :43:19.changes dramatically. Especially principal riders who have an

:43:20. > :43:23.alternative. They will have two bikes set up exactly the same.

:43:24. > :43:29.Everybody seems to have their favourite even if they are deemed to

:43:30. > :43:36.be exactly the same. It's amazing when you spend so long on a bike how

:43:37. > :43:39.used you get to it. The mechanics and professional teams have some

:43:40. > :43:42.great instruments to make sure bikes are exactly the same, but it is a

:43:43. > :43:53.prize in, they can just feel slightly different. -- it is

:43:54. > :43:58.surprising. You saw there a perfect example of the depression you get

:43:59. > :44:04.with a 90 degrees corner. Not really comfortable to be more than two or

:44:05. > :44:10.three wide. See you get this stretching effect of the peloton. As

:44:11. > :44:14.you come into town, if you have a number of turns, that effect is

:44:15. > :44:18.multiplied and you have a difficult chicane to deal with at the end.

:44:19. > :44:28.That is going to stretch them out with three and 50 metres to go. --

:44:29. > :44:32.350 metres to go. It is a day where you will have to fight for a good

:44:33. > :44:38.position with two or three kilometres to go and then try and

:44:39. > :44:41.hold it. In some ways, it can mean the battle for position happens

:44:42. > :44:46.earlier and if you are not in the right position you have no chance of

:44:47. > :44:52.doing anything in that last kilometre if you are outside the top

:44:53. > :45:02.70. They will all know that, they will have done their research. There

:45:03. > :45:07.is very detailed information given out about the ups and downs, the

:45:08. > :45:16.twists and turns. And most teams will also use modern technology,

:45:17. > :45:22.Google Earth, to look at the road. Team Sky will have a preview on

:45:23. > :45:29.their projector. So most riders will have a good idea of what faces them

:45:30. > :45:34.towards the end of the day. Mark Cavendish always wanted to be as

:45:35. > :45:36.well prepared as possible. He does a lot of research to find out which

:45:37. > :45:46.side of the road he needs to be on. Because it doesn't matter how much

:45:47. > :45:53.research you do online, there's nothing like seeing it with your own

:45:54. > :45:56.eyes. Garibaldi, essentially, was a general, and was responsible for the

:45:57. > :46:00.unification of Italy, bringing all the provinces together. There were

:46:01. > :46:04.city states in that time of the world as well, and they were all

:46:05. > :46:07.brought together. Some would say it is still very much a divided

:46:08. > :46:12.country, with the Northern league and the rest of it, and it does feel

:46:13. > :46:16.very different. I guess you could say that not only for Great Britain

:46:17. > :46:23.but for the island of Ireland as well. But differences are part of

:46:24. > :46:26.life. Garibaldi, you might actually see a bearded gentleman walking

:46:27. > :46:32.around, who is the sort of mascot of the race. We call the guy the

:46:33. > :46:37.Garibaldi, because it is the whole of Italy unified. This chap pretends

:46:38. > :46:44.to be Garibaldi. His name is that Gary and he is not Bol! He has a

:46:45. > :46:52.silver beard, and wears a red pillbox hat. If you see him, go and

:46:53. > :47:04.say buno giorno! Three minutes and 15, and arms going

:47:05. > :47:08.up. Assistance required. There you go, shoe cover coming off. It is

:47:09. > :47:13.getting to the serious end of the day, and riders will take a bit more

:47:14. > :47:17.discomfort in exchange for likeness. Yes, they are all getting prepared

:47:18. > :47:20.now for the crunch point of this race, where things speed up and get

:47:21. > :47:24.more nervous. It might not be that they are particularly warm at this

:47:25. > :47:27.point, or that the conditions have improved, but they will start to

:47:28. > :47:35.strip off, and team leaders might give rain capes to their helpers, or

:47:36. > :47:38.domestiques, to take back to the car. It means when they get hotter,

:47:39. > :47:43.they are prepared, and more aerodynamic, particularly for the

:47:44. > :47:48.sprinters, of which we have one on our screens now. Mike Matthews,

:47:49. > :47:53.wearer of the pink jersey. He has got ripped shorts! We will see how

:47:54. > :47:57.much that affect him today. To be honest, when the adrenaline kicks

:47:58. > :48:02.in... One thing that is rather silly, though, is to have a flapping

:48:03. > :48:07.rain cape. I did do it up or take it off. We are talking about

:48:08. > :48:12.aerodynamics here, and he is just wasting wattage. Yes, that is

:48:13. > :48:18.something that our colleague, a former professional rider,

:48:19. > :48:24.absolutely hates. Very into aerodynamics, and he has done a lot

:48:25. > :48:28.of testing in the wind tunnel with the British track squad to see how

:48:29. > :48:36.much difference it can make. It is a significant amount. You can't really

:48:37. > :48:42.feel the difference going along, but who knows when you can save five or

:48:43. > :48:46.ten seconds through a stage? That makes a lot of difference through

:48:47. > :48:49.all the stages. Somebody asked earlier how much difference it makes

:48:50. > :48:56.to be on somebody's wheel. I think it is about 30%. Much more than that

:48:57. > :48:59.in a big peloton. But it is also not great to be right at the back. I

:49:00. > :49:07.can't quite remember the science now. If you can remember, get in

:49:08. > :49:11.touch and tell me. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but in the

:49:12. > :49:14.research with team pursuit of four riders going round a track, the

:49:15. > :49:18.person in second has an advantage, the person in third has the most,

:49:19. > :49:27.and the person and forth slightly less. As the wind billows behind

:49:28. > :49:32.you, it actually has a factor on the man at the back. As they come

:49:33. > :49:34.through, lots of checks. Just to make sure everyone is in a safe

:49:35. > :49:50.place. I have forgotten what I was going to

:49:51. > :49:56.say now! A terrible picture has entered my mind. We will swiftly

:49:57. > :49:59.move on. The beach is here. Terrific seafood, incidentally, in this part

:50:00. > :50:04.of the world. You will never taste better salmon than around here. Our

:50:05. > :50:15.friends in Scotland will probably disagree, but it is amazing.

:50:16. > :50:21.We are in Skerries, and it looks like a river estuary. Very shallow,

:50:22. > :50:27.and some beached boats as well. A coastal town. These information

:50:28. > :50:33.schedules are not offering us much! We can see it is on the coast. Three

:50:34. > :50:37.minutes and three. Into the woodland area, which is nasty. They can get

:50:38. > :50:43.quite skitter re-, and the roads can be quite greasy. When the leaves

:50:44. > :50:54.fall, some of them rot on the road at this time of year, and it can get

:50:55. > :50:56.very slippery. You can also get a lot of micro-sought from diesel

:50:57. > :51:06.exhausts that finds itself on the road, and that is not washed away.

:51:07. > :51:10.-- soot. They all skipped over that speed bump, which has not been

:51:11. > :51:14.ground down. Whistles and penance for the safety folk. They were

:51:15. > :51:18.warned about it. A big shout for the marshals, who have done a fantastic

:51:19. > :51:20.job in Northern Ireland will stop they called in volunteers and use

:51:21. > :51:37.them very wisely. STUDIO: indeed, thousands of

:51:38. > :51:46.volunteers helping out here. It is a global sport, but no more so than

:51:47. > :51:49.for the local riders. We have Dan Martin, who crashed out on the take

:51:50. > :52:00.their word time trial, and Nico Roshan. His team-mate Chris Jensen

:52:01. > :52:05.was actually born in Ireland as well, although he now represents

:52:06. > :52:09.Denmark. Gavin caught up with his dad. You have come all the way from

:52:10. > :52:13.Denmark. Tellers about the special connection

:52:14. > :52:18.your son has been Ireland. Well, he was born here in 1989. The

:52:19. > :52:23.connection is really strong. Elementary and he is officially one

:52:24. > :52:27.of ours! He would like to think so, but with Danish parents, he is a

:52:28. > :52:30.little bit torn between his loyalties to Denmark and Ireland.

