CyclingFans: Friday's Giro d'Italia Stage 19 departs Treviso at 11:15am CET (5:15am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Alpe di Pampeago at around 5:15pm CET (11:15am U.S. Eastern). Giro d'Italia live streaming video should get underway at around 1:30pm CET (7:30am U.S. Eastern).

road.cc: Massive climbs make this a day for the super-light whippet says birthday boy Geraint Thomas.

VeloNation: :“For sure I have to try to drop him.”

VeloNews: Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) is hoping to end the 2012 Giro d’Italia the same way he started it: with victory in the final-day time trial to complement his opening-day win in Denmark.

CyclingNews: Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) won stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia, beating world champion Mark Cavendish with a perfectly timed sprint. Robert Ferrari (Androni) took third. There was no change to the overall classification on the flat 139km stage to Vedelago.

Giro d'Italia - May 5-27 (Stages & results),
The Exergy Tour - May 24-28 (Stages & results),
An Post Ras - May 20-27 (Stages & results),
Bayern-Rundfahrt - May 23-27 (Stages & results),
Tour of Belgium - May 23-27 (Stages & results),
Tour of Japan - May 20-27 (Stages & results),
Amgen Tour of California - May 13-20 (Stages & Results),
Tour de France - June 30 - July 22 (Stages),
2012 Olympic Games - July 28 - August 12 (Races),
Vuelta a España - August 18 - September 9 (Stages),
More...

VeloNews: Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) Basso is confident in winning his third Giro d’Italia, but there’s just the problem of dealing with Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda).

CyclingNews: Fabian Cancellara has finally returned to racing, more than seven weeks after suffering a quadruple fracture of the right collarbone. The RadioShack-Nissan rider said that he was “satisfied” with his performance in the Bayern Rundfahrt, where he finished at the rear of the 125-rider strong group with the same time as winner Alessandro Petacchi.

JamesStout: As of late, I've noticed quite a trend towards the use of GPS based pseudo-racing social websites such as Strava. I recently got  a new telephone and joined Strava, I have lots of followers, and 3 rides logged. This isn't because I don't ride very much, I ride every day. For me, there are several reasons why I don't use Strava.

Bicycling: "Take advantage of the summer's fresh fruit and get your next recovery snack from the produce aisle. These five summer fruits are nutritional champs for cyclists."

BikeRadar: Former pro cyclist and current Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis will take part in a Q and A next week in support of his autobiography, Riis - Stages of Light and Dark.

VeloNews: Levi and many others used ice socks under their skinsuits to try to keep a little cool in the blistering, 100+ degree temperatures of the Bakersfield time trial.

Rodriguez wins in pink.

BikeRadar: Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) won a dramatic stage 17 at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, overcoming some of his closest rivals in the general classification as the race headed into the Dolomites for the first time.

Prologue start time: Thursday 18:30 MDT (5:30 PM PDT);
Earliest live video: TBA;
Approximate finish: 20:15 MDT (7:15 PM PDT).

Marco Pinotti: "A lot of things have happened in the Giro d'Italia since we approached the last week of racing. When we left the Riviera in Savona, I learned that the riders from Orica-GreenEdge were warming-up on rollers and eating their gels prior to the start as if it were a time trial. Stage 13 was in theory a good one for an early attack, but Team Sky didn't let anyone go."

VeloNation: First victory in almost exactly two years for former three-time World time trial champion.

VeloNation: German Gorilla does it again in Belgium as his team builds confidence for France.

VeloNation: 1000km between Napoli and Bergamo for the only women’s Grand Tour.

InnerRing: "In a series of food linked to cycling, some things are more obvious than others. Pasta in Italy links local produce with an important source of fuel for the cyclist; coffee is both a stimulant, a source of warmth in the winter and part of the culture in many countries. Ice cream might not seem so related to cycling but it is widely available in Italy and during the summer months can almost replace the espresso as a pick-up."

VeloNews: Dominique Rollin (FDJ-BigMat) is happy to still be in the Giro d’Italia after being hit by a car in Wednesday’s 17th stage. The Canadian rolled across the finish line in Cortina d’Ampezzo with his left arm and leg bleeding and his jersey torn after a spill on the descent off the Passo Valparola.

