Rick Zabel's - Giro diary

No stage wins but fitness gains aplenty

STAGES 16, 17, 19

MAKING THE CUT

Stage 16 was the queen stage f for You look at the distance and the high metres, and also stage 20. They were super-hard. I was a little bit nervous because you need to have good legs even to finish in the grupetto, which isn't easy.

Stage 17 and 19 were days for the breakaways. But the race was very active with lots of attacks - there was always a big fight for the break.

The mountain days this week were all about suffering. It's a race within a race to make the time cut, or the grupetto. It's hard to explain it because you'll never see me on TV.

STAGE 18

FLAT!