:52:31. > :52:34.But having lived here for 16 years before we moved back to Denmark, he

:52:35. > :52:39.has every right to be a bit confused! How much has the enjoy the

:52:40. > :52:43.experience? Enormously. I have never seen him so nervous as he was on the

:52:44. > :52:47.starting line in Belfast, and he was lapping it up, and once the team

:52:48. > :52:52.time trial was over, which went well for him and the team, he was able to

:52:53. > :52:58.relax, and he is so delighted to be doing a grand tour and especially

:52:59. > :53:04.one in Ireland. It is amazing. And in great company, with Nicholas

:53:05. > :53:08.Roach. Yes, his Irish team-mate. They do argue about who is the most

:53:09. > :53:11.Irish! I would have thought Chris would be a little bit at a

:53:12. > :53:15.disadvantage, because Nicholas has at least one Irish parent, but Chris

:53:16. > :53:20.counters by saying he was born in Ireland, and if that evens it out,

:53:21. > :53:23.he claims to deliver the killer punch by saying he speaks English

:53:24. > :53:28.with an Irish accent, hinting that Nicholas maybe has a bit of a French

:53:29. > :53:31.accent to his English. But that is just friendly banter. Chris works

:53:32. > :53:39.for Nicholas, and his role is as a helper, a domestique, as we say. It

:53:40. > :53:45.is not particularly glamorous, but he loves it. He is living out his

:53:46. > :53:48.dream. The fact he helps Nicholas, giving him his bike if he has a

:53:49. > :53:54.crash, or the waiting for him if he ever delay on the road, or if the

:53:55. > :53:57.peloton is split, that is his job, and he is enjoying that. He hopes

:53:58. > :54:02.one day that in some of the smaller races, maybe he will be the captain,

:54:03. > :54:08.and Nicholas will work for him. This must be a very special day for you,

:54:09. > :54:11.a very proud dad. Very much so. We owe Ireland an enormous amount,

:54:12. > :54:15.having lived here for 16 years and enjoyed every moment of it. I don't

:54:16. > :54:19.think Chris would raise a bicycle and it was not for Ireland, because

:54:20. > :54:23.the Wicklow Mountains, the many mountain bike races we did in the

:54:24. > :54:29.north and the fact that he was part of the Irish team for the youth

:54:30. > :54:33.Olympics in 2005. A not particularly strong member of that team, but he

:54:34. > :54:36.sneaked into it. That gave him the boost and gave him the hope that

:54:37. > :54:39.even in Denmark, where the competition is higher, a higher

:54:40. > :54:44.level over on the continent, but he felt that with his Irish background,

:54:45. > :54:49.and the ruggedness, if you can go up the Wicklow Mountains with the wind

:54:50. > :54:52.in your face and tarmac under your wheels, you can really hack it

:54:53. > :54:57.anywhere. So Ireland has been so important for us. Being back is

:54:58. > :55:02.quite emotional for him and for his mother, and for me as well, of

:55:03. > :55:06.course. Just around 40 kilometres. It will

:55:07. > :55:11.get an awful lot quicker and an awful lot more dangerous. It is

:55:12. > :55:14.always getting quicker and quicker. You can see problems with the

:55:15. > :55:22.barriers here at the finish line. The wind coming in and pushing them

:55:23. > :55:24.over. They have the sponsors' logos strapped to the side, and they will

:55:25. > :55:32.have to make sure that does not happen when the riders coming. In

:55:33. > :55:35.some places, they have been taken off. I don't know if that is because

:55:36. > :55:40.they had been blown over. But it gives you an idea of how windy it is

:55:41. > :55:43.at the finish. Very much so. The organisers will have to take great

:55:44. > :55:47.care, and indeed, the security staff will stop a might have to have

:55:48. > :55:54.someone hold onto it. We will see. Let's hope they stay safe. Together

:55:55. > :55:59.taking a little feed. Thinking about internal, who probably started this

:56:00. > :56:04.race as an out and out favourite, and we haven't had a test for the

:56:05. > :56:07.climbers so far. We have a leader of the King of the Mountains

:56:08. > :56:14.competition, and it is Mr Gillingham D. He has taken both of

:56:15. > :56:20.bottles and gels being handed out, and they are taking their time,

:56:21. > :56:23.making they are taking them properly. Time for a couple more

:56:24. > :56:29.questions before we get into the real back end of this race. Mark

:56:30. > :56:34.Moore had asked what the top speed riders might get up to is over the

:56:35. > :56:40.course of the three weeks. A Sprint like today, riders can get it to 70

:56:41. > :56:43.miles an hour in the right conditions. I don't think they will

:56:44. > :56:48.get there today. A slight headwind finish, but still close to 60, if

:56:49. > :56:53.not over. On the mountains, it very much depends on the descent.

:56:54. > :56:56.Technically, if there are a lot of corners, you cannot reach a

:56:57. > :57:02.high-speed, although it might be up to 80. I think I got my highest ever

:57:03. > :57:11.speed on a bike in the first zero I did. -- versus Giro d'Italia I did.

:57:12. > :57:15.I got 126 kilometres an hour. Not exactly sure what that is in miles

:57:16. > :57:22.per hour, but very fast. That sounds scary! You have to have confidence

:57:23. > :57:27.not only in your bike handling skills, but in your bike. I have to

:57:28. > :57:31.say, I can't remember exactly what speed it was, but there is a certain

:57:32. > :57:39.speed where you just start to think, I hope the mechanic did the

:57:40. > :57:48.bolts up! My fastest descent ever was in Sheffield. When I hit the

:57:49. > :57:55.breaks, the locks broke, and I went break free.

:57:56. > :58:01.To film a helicopter, you need a helicopter. It is a rule of the

:58:02. > :58:05.movies. At least you definitely now know we have two helicopters. Rain

:58:06. > :58:09.clouds are rolling in, giving is a good old soaking, but the sun has

:58:10. > :58:13.joined as yet again at the end of the day. This is stage three of the

:58:14. > :58:19.Giro d'Italia, finishing in Dublin, and look at the wind. It is going to

:58:20. > :58:23.be massive. Yes, the first point at which I have seen wind playing a

:58:24. > :58:25.part. You can see the flags in the background there, blowing across the

:58:26. > :58:29.road from the left-hand side of the screen as we look at it, which is

:58:30. > :58:34.why we see these riders just fanning across the road. The Colombian

:58:35. > :58:40.champion at the front, and behind him and to the left, Dockx. Just

:58:41. > :58:43.trying to get protection from the wing. Whether anyone in the peloton

:58:44. > :58:47.will start riding high behind, I am not sure, that they will have to

:58:48. > :58:51.write reasonably hard to close this gap down. It is still close to three

:58:52. > :58:54.minutes, so they will have to ride at a reasonable speed from here to

:58:55. > :59:03.the finish to make sure they catch this breakaway. Do your jersey up!