RedKitePrayer: "The PR machine at Specialized (my God, they are effective—other companies would do well to emulate them) brought these to my attention following a little field trip to Finland they made with a few of my colleagues including peloton‘s Ben Edwards and Bike Radar’s James Huang. So why Finland?"

road.cc: Italian brand adds parts to their EPS system.

BikeRadar: "Running in conjunction with the 'How to' section from our sister magazine Cycling Plus, here's the first in a multi-part road cycling skills series featuring pro tips from members of the British Continental squad Team Raleigh-GAC."

CXMagazine: After an amazing 2011-2012 cyclocross season, with a second place at Nationals and a dominant win in the collegiate race, Kaitie Antonneau should have been able to relax and enjoy her spring semester of college. Of course, she still had cyclocross worlds to contend with, and then a collegiate road season.

CyclingFans: Thursday's Tour of Belgium Stage 2 departs Lochristi at 11:30am CET (5:30am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Knokke-Heist at around 3:45pm CET (9:45am U.S. Eastern).  Tour of Belgium live streaming video should get underway at around 2:00pm CET (8:00am U.S. Eastern).

CyclingNews: The doping case involving former pro rider Wim Vansevenant has taken a surprise turn. An analysis has shown that the “doping products” he ordered did not contain the advertised contents, and that he was scammed by the company from which he bought the products.

CyclingNews: Team Tibco to the Top got off to a rough start before the 2012 Exergy Tour in Boise, Idaho, when thieves made off with the squad's supply of race machines from a trailer in the hotel parking lot early Wednesday morning. But by Wednesday afternoon Boise police announced that all of the bikes had been recovered following a citizen tip.

CyclingNews: Omega Pharma-QuickStep financier Zdenek Bakal still dreams of adding Alberto Contador to his team when the Spaniard returns from a doping-related suspension in August. According to all indications, Contador is most likely to return to Saxo Bank and Bjarne Riis, but that hasn't stopped other teams from inquiring.

VeloNation: Pedersen takes fourth stage while Lang continues to lead overall.

Video: Smart ENVE 6.7 Clincher - First look.

BikeRadar: The fruits of the partnership between ENVE and aerodynamicist Simon Smart continue to bear fruit. Last month we brought you an exclusive look at two new additions to their SES range, the time trial-specific 8.9 Tubular and the 3.4 Clincher, and today it's the turn of the 6.7 Clincher.

CyclingIQ: Tour of Japan’s fourth stage has it all. Beginning at 826 metres above sea level, and ending 11.4 kilometres later at 1,963 metres elevation (an average 9.97% gradient, with pinches of 22%), tomorrow’s stage is the hill climb with a difference. Because it’s a mass start. Brilliant! Or, in the words of Bridgestone Anchor’s Ryota Nishizono, “At Mount Fuji, team strength will have almost no meaning”.

BikeRadar: Joining the swell of bike companies offering disc brakes on cyclocross bikes, Ridley choose to spec four of their six cyclo-cross bikes with mechanical discs. Ridley launched their top-end 2013 disc ’cross bike, the X-Fire Disc, at Boulder Cycle Sport in Colorado on Wednesday.

Off The Beaten Path: Sometimes we get a call or an e-mail from a frustrated customer: “I have a brand-new set of your tires, and both wobble when I mount them on my rims.” In most cases, it is not the tires’ fault. Usually the problem  stems from the difficulty of mounting tires on poorly designed rims. However, there are some tricks for mounting tires on these rims.

CyclingNews: For seven years, George Hincapie has had the luxury of competing in his national championships right near his home in Greenville, South Carolina. But after this weekend, the race will move on to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the next two years at least. At 38, going on 39 next month, Hincapie will give it at least one more go to try and secure the stars and stripes jersey in his own backyard.

CyclingTips: It’s one thing preparing your nutrition plan for a single day race. It’s tougher for a week-long stage race. But nutrition for the grand tours is something else. Optimising performance and recovery, and maintaining a healthy gut and immune system whilst constantly on the move for three weeks is a massive logistical challenge for teams and their support staff.

VeloNation: UCI president loses out to AIBA’s Wu.