Blue skies! Don't worry, it won't last.
Stephen Roche: father of Tinkoff Saxo rider Nicholas Roche and winner of the 1987 Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and World Championships.
The senze fine.
Belkin arrived as a team and one or two riders took a moment to snap a few pics of the senze fine before signing on. I nabbed an autograph from Maarten Tjallingii to add to Stephan Roche's and Sean Kelly's signatures.
Europcar.
The arrival of pink! Svein Tuft and Ivan Santaromita getting chased by paparazzi.
Time trial specialists Luke Durbridge and Svein in their white and pink jerseys.
I was thrilled when Svein came over to say hi to me. Pink hasn't changed him, no surprise there.
Sky.
By now, that blue sky was a distant memory and rain had announced its arrival. With about 150 of the remaining 196 riders yet to sign on and just 20 minutes remaining, I decided to check out the buses for a change of pace.
Pros and not-pros.
The Scotish branch of the Domenico Pozzovivo fan club.
A little rain doesn't scare off the people of Belfast and neither does a lot of rain.
I went searching for the starting line and walked by these 2 pillars about 6 times. For a Grand Tour, the Giro's starting gantry is underwhelming.
At least 1 Team Colombia rider clearly shares my perspective on the gantry.
Another surprise: in stage races, the big names and the riders with the leaders' jerseys are usually ushered to the front, occasionally shielded from the rain by race crew with umbrellas. Here, riders settled in wherever they pleased and the models sheltered themselves. Unexpected.
.
Nairo Quintana practices his GQ poses.
Go!
Nathan Haas, banged up from yesterday's disastrous TTT but in good spirits.
Two of my favorite Germans in the peloton, Fabian Wegmann and Simon Geschke.
The pink jersey concealed under Svein's black rain jacket.
An impressive crowd quickly grew at City Hall for the stage's finish. Most of us passed much of the time by putting on and then removing layers as the rain and sun battled it out. Eventually the rain won.
Small fans grow into big fans.
The city's Lord Mayor went for an understated look today, pairing his snazzy Chain of Office with a traditional button down shirt.
Meanwhile, the race was going full gas! After riding the entire stage in a 3- and 4-man breakaway, last man standing Maarten Tjallingii managed to evade the peloton until 4 kilometers to go. The crowd roared in appreciation of his tremendous ride as the peloton descended on him.
The approaching lights of the vehicles meant the peloton had entered the final straightaway!
Not for the first time, no one could catch Marcel Kittel! I was happy to see Tyler Farrar slot in at 10th place given his limited resources.
A soggy peloton rolled in.
Podium-bound riders doubled back to make their way to the stage.
Another big crowd!
Kittel received his flowers and champagne as the stage winner.
Michael Matthews assumed the maglia rosa from teammate Svein.
Belfast apparently has a massive confetti budget.
A happy man indeed.
Kittel in the sprinter's jersey.
Tjallingii, the sole autograph I got from the riders today, earned the King of the Mountains jersey.
Matthews was back to receive the young rider's jersey from teammate Durbridge.
Svein, Durbridge, Santaromita, and Matthews on the podium to represent Orica GreenEdge for best team. They received funny little stuffed troll dolls for their efforts.
The 4 walked off the podium and then turned around a moment later to receive the prize for super team. I would love to know how this differs from best team.
I was a little sad shuffling out of the City Hall grounds. Tomorrow's stage travels from Armagh to Dublin, so Belfast is out of the picture. Belfastians have been so keen to see the Giro, they were even stopping to watch workers disassemble the gantry.