:59:04. > :59:06.He does exactly that. He was trying to do it before. That's when I first

:59:07. > :59:12.noticed, the wind caught his front wheel and threw him off, not enough

:59:13. > :59:16.to cause him to crash, but that was the first indication I got that

:59:17. > :59:20.there was a lots of wind out there. When we look at these little rooster

:59:21. > :59:24.tail is being kicked up of the wheels, it even stings the face,

:59:25. > :59:31.when that kind of level of water is being thrown up. 36.5 kilometres to

:59:32. > :59:36.go, and a bit of and acceleration here. They have had a bit of a

:59:37. > :59:41.crash, if you crashes, where they have waited for riders. What that

:59:42. > :59:46.has done is, it has allowed those in the breakaway to hold station. We

:59:47. > :59:54.told you yesterday about the general rule about a breakaway. Avellino

:59:55. > :59:57.here, trying to pace himself. Do your rain jersey up, and you will go

:59:58. > :00:05.quicker! He is a sprinter, might well be there towards the end. He

:00:06. > :00:11.was ninth yesterday. A general rule, as I just said, two minutes and 43,

:00:12. > :00:15.it is about one minute per ten kilometres. That could be closed

:00:16. > :00:28.down. If that gap holds, and we get to around about 15 or 18 to go, they

:00:29. > :00:31.might be back on dry roads. Very different weathering conditions

:00:32. > :00:36.between the breakaway compared to the peloton, where the rain is

:00:37. > :00:40.really coming down hard. There must only be two kilometres between the

:00:41. > :00:46.two of them but it is making a surprising difference. There will

:00:47. > :00:56.only be three riders comfortable in that bend. Some of the team cars

:00:57. > :01:08.have TV and they are probably listening to exactly what we are

:01:09. > :01:16.saying now. Sometimes we tease them! A mixed servers as well, there are a

:01:17. > :01:32.few repairs going on that were forgotten in the build-up. This is a

:01:33. > :01:42.high paced babe. -- day. It is amazing how much energy you can save

:01:43. > :01:48.if you use the slipstream. Yes, sometimes it is impossible to get

:01:49. > :01:56.back to the peloton if you cannot use the slipstream effect behind the

:01:57. > :02:06.cars. There is the experienced duo at the front. Doing a fantastic job

:02:07. > :02:16.just in case anything happens in the wind. Nairo Quintana did not want it

:02:17. > :02:25.to be too windy but he is doing a great job. Oh! We neared our cabin.

:02:26. > :02:39.They have stacked up behind. This could well be big one. -- we knew it

:02:40. > :02:45.would happen. Brett Lancaster is there. This is a disaster for the

:02:46. > :03:07.Australian squad. Not looking particularly good. Oh, my goodness.

:03:08. > :03:13.That is Cameron Meyer on the floor. He has gone completely pale and I'm

:03:14. > :03:23.not surprised. Just wondering if he is OK. Has he taken a crack on the

:03:24. > :03:31.jaw? Let's have a look, look just to the left of your screen. It is just

:03:32. > :03:39.out of shot, you will see the camera catch up with it right now.

:03:40. > :03:51.Goodness. It looks like team-mates may well have got involved. One of

:03:52. > :04:00.the sky riders is also down. It is hard to tell from the overhead

:04:01. > :04:04.shots. Unfortunately, one of the riders had already been involved in

:04:05. > :04:11.a crash at the intermediate sprint. He is just getting back onto his

:04:12. > :04:16.bike, as is Cameron Meyer. He will try to re-game contact with the

:04:17. > :04:24.peloton. Not going to be an easy task, they haven't let up this time

:04:25. > :04:27.and they can't afford to do so. It will be a difficult contact for

:04:28. > :04:35.those guys who crashed to get back to the peloton. They have a big

:04:36. > :04:39.problem, because they have more team principals up the road there will be

:04:40. > :04:53.protected and that gap cannot be allowed to get out. We told you how

:04:54. > :05:00.clever BMC are. They knew there was a technical area coming up and they

:05:01. > :05:07.completely avoided that problem. You can see groups trying to chase back

:05:08. > :05:12.on here. But they are still off the back of the peloton. It takes teams

:05:13. > :05:16.are well to know exactly who has been left behind. There will be

:05:17. > :05:24.allsorts of communications going on to make sure the team leaders are

:05:25. > :05:28.OK. I think you are right. Carleton Evans is widely experienced and he

:05:29. > :05:38.knows where he needs to be. You widely reduce your chances if you

:05:39. > :05:43.stay up there in that top 20. Plenty of rain protection has been handed

:05:44. > :05:47.out to the crowd. I'm looking out at the moment and there is no way to

:05:48. > :05:56.walk by on the paving. It is absolutely rammed. They will get one

:05:57. > :06:03.hell of a welcome south of the border, as they have had north on

:06:04. > :06:10.the two stages. Heading down to Dublin, just over 180 kilometres for

:06:11. > :06:15.them to deal with today. 31.8 of them left. You are looking at the

:06:16. > :06:21.breakaway riders. They have had more road space to play with, so they

:06:22. > :06:30.have stayed safe. Yes, it is very calm up there compared to further

:06:31. > :06:37.behind. They are nervous. You can see the group behind is just about

:06:38. > :06:40.making contact with the peloton. We don't have identification of the

:06:41. > :06:44.members of that group but it looks like they will make it back to the

:06:45. > :06:55.peloton. That will have taken some energy out of them. Although there

:06:56. > :06:59.has been a gentle easing off the pace, I think the deed is starting

:07:00. > :07:20.to play a part for those in the breakaway as well. -- I think

:07:21. > :07:30.fatigue. 31.1 kilometres to go. Back on his bike, yesterday they were

:07:31. > :07:35.working for Ben Swift. The drag out the finish might favour him a bit

:07:36. > :07:42.more than yesterday. Let's hope the Norwegian is doing OK. It will give

:07:43. > :07:46.him a big rat although. Even if you have not broken anything, it affects

:07:47. > :07:52.the musculature and he will have had to fight to get back on. That said,

:07:53. > :08:08.he has let it be known he is looking for an exit from sky. It may well be

:08:09. > :08:21.hampering Ben 's chances as well. We will see how ragged the build-up to

:08:22. > :08:28.the home stretch will be. These crashes have affected a lot of

:08:29. > :08:34.people. Here is the other Irish rider in the race that people forget

:08:35. > :08:41.about. He's got a plethora of raincoats. He as to be careful that

:08:42. > :08:59.he doesn't get snagged! He has won in his mouth! -- he has one. You can

:09:00. > :09:05.find them on eBay later. If it is wet tomorrow they will be forced to

:09:06. > :09:16.wear Orica GreenEdge advertising. There is a good relationship between

:09:17. > :09:22.that team and Sky. Some of the movies that they put up features Sky

:09:23. > :09:28.riders as well. So it is a nice, friendly rivalry and they help each

:09:29. > :09:33.other out. These guys are in sunshine. A little bit more pressure

:09:34. > :09:44.in the tyres is wanted at this point, I would think. Not much they

:09:45. > :09:52.can do about that. Although those high tubes do leak air so where the

:09:53. > :09:56.optimal pressure is as low as 4.5 bars, they will actually start with

:09:57. > :10:06.more than that so that they get to the crunch point at the right time.

:10:07. > :10:08.They usually called for the last drink about 30 kilometres from the

:10:09. > :10:18.line. Just under 30 kilometres to go from

:10:19. > :10:22.the finish, the breakaway has just over one minute on the peloton but

:10:23. > :10:29.that is likely to come back together and we are predicting a strained

:10:30. > :10:34.finish. All eyes will be on yesterday 's stage winner and the

:10:35. > :10:39.birthday boy Marcel Kittel. Gavin caught up with him last night after

:10:40. > :10:48.his stage win. How special is this to you? I was looking forward to

:10:49. > :10:53.today. I wanted to get a win and I was very excited before the start.

:10:54. > :11:00.Now I am super proud. Everyone was nervous and wanted to be in front.

:11:01. > :11:05.No team could really make a lead, including our own team. So we had to

:11:06. > :11:14.fight for position. And it was about coming first around the last corner.

