Why would anyone expect those gangs of post-Soviet dopers to act honourably in any other circumstances?

An on-board view of the sprint in stage 17:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzTYrCVw4Rw

grrrr............tennis on both channels........

Blimey, this is a real old mule track the Giro is going up at the moment. You'd think twice about doing it in a Land Rover.

Contador in trouble, 29k and two big hills to go....surely not!

Where in the shitting hell are Contador's teamates!? He's losing time and no one in his team is anywhere to be seen.

He's been doing the mountain stages himself for what seems like all the Giro. He had a good lead though so keeping going at the pace he was doing was fine.

It's a weird strategy. I'm not sure what the team have been playing at. If your focus is on winning the GC, it makes little sense having your team leader seemingly isolated constantly.

It was noticeable how light Contador's pink bike was when the presenter picked it up.

Only 5 weeks to the Tour! Two prep races, Tour de Suisse and Critérium Dauphiné, in the run up. I guess Contador will be at neither. Nibali and Froome at CD.

On a flat stage designed for the sprinters (on the last day, no less), another breakaway rider wins! This time it was Iljo Keisse, so EQS have finally achieved something in this year's Giro.

I did not sit through the whole stage but I heard commentary about arguing and jostling between the sprint teams 17km out.

No goodwill or cooperation so an ineffective effort to catch the break on a twisty circuit.

And with most teams sprinters having punctures didn't help matters either.

Very surprising finish !

I was flicking between this and the cricket so I missed some but it did appear that there was a spate of punctures which disrupted the peloton with around two or three laps to go.............plus of course quite a few sprinters had gone home so there weren't that many reams with an interest in pulling the breakaway back

and Milan hasn't got the same cachet as the Champs-Elysées.........indeed the guys were saying that the City is a bit ambivalent about holding the stage because of the disruption

I find it curious that the Giro hardly ever visits the Italian capital on its last day, given that the Tour / Vuelta are welcomed by their equivalents every year...

I think Milan is by far the biggest conurbation in Italy even though it's not the capital.....and I suppose it's convenient for having mountain stages right up until the finish

That's not a bad reason, I guess.

Clip of today's action (WARNING: Video highlights may feature Carlton Kirby, who tends to suffer from commentator's orgasm syndrome)

Extra tickets for Wiggo's Hour have been released with little fanfare (otherwise they'd already be gone!)

Live coverage will be available on TV via channels Sky Sports 2 and Pick. I bet the majority of prospective viewers will never have heard of the latter before.

It will also be available to view live on the Sky Sports website and YouTube channel.

Programme on R5 now about the Hour record - the event, the history, the bikes, the gears etc

Brad seems pretty confident he's going to smash it........

Channel 11 on freeview, home of my nightly fix of most shocking britcam police emergency flashing blue lights

An interesting take on the upcoming ride can be found here. Michael Hutchinson's Twitter feed is also worth reading - especially during the Hour itself.

It's obvious that Wiggo can break the record as it stands, if he targets a relatively 'safe' distance (say 53.5km). He's supposedly aiming for 55.25km, which Hutch believes is impossible due to the high pressure currently forecast* and the London track being deemed a slower track than Manchester (despite all those WRs in 2012 ).

[* Yes, not even indoor track cycling is immune to the weather!]

One thing he certainly won't be doing (as things stand) is the National Road Championships (as he declared last year), for which the full startlists have been released (news article here).

I don't think I've ever seen the national road races on TV..........be good if someone covered it !

I wonder how different it is without teams ?

I guess some of the 'domestic' riders might have a few guys from their trade team but the world tour riders like Cav will be on their own.....

The National Road Race was on ES last year with ITV4 highlights. https://youtu.be/DvDD23OFBHI?t=28m12s

The problem is that World Tour riders are on a different level. Last year, one non-WT rider could stick the Sky/OGE mid-race pace. Once the Sky riders started attacking each other they were immediately dropped.

Radio 5 doing Cycling again tonight........at 9pm

Tonight it's the women's cycling scene with Dani King

So will Bradley Wiggins break the hour record? - seems pretty confident but then guess he would be!

According to L'Equipe, Wiggo rode a 'dummy' Hour which was measured at 54.9km (don't know where though) - atmospheric pressure must have been quite low that day!

I don't believe he'll ride that far today (pressure expected to be 1034 hPa), but a low 54.x is still possible.

I guess he's spoken of 55+ because Tony Rominger managed 55.291km on a bike that wasn't all that different to a pursuit-legal bike.

Hutch predicts 54.2km.