Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome to the Prizegiving ceremony.

First Up, We have the Sprinters Jersey - The Maglia Rossa Passione (or the Red Jersey) - this is based on the highest average speed over the entire Giro duration.

This Jersey was won with an average of 29.51kph - a bare 0.02kph faster than his nearest rival... a margin worthy of a track sprint!

Our Jersey winner this year is...



Congratulations Clive, Excellent Riding, and a shame you had health issues that limited your overall distance.




Second Jersey is one that's not actually awarded anymore in the Giro, but as I'm a bit of a traditionalist, I wanted to still hand one out...

There's a bit of a history with the Giro d'Italia of competing for the "Maglia Nera" - the Black Jersey - pretty much the (more stylish) alternative to LeTour's "Lanterne Rouge"...

My Criteria for this jersey was that the rider needed to have ridden in each of the four sections of the Giro. That way, its not just going to someone who rode once then jacked in, or got injured...

As it turns out, it goes to a worthy rider - someone who actually rode every stage of the race, albeit occasionally for a fairly minimal distance. So, and I hope he accepts it in the spirit it was intended, our winner of the Maglia Nera this year with 196.7km 21 separate rides is Randy...



(I must say, I think it's actually far more stylish looking than the other jerseys, and is probably the only one i'd actually purchase to wear myself...)

Third Jersey is the Maglia Azura - the "climbers jersey" - based on the GPS logged ascent as per Strava links. This years winner clocked up an amazing 16,525 metres of ascent - that's over 10 and a quarter miles upwards folks!



Well done Derek.

and so, to the big prize...

We don't have a stunning trophy like the real thing i'm afraid...

2011-giro_d_italia_trophy_castle.jpg

This years winner, rode all 21 stages and clocked up 1,476.5km, a clear 191.2km in front of anyone else.

Ladies and Gentlemen - Our Maglia Rosa Winner this year is....





Congratulations once again Derek.


Honourable mentions on the GC have to go to our second place rider, Gordon, who battled rainstorms, floods, assaults by lizards and encounters with unicyclists sporting pink umbrellas...
makes my rides sound quite mundate in comparison Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention our third and fourth riders respectively, Joanne and Fatdadslim - who both cracked the 1000+ km barrier.



Also - I've been running an "all rounder" competition based on points for the three main jerseys - everyone gets points from 36 down to 1 point based on their position in the three jersey competitions. The "all rounder" is the person with the highest overall points combined... It's a bit complicated, but if you check the logging spreadsheet, it makes a little more sense.

Anyhow...

Our All-Rounders competition winner is a newcomer to the challenges



Well done Stephen.




As mentioned in the Discussion thread, the Giro is notorious for having all sorts of "mini-competitions" as well as the main Jerseys...

Here's my Take on those

THE CIMA COPPI

In the real Giro, this is a prize awarded to the person who crosses the KoM line first, on the Highest point of the entire race...

This year, the "roof of the tour" was stage 16, the brutal stage that basically climbed the stelvio twice, after alread doing the Mortirolo.

Our Winner didn't QUITE do such excesses, but there was some serious ascent on their stage 16 ride - 2008m in one ride!



Congratulations Jill.


And, as this years centenary Giro has also chosen to honour the other half of the "traditional rivalry" in italian cycling, we have to have it...

THE TAPPA BARTALI

This jersey has been awarded in my challenge based on the highest distance ridden on stage 11 - the nominated stage, where Bartali hailed from.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, as the person who rode the longest distance overall, the longest ride on that day also went to Derek.




FIGHTING SPIRIT


In the Giro, this is a measure of aggression and hands out points for competing for categorised climbs, intermediate sprints, and stage finishes. Well - in OUR challenge, it goes to the most dedicated rider - To win it, you have to have ridden all the Stages. If more than one person rides all the stages, then it's decided on total distance.

And that singular honour once again goes to Derek - something close to a clean sweep here.

I would like to mention the other three riders who completed every one of the 21 stages - Gordon, Jen, and of course Randy... a fantastic effort folks - i've completed a few of these myself, and understand that there's a degree or two of dedication required to keep hitting the road every day, whatever the weather or life throws at you. Chapeau each and every one of you.



And Finally - the Team Competition...

well - it wasn't exactly a close run thing - nearest to any drama was the last minute surge by pastana to take the bottom rung of the podium after languishing in last place for the first 19 stages. But the overall, quite clearly, and with a distance of 6,055.25km goes to team Lotta Jumbos.



So...

That's it folks for the Giro, and indeed for the entire Grand Tour Themed Challenges from me.

I'm afraid that time constraints imposed by my new job mean that I'm unable to run these challenges to the standard that I'm happy with anymore. So, rather than keep them staggering along until people get sick of them and how badly they are working in comparison to how they used to be, I'm going to quit now, before I tarnish their memory any further.

All that remains is to thank everyone for their participation, both in this, and in all the other grand tours that have happened before - it's been a blast riding (even virtually) with you all, and I'm really, really going to miss having this to get me out there riding...

If anyone IS interested in taking up the reins, then get in touch with me via PM and I'll see what I can do to hand over whatever I can to help.