:11:15. > :11:23.Tomorrow you will be the favourite again. I think so, but after today,

:11:24. > :11:30.there is some pressure gone. We can look forward to tomorrow. Certainly

:11:31. > :11:35.looking forward to seeing the race arrived here in Dublin. It could be

:11:36. > :11:45.chaotic in that sprint finish. Who better to tell us what it is like

:11:46. > :11:57.than the men involved? 800 metres, we are nearly at the big turn! The

:11:58. > :12:13.adrenaline is forlorn. It is pretty exciting. -- is full-on. Every team

:12:14. > :12:24.has a view riders working to put their printer -- best sprinter into

:12:25. > :12:28.the ideal position. The guys at the front go to the max until they are

:12:29. > :12:44.entirely empty and then they swing off. Actually you need for eyes to

:12:45. > :12:49.check everything. It is a battle. Then you get a lot of shoulders and

:12:50. > :12:58.head butts. It's not a nice place to be. In the end, it is all about

:12:59. > :13:04.timing. You have to concentrate and be relaxed enough to follow your

:13:05. > :13:10.plan. You can sense the adrenaline as you get closer and closer. And it

:13:11. > :13:46.kind of goes into slow motion almost. And then it just erupts.

:13:47. > :13:57.If you think about your own personal safety, you cannot sprint. You need

:13:58. > :14:00.to rely on your team-mates and completely trust everybody. When a

:14:01. > :14:09.spring goes wrong, it always goes horribly wrong. I know people

:14:10. > :14:14.prepare a lot for these sprints. They will know what to expect. I

:14:15. > :14:27.should just say the noise behind us is the crowd cheering on the riders.

:14:28. > :14:34.You will have seen the chicane. They will have videos of these parts of

:14:35. > :14:39.the race. They will have viewed it this morning. They won't know about

:14:40. > :14:45.the wet conditions, or about the wind. We've seen sprinters in

:14:46. > :14:51.trouble today, so it is very unpredictable. We understand Mike

:14:52. > :14:56.Matthews did go down briefly but he is back on his bike and looking

:14:57. > :15:09.comfortable. Cameron Meyer went down very happily. Yes, and his team-mate

:15:10. > :15:18.did as well. That will certainly affect the Orica GreenEdge team.

:15:19. > :15:25.These guys are so hardy, often doing running repairs as they go. When

:15:26. > :15:28.they get back to their team bus as tonight, that is where the real

:15:29. > :15:34.helpful comment. Yes, you want to get back on your bike as soon as

:15:35. > :15:37.possible. As long as you take, the peloton is getting away. You have to

:15:38. > :15:43.get back on your bike and cope with any injuries you have picked up will

:15:44. > :15:47.stop you often see riders getting back on their bike and then pulling

:15:48. > :15:51.out of the race later with something like a broken collarbone or even a

:15:52. > :15:58.broken pelvis that is masked by the adrenaline. The gap is plummeting

:15:59. > :16:03.now, 46 or 47 seconds. The breakaway have been away most of the day, the

:16:04. > :16:06.five riders, including the leader, but the rest of the peloton is just

:16:07. > :16:10.coming along. That will be controlled now by the sprint teams

:16:11. > :16:17.as they try and bring it back together. Yes, Shimano and or occur

:16:18. > :16:23.have clearly had a bit of a day, Orica GreenEdge, and they are trying

:16:24. > :16:27.to catch the break too soon. They don't want the race back together

:16:28. > :16:30.before they get into the outskirts of Dublin. They want to make sure

:16:31. > :16:34.there is no opportunity for anyone else to attack before the finish.

:16:35. > :16:35.Della Machar lets get back to the commentary now to bring this race

:16:36. > :16:44.today to a climax. When it comes to the mountains, they

:16:45. > :16:49.can make up ground, and they do want to lose any of those favoured guys

:16:50. > :16:52.here. They carried the top numbers. Even though our defending champion

:16:53. > :16:56.is going to do the Tour de France this year, they still have Scarponi

:16:57. > :17:02.and Fabio Aru, and Michael LAMDA is there as in doubt climbers, and

:17:03. > :17:07.indeed GC specialist. So they have a decent team with them, but the time

:17:08. > :17:11.trialling expert amongst this team... This year, there is a

:17:12. > :17:17.mountain time trial as well, just to test everybody out. That will be a

:17:18. > :17:20.challenge. Certainly will. For the GC riders, it is more to their

:17:21. > :17:28.favour than a flat time trial, I guess. I am trying to think

:17:29. > :17:42.quickly, Evans is probably the best flat time trialist of the GC riders.

:17:43. > :17:47.Kent Arnault, himself, has won some big time trials on some big races.

:17:48. > :17:53.In the Basque country, he won overall by winning the last time

:17:54. > :17:58.trial. Nonetheless, that means he is pretty accomplished against the

:17:59. > :18:02.clock. Tony can have his off days when he gets a bit salty. I was

:18:03. > :18:05.going to say his lip starts trembling, but if that starts

:18:06. > :18:10.happening, there could be an earthquake! 22.7 kilometres to go.

:18:11. > :18:16.48 seconds, and I think they have done the job now. Just in case there

:18:17. > :18:21.are any more knocks, I think they wanted to close that gap right down

:18:22. > :18:30.so they can manage the situation. I think it is...

:18:31. > :18:40.They have also had cars and on the deck earlier. So they're too quick

:18:41. > :18:43.men have had issues. There is appear to be mechanical. Let's have a look.

:18:44. > :18:57.Sailing out. Ben Swift yesterday finished in

:18:58. > :19:06.seventh place in a mixed sprint. Could do better today, because that

:19:07. > :19:09.uphill RAM as well, . Thank you for all of your kind comments on

:19:10. > :19:16.Twitter. It has been a joy to hear from you today. It has not been a

:19:17. > :19:21.dramatic stage necessarily, but certainly a long one. Tomorrow is a

:19:22. > :19:27.rest day, don't forget, so a little hiatus to build up the drama yet

:19:28. > :19:31.again. And then on stage four, another one for this printer is, so

:19:32. > :19:35.I hope you stay with us throughout the entire Giro d'Italia, especially

:19:36. > :19:37.those fans in Northern Ireland and indeed the Republic of Ireland, who

:19:38. > :19:45.have now found the sport and fallen in love with it as an island in its

:19:46. > :19:48.entirety. Quite remarkable, and lovely to see. We are glad you have

:19:49. > :19:53.been along for the right, so thank you for that. Here they come. They

:19:54. > :20:00.will be making a turn fairly shortly down, and it will be destination

:20:01. > :20:06.Dublin. Let's talk about this run, shall we? At this point in time, I

:20:07. > :20:09.believe they are heading back towards the coast. A feud twists and

:20:10. > :20:14.turns before they finally had South West into Dublin. We will explain

:20:15. > :20:19.the technical running a little later on. The pink jersey from last

:20:20. > :20:24.year's race helping Ben Swift to get back towards the peloton, so he is

:20:25. > :20:30.doing a good job for his team-mate. No word yet as to whether Hagen

:20:31. > :20:35.managed to get back on. He is here somewhere, but they have not spotted

:20:36. > :20:43.him yet. Yes, a difficult day, especially when you have do

:20:44. > :20:47.essentially retrieve yourself . Nicolas Roche does not want to go

:20:48. > :20:50.the same way as Dan Martin. There is a possibility that someone might

:20:51. > :20:54.have a big issue late on. It is technical in the running, and we are

:20:55. > :20:59.approaching the 20 kilometre mark. All the main GC boys are very

:21:00. > :21:02.conscious about being out front. I suppose if you don't do your

:21:03. > :21:07.research, just watch BMC and follow what they do. They have an amazing

:21:08. > :21:12.quick turn of speed, and can guide their principal rider, to the right

:21:13. > :21:18.place at the right time. In the right place right now are a

:21:19. > :21:22.breakaway group of fried riders -- five riders. 20 kilometres to go,

