After Saturday and Sundays skirmishes today is a “rolling rest day” only 127 kilometres from Francavilla Al Mare to Termoli, a nice little jaunt down the Adriatic coast to have a look at the beaches under a hot sun, another “Robbie day?”

After this first summit finish of this year’s Giro, there are a lot of teams going back to the drawing board. We saw an awesome display of grace, authority and power that kind of reminded you of a certain American who won the Tour de France a few times. Today’s winner is cementing his place as the new ‘patron’ of cycling.

Here we are on what has been touted as the first BIG stage of this years Giro d’Italia, this is a stage that could be make or break day for the “wanna bee’s”, but will the stars throw their hats in the ring this early?

It was a satisfied Dario Cioni who gave PEZ his latest take on the race - right after the rapid TTT which marked the Giro’s return home; telling us: “Yes, we had a good race, we were fourth just three seconds behind Discovery Channel, we were satisfied to be so close to the big specialists...

Take advantage of it while you can, all ye sprinters! Today's 227k Stage 6 provided all the fixin's for a bunch gallop: dead flat, barely a turn all day, and a 2.5k final finishing straight. Davitamon-Lotto and T-Mobile did their parts controlling the front all day, so only one question remains: Who took whose cookies at the finish on Forlм's Corso della Repubblica?

We’ve been on about Stage 7 on Saturday – it’s the first day of the mountains with 236km, up and down all day, and the fearsome 1368m peak of Monte Catria, followed by the ‘piccolo mortirolo’ over Monte delle Cesane, before the stinging climb to the finish in Saltara. As you’ll see in the pics, the Cesane climb is both beautiful and a perfect launch pads to shape gc…

The guy that could have added more oomph to the Discovery squad’s team time trial effort was stewing behind them in the team car today. Lance Armstrong may have said he doesn’t miss the racing these days, but it’s a fair bet that he wanted to grab a spare bike off the roof and get rolling to help out.

It took two trips for PEZ-man Allesandro Federico to fully scope the key climbs on the Giro’s wicked Stage 7. With a few strategic photo stops, Ale was the first journo we know to make it to the Catria summit this season. He reports that the climb’s twisting, narrow steeps, dirt sections, stubborn snow and spectacular scenery promise a spectacle when the pros arrive May 13.

The Giro's visit to the balmy environs of southern Belgium was a definite success: huge fan turn-out, quality racing, and even the weather tried to cooperate for one of the days. PEZ takes a look at the first four Belgo-stages, and looks at the menu of the fun still to come.