:21:23. > :21:29.including Maarten Tjallingii, the man who wears that leaders jersey,

:21:30. > :21:33.albeit in the King of the Mountains competition. The other jerseys have

:21:34. > :21:37.had their issues today, although Marcel Kittel seems to have avoided

:21:38. > :21:42.the problems that have dogged some others. Mike Matthews is wearing the

:21:43. > :21:46.overall general classification pink jersey, the one that everyone wants,

:21:47. > :21:53.and he has taken a tumble today. He is not amongst the fast men we are

:21:54. > :21:59.expecting to feature. Boasson Hagen of Team Sky has taken a tumble as

:22:00. > :22:02.well. Plenty of road rash to be dealt with tonight, but I think they

:22:03. > :22:07.will forget about that now as the adrenaline kicks in. 51 seconds now,

:22:08. > :22:12.the gap between these men in the break and the pack, with just 19.3

:22:13. > :22:13.to go. Soon we will make the turn towards the city of Dublin, where

:22:14. > :22:43.our finish line awaits. For those who have just joined us, a

:22:44. > :22:48.nasty chicane year with 350 metres to go, a left followed by a right

:22:49. > :22:52.very quickly afterwards. That is what happens in chicanes! And before

:22:53. > :22:58.that, within one kilometre to go, they go over the Liffey. To

:22:59. > :23:02.left-hand turns, and a right-hand turn. So it is technical, it is a

:23:03. > :23:06.case of being in a good position some way from the finish, and I'm

:23:07. > :23:11.sure Marcel Kittel on his birthday will be hoping that his team-mates

:23:12. > :23:16.can deliver him to win number two. Average speed has risen to 41

:23:17. > :23:20.kilometres an hour, so the automatic speed indicator at the side of the

:23:21. > :23:30.road, part of a traffic calming plan, I think, indicates. Not quite

:23:31. > :23:35.sure what was going on there. It looked like indigestion! 18.3

:23:36. > :23:39.kilometres to go. 49 seconds is the gap. The crowds have been

:23:40. > :23:44.immaculate. We do, of course, tease them, but that is the great

:23:45. > :23:49.friendship in mind. Yes, it is to reflect. Everybody seems to be wants

:23:50. > :23:53.to be part of this great race. It is great to see. Everyone also wants to

:23:54. > :23:58.be part of the safety area, which is out front. Dan, you are having a

:23:59. > :24:02.brief moment to look out of the commentary position, as we both are.

:24:03. > :24:06.You can't see anything other than people's head. It is remarkable.

:24:07. > :24:10.Yes, I was looking to see the road conditions, but it is incredible,

:24:11. > :24:14.hard to even walk through. I would say it is beyond ten deep in

:24:15. > :24:19.places. Incredible support for the last three days. A big thank you to

:24:20. > :24:22.the fans here in Ireland, locals and people that have come from further

:24:23. > :24:25.afield, but also to the volunteers who have done such a fantastic job

:24:26. > :24:29.the last three days, and before that, it has really been a huge

:24:30. > :24:33.pleasure for us to visit, a huge pleasure for the riders, and I'm

:24:34. > :24:40.sure the organisers are extremely pleased with the way it has gone.

:24:41. > :24:43.This is the phoney war. The calm before the storm. They know this is

:24:44. > :24:45.technical, so they are all strategising at the moment. They

:24:46. > :24:50.have done the job is far of the break is concerned. 45 seconds. I

:24:51. > :24:55.bet that chillingly goes for it again. He did yesterday, and had a

:24:56. > :24:59.bit of a late turn of speed. They are all getting into their colour

:25:00. > :25:01.blocks, as you can see. The teams are coming together in formation for

:25:02. > :25:09.this big assault. Through Portmarnock, and then making the

:25:10. > :25:16.turn towards Dublin. It is a little wiggly course, and then we finish

:25:17. > :25:19.just beside of Trinity University, a beautiful part of town,

:25:20. > :25:29.incidentally. Lots of Georgian buildings, tall and elegant, as they

:25:30. > :25:37.are. So are the locals! 16.9 kilometres to go. 42 seconds is the

:25:38. > :25:39.gap, and it looks like plenty of furniture also giving them the kick

:25:40. > :25:44.up the backside at that point. If nothing else, that will wake them

:25:45. > :25:49.up. How will Marcel Kittel do, and indeed, his boys from Canada? And is

:25:50. > :25:56.looking at Al Timmer at the moment. Here he is. Part of a very well

:25:57. > :26:00.marshalled team. Not the a team as far as lead out our concern for

:26:01. > :26:06.Marcel Kittel, but he has so much power to deliver, that he can. Yes,

:26:07. > :26:09.he is so powerful. Over the last 12 months in particular. I remember

:26:10. > :26:15.riding against him for the first time, I think for years ago, and my

:26:16. > :26:19.team-mate at the time said, watch out for this man. The same with John

:26:20. > :26:22.Deighton, who has gone on to great things, but Kittel was already fat

:26:23. > :26:28.then, and he has got faster since then. He is supremely powerful and

:26:29. > :26:33.has put the dominant sprinter from the last ten years, Mark Cavendish,

:26:34. > :26:37.in his place a couple of times in the last two years. Cavendish,

:26:38. > :26:44.arguably the best sprinter of all time, but certainly the best

:26:45. > :26:47.sprinter of his generation. Tinkoff-Saxo coming to the front

:26:48. > :26:54.now, and we have seen them do this in the past. Look already at the

:26:55. > :26:57.effect that is having on the rest of the bunch. They knew where the wind

:26:58. > :27:02.was coming from round the corner. It has already strung out. Doesn't take

:27:03. > :27:07.too long with pressure like this to start opening up between riders.

:27:08. > :27:12.Absolutely streaming, there are ways in the wind, you can be sure.

:27:13. > :27:16.Gullies as well taking the water away from the road. Not much

:27:17. > :27:23.standing water, considering the amount of rain we have had. Ken L

:27:24. > :27:26.Evans, BMC, the wise old dog hears, calling for his boys to put in some

:27:27. > :27:32.power. He is playing the long game and doing a good job. Evans in third

:27:33. > :27:39.place. Wheels Alessandro Petacchi. Mike Matthews, a couple of

:27:40. > :27:41.team-mates around him, they are trying to bring him up to make sure

:27:42. > :27:46.he is protected and that the very front. Daniel Oss is on the very

:27:47. > :27:49.front, with Evans two behind him, so we have some very experienced guys

:27:50. > :27:52.up towards the front. Whether or not they will have enough strength to

:27:53. > :27:55.split things completely, I am not sure, but they are doing a great job

:27:56. > :28:06.of keeping their leader safe and making sure he is not behind any

:28:07. > :28:11.splits. A nasty little break around this roundabout, with 15 kilometres

:28:12. > :28:14.to go for the pack. They are 26 seconds in arrears of the five

:28:15. > :28:19.breakaway riders, who have already started checking over their

:28:20. > :28:24.shoulders. Here we go. I don't know where they get these outfits from!

:28:25. > :28:36.He nearly came a cropper! He did the job, though. Also doing the job is

:28:37. > :28:41.chillingly. He will be lighter, and it might be more than just spending

:28:42. > :28:46.a penny. 14.4 kilometres to go, 19 seconds.

:28:47. > :28:59.It is BMC, . Here comes Harare, amongst the lamprey boys. He will

:29:00. > :29:07.have to do it on his own yet again, but he is capable of doing so. 14.1.

:29:08. > :29:14.For me, Viviani, we know Kittel is the out and out favourite. We are

:29:15. > :29:16.trying to look beyond him. But also don't count out Francesco Kiki in

:29:17. > :29:21.what looks like the laundry accidents. Bright yellow. It is

:29:22. > :29:33.bright pink that is the leader's jersey in the Giro d'Italia, and

:29:34. > :29:36.Stephen Roche, in a decent addition, staying safe. It is

:29:37. > :29:42.starting to open up in the middle-of-the-road.

:29:43. > :29:47.More street furniture, unguarded. Somebody blew a whistle, and thank

:29:48. > :29:52.goodness the riders are working for each other with 13 to go. The first

:29:53. > :29:59.we have seen of Trek Factory Racing coming up to the front, I think on

:30:00. > :30:06.behalf of Kittel, although it should be another wearing that. Things so

:30:07. > :30:09.nervous here in the peloton at the moment, from the crosswinds to the

:30:10. > :30:17.corners to the street furniture, everybody wants to be towards the

:30:18. > :30:20.front, and so far, they have done a great job. Less than 13 kilometres

:30:21. > :30:25.to go before we see the big sprinter teams coming back up, and that will

:30:26. > :30:32.be Callan del and Jane Shimano primarily, with others trying to get

:30:33. > :30:35.into the mix. Me outside pick yesterday made the podium. If they

:30:36. > :30:40.had got the running better sorted out, it was a young leader, maybe he

:30:41. > :30:43.could have gone that extra step. They are mobbing the road at the

:30:44. > :30:47.moment, and there will be a hiatus once these boys are caught. I don't

:30:48. > :30:53.think Maarten Tjallingii will go over it again. That is usually when

:30:54. > :30:56.he goes to the back of a breakaway group, and then attacks late on.

:30:57. > :31:14.Somebody will have a go just to do it for the sponsors. A late one. The

:31:15. > :31:18.sprinter there has had a problem. Believe it or not, I don't think you

:31:19. > :31:27.will find it too hard to get back to the peloton. There is a headwind,

:31:28. > :31:37.which is why the peloton is spread across the road. The breakaway has

:31:38. > :31:44.almost extended its lead. No chance of anything splitting up, but for

:31:45. > :31:54.the second day running, he is having problems. It is a shame, he was one

:31:55. > :32:00.of my outside picks for the day. He looks very concerned, which I think

:32:01. > :32:17.means he is taking today seriously. So watch out for him. Because of

:32:18. > :32:26.this, everybody is wanting to keep it together as it is at the moment.

:32:27. > :32:35.No declared gap between these five breakaways and the pack mobbing the

:32:36. > :32:40.road. That is a hell of the site. Everyone is quite happy to be at the

:32:41. > :32:43.front of that group. The pace has gone out with the danger of the wind

:32:44. > :32:53.direction but it won't be long before the spring teas -- the sprint

:32:54. > :32:59.teams come up. It seems like the strap is broken, said the mechanic

:33:00. > :33:04.having to tape his shoe tight. It is very important, it makes a

:33:05. > :33:21.difference to the amount of power you can put into the pedals. The

:33:22. > :33:25.breakaway is about to be swept up, and can I just apologised to some of

:33:26. > :33:34.our viewers. The picture on the satellite is breaking up. All source

:33:35. > :33:37.of weather conditions, that is the name of the game when you are

:33:38. > :33:42.covering a big sport event like this. But apologies for the less

:33:43. > :33:55.than pristine picture and we hope things will be perfect as we come to

:33:56. > :34:00.the finish. Showing off the blue jersey on the left there. They are

:34:01. > :34:08.down to four, the Colombian rider has just left. As soon as the

:34:09. > :34:13.sprinter teams get themselves in good order, they will be ready to

:34:14. > :34:18.go. Just about ten kilometres to go now. The gap has expanded slightly,

:34:19. > :34:27.but this is just make sure all the personnel are where they should be

:34:28. > :34:31.for each the teams. It will hover at around 20 seconds until one of the

:34:32. > :34:33.sprint teams comes to the front. They are literally just there to

:34:34. > :34:40.keep their teams in the right position. For the sprinters teams it

:34:41. > :34:45.does, they want to have a chance of their leader crossing the line in

:34:46. > :34:50.the first position. And birthday boy Marcel Kittel will be looking to

:34:51. > :34:55.double up. In order to do that, they need to put somebody at the front.

:34:56. > :35:00.They won't be too worried, they will want to save as much as possible for

:35:01. > :35:07.this final lead up. It will be interesting to see who takes it up

:35:08. > :35:11.first. It does not really get technical until round about five

:35:12. > :35:17.kilometres to go. Then there are number of corners towards the

:35:18. > :35:23.finish. There will be a left-hand turn, then a snaking run before a 90

:35:24. > :35:32.degrees left-hander over the river. Then there is a sequence of turns

:35:33. > :35:38.all culminating with the run. Left over the bridge, left again and then

:35:39. > :35:45.right, and then all hell breaks loose. We are still worried about

:35:46. > :35:53.that chicane which we injured 50 metres to go. 11 seconds is begat,

:35:54. > :35:57.it is virtually nothing. The breakaway knows it is over, it is

:35:58. > :36:04.the pack behind them sorting themselves out. They know that is

:36:05. > :36:15.the business end of the day. We know it is highly technical. We have

:36:16. > :36:22.everyone stays safe. Everyone is happy to be in their sprint trains

:36:23. > :36:26.right now. Surprised to see one of these breakaway riders doing a last

:36:27. > :36:30.ditch attack. As someone pointed out on Twitter, there is a prize every

:36:31. > :36:35.day for the most aggressive rider, which will go to the person in the

:36:36. > :36:42.breakaway who is out the front for the longest. So we might well see

:36:43. > :36:52.him up at the podium at the end of the day. Away he goes! We believe he

:36:53. > :36:56.is going for the combat award. Nobody will be overly concerned

:36:57. > :37:10.about this. He will win some beer money for his team. I don't believe

:37:11. > :37:14.anybody else wants to go for this. They will just go over to the

:37:15. > :37:22.right-hand side of the road, everybody knows they are there and

:37:23. > :37:29.they will be gently reabsorbed. So he decides to help himself to an

:37:30. > :37:35.award, maybe. We'll see. So here's alone, but take no notice. Eight

:37:36. > :37:39.kilometres to go. Look at those beautiful lines of colour. A wide

:37:40. > :37:46.road has opened up an opportunity for teams to marshal themselves into

:37:47. > :37:51.their preferred running order. It is not an easy thing to do to stay in

:37:52. > :37:56.one line as a team. Particularly through corners. This wide road is

:37:57. > :38:01.allowing almost the entire peloton to get towards the front. But it

:38:02. > :38:06.will not be long before we get towards some corners and some

:38:07. > :38:20.narrower roads. Judgement is crucial. Things can really go astray

:38:21. > :38:25.if you judge it wrong. Skype team have got themselves into a decent

:38:26. > :38:47.place. It was a 2-pronged attack which opened up the sent. -- opened

:38:48. > :38:57.up the space. Just look at the way Giant-Shimano are moving. And the

:38:58. > :39:06.king among them is Marcel Kittel. A lovely reverse view at the moment.

:39:07. > :39:11.You can see those guys who'd done their job today, they are not part

:39:12. > :39:17.of the sprint. Seven kilometres to go. It is about the sprinters.

:39:18. > :39:21.Everyone for now is reasonably happy. They will cat and mouse

:39:22. > :39:28.there's almost all the way to the line, it looks like. It is just the

:39:29. > :39:32.nature of the wind at the moment which is making it look this calm.

:39:33. > :39:43.The headwind means it is not strung out. We are seeing sprinters coming

:39:44. > :39:52.up. Then Swift is on the wheel on the right-hand side of our screens.

:39:53. > :39:59.Let's just hope the wind does not cast. Dan Lloyd is standing on his

:40:00. > :40:06.feet and having a look as they come towards the absolute barrier. That

:40:07. > :40:12.is not what you want. Back wheel is changed. If this speed suddenly

:40:13. > :40:20.picks up he is going to need help to get back. That is a bad time for

:40:21. > :40:27.this to happen. He will try his best to get back on. There is a team-mate

:40:28. > :40:44.who will help him get there. He will offer up some wind resistance. Six

:40:45. > :40:47.kilometres to go. 5.9 kilometres. This is where timing becomes crucial

:40:48. > :40:54.because they are just about to come up to a left-hand turn. There will

:40:55. > :40:59.be a mini sprint to get into that one first. After that, there is a

:41:00. > :41:04.long right-hand bend. This is quite an important time for all the

:41:05. > :41:23.sprinters to get themselves into the right place. But easier said than

:41:24. > :41:29.done. You can see the red jersey of Marcel Kittel over on one side of

:41:30. > :41:33.the road. Look at this, 5.2 kilometres to go. They are only

:41:34. > :41:44.about four wide. They all want a part of the road. Three of the

:41:45. > :41:52.Cannondale riders up towards the front. You can see the fact that

:41:53. > :41:57.back corner had on the peloton. These riders have had the advantage

:41:58. > :42:02.of dry roads for the last ten kilometres, but there are patches of

:42:03. > :42:09.wet on this last stretch and that could cause chaos. This is that

:42:10. > :42:12.snaking road I was telling you about. There was a big fight for

:42:13. > :42:22.Marcel Kittel to get back in good order. He has managed to do that.

:42:23. > :42:25.But he is second from last in his own line because he has a wing man

:42:26. > :42:36.behind him protecting his back wheel. He is an enormous presence

:42:37. > :42:45.out there. 4.4 to go as they make this big turn. It is 90 degrees.

:42:46. > :42:52.They will head along the riverside and take a left-hander to cross

:42:53. > :43:00.over. There is a lot to deal with. Not a surprise to see Cannondale and

:43:01. > :43:04.Giant-Shimano up at the front. Alessandro Petacchi, he has won

:43:05. > :43:12.quite a few stages over his career. He said he is not sprinting because

:43:13. > :43:28.he is protecting the interests of Rigoberto Uran. A lot of green, they

:43:29. > :43:35.have lime green. Tyler Farrar rah is mixed in with the largely black

:43:36. > :43:41.races on the left-hand side of your screen. In nasty turn out one, that

:43:42. > :43:57.was well marshalled by Cannondale and Giant-Shimano. 3.2 to go.

:43:58. > :44:04.Perfect positioning for Marcel Kittel and Elia Viviani. But Marcel

:44:05. > :44:10.Kittel is down to two team-mates, which is not ideal. You can see two

:44:11. > :44:20.white jerseys. Elia Viviani still has five guys left to work for him.

:44:21. > :44:29.Marcel Kittel looks sort of meerkat like, sitting upright trying to get

:44:30. > :44:33.good vision. Alessandro Petacchi says he is not going to race but we

:44:34. > :44:41.don't believe him. We think he is going to have a go. They will take a

:44:42. > :44:44.left-hand turn shortly. They are all looking at each other, everybody is

:44:45. > :44:52.holding something back because they know they will need all their power

:44:53. > :44:58.in Alaska three re-enter 50 metres. -- in the last 350 metres. Still

:44:59. > :45:12.five guys in front of Elia Viviani. Three guys now Marcel Kittel. I

:45:13. > :45:15.think they might have gone just slightly too early, but of course,

:45:16. > :45:19.they want to get this double left-hander with just over one

:45:20. > :45:25.kilometre to go at the front. David Abilene open estate yesterday, also

:45:26. > :45:30.in the mix for the Mondale in the brown and white. He is a big man as

:45:31. > :45:38.well, he can go well. 1.9 kilometres to go. The introduction to the last

:45:39. > :45:41.here, we're over the Liffey, over the bridge. We are going to make the

:45:42. > :45:45.double turn, and then the chicane with 350 metres to go. Yes,

:45:46. > :45:50.literally 500 metres now till the left-hand turn. The leader of Team

:45:51. > :45:53.Sky on the left-hand side of the road there. Ben Swift is the last

:45:54. > :45:58.man in the group of them. Boasson Hagen ahead of him, and Chris

:45:59. > :46:01.Sutton, the Australian rider. Strong lead out train for Team Sky dear.

:46:02. > :46:05.Change of pace completely, and joining the party is Francis Tisza.

:46:06. > :46:10.They have kicked the door open and invited themselves, and they have

:46:11. > :46:13.said he was a prize fighter. He is in exactly the right position right

:46:14. > :46:19.now. Marcel Kittel may have run out of team-mates here. It is a crucial

:46:20. > :46:22.turn, this. You have to be in the right place. Look at the

:46:23. > :46:27.compression! For coming in, too wide coming out, and Cannondale have

:46:28. > :46:30.mastered this as they go over the Liffey. A double turn, and that must

:46:31. > :46:35.have heard some. They needed all the team-mates they can get. This bodes

:46:36. > :46:39.well for Viviani with one kilometre to go. Kittel in about 15 position,

:46:40. > :46:44.but that does not seem to hold them back in previous stages. A real

:46:45. > :46:50.narrowing here as well, but that should not affect it too much. The

:46:51. > :46:56.speed of Cannondale. Has Kittel got himself too far behind on this

:46:57. > :47:03.race? I think he has. You can see the jersey, news about 15. Hagen

:47:04. > :47:07.nearly lost it there. Alan they are all looking. They are all trying to

:47:08. > :47:12.find a way through. And team Columbia here, to riders here. We

:47:13. > :47:14.will see how they pan out. They are running out of road! They are

:47:15. > :47:23.running out of luck, some of them as well. Here is Barack, so is Viviani!

:47:24. > :47:26.Look at this! This is the chicane we have been worried about. Kittel 's

:47:27. > :47:30.suddenly has joined in! That he is in the red jersey. They are all

:47:31. > :47:36.having a look. And Boasson Hagen, is he going to go this way! They

:47:37. > :47:46.awaiting the Ben Swift. There goes Barack. Where is Bali? Nowhere to be

:47:47. > :47:51.seen! Here it comes! Here comes Kittel! Oh, he takes it on the line!

:47:52. > :47:56.Out of absolutely nowhere, like a bolt of lightning, he delivers! What

:47:57. > :48:03.a guy! Unbelievable racing. A turn of pace.

:48:04. > :48:06.He had nobody with him, he had to do it on his own. He has all the

:48:07. > :48:13.credentials a super sprinter of all time stop he nailed that. The most

:48:14. > :48:15.difficult circumstances. Just look what it has taken out of him. Marcel

:48:16. > :48:28.Kittel. We salute you! He is going to take his breath, and

:48:29. > :48:44.so are we. That was brilliant. You can't take it away from somebody

:48:45. > :48:52.like Marcel Kittel. He had a whole swarm of hornets all around him.

:48:53. > :48:58.Some very high quality out there. Goodness me. We have had our fun

:48:59. > :49:02.today. I hope you have as well. That is a piece of action that will live

:49:03. > :49:07.long. Kittel was out of position, 15 down, and all that a sudden, with

:49:08. > :49:12.less than 300 metres to go, he found the drive and he delivered it

:49:13. > :49:18.significantly. He has gone very, very pale of face on this day, and I

:49:19. > :49:24.am not surprised. Look at this push for the line. And just look at that

:49:25. > :49:35.delivery, round the outside, and he says, it is mine.

:49:36. > :49:43.Boasson Hagen had taken a big old turn, decided to Holgate, I reckon,

:49:44. > :49:48.at one point. We got so much talent though will stop Swift was out

:49:49. > :49:52.there, Viviani as well. Even happily know wanted to join the front. But

:49:53. > :49:56.really, when it comes to the line, it seems there is only one man at

:49:57. > :49:58.the moment who is head and shoulders above absolutely everybody. His name

:49:59. > :50:14.is Marcel Kittel. There is your overhead shot. Look at

:50:15. > :50:19.the ground he is making up, even at that point. Is rapidly approaching,

:50:20. > :50:23.but look at the level of acceleration used. You only have to

:50:24. > :50:27.be on the front when the line arrives, and I think out of all of

:50:28. > :50:32.these 187 kilometres, he did that with just one wheel. Quite

:50:33. > :50:45.remarkable. There is Mike Matthews. I'm just

:50:46. > :50:48.wondering whether he has taken a secondary for here. He looked

:50:49. > :50:52.absolutely exhausted, and it looks like he might well have had an

:50:53. > :50:58.issue. Kittel takes it ahead of Ben Swift, Viviani, Apple Li Na,

:50:59. > :51:04.Bouhanni, Boasson Hagen and Roberto Ferrari. Look at this list of names.

:51:05. > :51:10.Absolutely so impressive. And yet, one man just delivered. Marcel

:51:11. > :51:17.Kittel is in the red jersey. He has 100 points. That's a lot. Then he

:51:18. > :51:23.is. It is dawning on him just exactly what he has delivered.

:51:24. > :51:32.Another stage victory. That red jersey cash who on earth is going to

:51:33. > :51:35.take it off in? Average speed was only attained very lately. Kittel.

:51:36. > :51:43.STUDIO: you will not see a better bit of sprinting than that. What an

:51:44. > :51:51.awesome performance from the Giant Shimano rider. The Giant that is

:51:52. > :51:57.Marcel Kittel. It was phenomenal. He was out of position with one

:51:58. > :52:01.kilometre to go, he was back, it was all Cannondale, we didn't think he

:52:02. > :52:04.would get it, and 200 metres from the line, Kittel started coming

:52:05. > :52:10.past. A headwind at the finish made it a longer sprint. Ben Swift went a

:52:11. > :52:14.little bit soon, and so did Viviani. If it wasn't for the headwind,

:52:15. > :52:19.Kittel would not have got there. Cannondale could do no more. Viviani

:52:20. > :52:22.could not ask for more from his team-mates. They gave him the

:52:23. > :52:26.perfect lead out and control that lead into the sprint finish. The

:52:27. > :52:29.Team Sky guys did very well, fantastic to see Ben Swift gets

:52:30. > :52:35.second in that stage, but how do you deal with Marcel Kittel, with

:52:36. > :52:42.immense power output? Yes, there is no substitute for pure speed. It

:52:43. > :52:46.that like Shimano hadn't got him in the right position at the right

:52:47. > :52:49.time, but he just solved the problem by riding faster. That's all the

:52:50. > :52:53.multitude of problems. It will be interesting to see what Mark

:52:54. > :52:57.Cavendish will make of his performance in the last few days. He

:52:58. > :53:00.is such a presence, and as a rider, feeling he is lurking behind you,

:53:01. > :53:05.and he just sweeps past with that powerful display. The racing we have

:53:06. > :53:08.got lined up this summer between Kittel and Mark Cavendish is going

:53:09. > :53:13.to be breathtaking. Two contrasting styles. Cavendish is so punchy and

:53:14. > :53:18.explosive, and Marcel Kittel, who on a day like today, with a headwind,

:53:19. > :53:22.can take a long, long, long, sprint and just leaves getting faster. Two

:53:23. > :53:26.different riders, two different ways of doing it. Many of these people on

:53:27. > :53:29.the streets here in Dublin will be getting their first taste of a grand

:53:30. > :53:35.tour, and seeing a race of this size. They must just be blown away

:53:36. > :53:38.by what they have seen today. We have got spectators seven and a deep

:53:39. > :53:41.along the finish line who have just seen one of the best sprint I think

:53:42. > :53:45.they are ever going to see. A tremendous exhibition of how to ride

:53:46. > :53:50.fast, how to get yourself out of trouble, and Marcel Kittel was

:53:51. > :53:55.absolutely exhausted. He went white after the finish line. Facedown on

:53:56. > :54:03.the road. That took a lot out of him, but he has a rest day

:54:04. > :54:06.tomorrow, so he will be able to recover. Let's just look back at

:54:07. > :54:09.some of the fantastic images that have made up today at the zero.

:54:10. > :55:14.-- Giro d'Italia. Wonderful scenes there, fantastic

:55:15. > :55:21.scenes in Dublin. We will have the presentation soon, and of course,

:55:22. > :55:25.the gyro continues on into the 1st of June, but we know who lifted it

:55:26. > :55:34.in 1989. It was local hero Stephen Roche.

:55:35. > :55:40.Basically I was starting the gyro with a team-mate who actually won in

:55:41. > :55:47.1986, and I was joint team leader. Going into the zero, I had won a lot

:55:48. > :55:54.of races, and I felt there should be a

:55:55. > :56:01.I had the pink jersey for the first ten days or so, and finally, it was

:56:02. > :56:08.taken of me in a time trial. Once he got it at me, it was as if my ten

:56:09. > :56:14.days in pink had not existed. They had to rework my plans, and had to

:56:15. > :56:19.be creative in a sense, that if I wanted to do well on the Giro, I

:56:20. > :56:24.could not stay where I was, but could not be seen to attack a

:56:25. > :56:30.team-mate. I did not attack him, even though it was decided.

:56:31. > :56:38.I got away from him, anyway, and I don't know about anybody else, in

:56:39. > :56:45.the descent, but I put a few minutes in and took over the pink jersey. A

:56:46. > :56:49.bit of aggro, a bit there. And he said I attacked him, and the Italian

:56:50. > :56:52.public believed him, despite me telling them that I did not attack

:56:53. > :56:57.him. I just went faster than him on the dissent is that I finally won,

:56:58. > :57:01.of course, but it was very difficult, on the road, with the

:57:02. > :57:04.Italian public wanting my skin because he had told them horrible

:57:05. > :57:08.stories about me which were not true. On the road, there were big

:57:09. > :57:19.signs, Roche, go home. People who had been waiting there for hours. As

:57:20. > :57:25.I was coming past, they threw red wine at me, and sprayed me with it.

:57:26. > :57:31.In my hotel, my mechanic looked after my own bike uniquely, for fear

:57:32. > :57:38.of sabotage. My food was also looked after for fear that someone might

:57:39. > :57:41.poison me. The tour for me was always a magnificent event. The

:57:42. > :57:52.passion that people have was one of the things that I think helped gel

:57:53. > :57:58.the Irish and Italian people. I love to see the kids getting into sport,

:57:59. > :58:03.and in 15 years, some kids who came along to the Giro and their dad 's

:58:04. > :58:11.shoulders will be going round in Lycra, having decided, I want to

:58:12. > :58:16.become a cyclist and become a Giro winner. It will be a super legacy

:58:17. > :58:21.for the Giro. Fantastic to hear his reflections on the Giro in 1987.

:58:22. > :58:25.Stephen Roche, a cycling legend, but really a sporting hero. One of the

:58:26. > :58:30.great sporting heroes are Ireland, a man I remember winning the Giro in

:58:31. > :58:34.my childhood, and it is great to hear in talking about the Giro when

:58:35. > :58:40.it is here in his hometown. It has been special in the last couple of

:58:41. > :58:43.days. It has been a wonderful three days for Ireland, and further Giro

:58:44. > :58:47.d'Italia. We realise that all these years that they are made for each

:58:48. > :58:52.other. Marcel Kittel for the webby win of the today, and I hope you

:58:53. > :58:55.have enjoyed our coverage. Goodbye for now.