PEZ AHEAD: May’s Awesome Line-up

The new site is up and away, and my favorite month of bike racing is upon us. The 21 glorious days of il Giro would be enough to keep me happier than meeting Sofia Loren in her prime – but it gets even better as we’ve some seriously BIG content coming for you all month.

Here’s what’s ahead on PEZ in May:

• Azerbywho?
While May’s main event is always the Giro – we’re starting off with something a little different – how about some roadside reporting from a race you’ve never heard of, but may soon want to see for yourself? The Tour of Azerbaidjan runs May 1-5, and PEZ is there – (I know ~ crazy). But that’s only the half of it – while this marks our first time reporting this race – (we even don’t know that much about it…) it also marks the first time we welcome cycling journalist-maestro Bruce Hildenbrand – if you’re not sure if you’ve read or seen or heard Bruce’s work over the past 25 years, I’ll confirm that you have. Always up for an adventure, Bruce was happy to jump on a plane and fly literally half way around the world to fly the PEZ flag this week.

• GIRO Start To Finish
The Giro starts on Friday with the teams’ presentation ahead of Tappa 1 on Saturday, and I’ll be there live and in person from the streets of Napoli. Laundry hanging across crowded streets, vespas buzzing around like starving mosquitoes, and what could be the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. While I’ve seen most corners of la bell’Italia under the guise of ‘cycling journo’ these past 10 years, I’ve yet to visit Napoli, and you bet I’m excited.

I’ll be on race for the first week as it heads south down the Tirrenean coast, spending more days in the south than we’ve seen in a few years. The miles of coastal riding pile on as the race swings east along along the Gulf of Taranto, stops into the cave-dwelling town of Matera, and then turns north for several stages along the Adriatic – and more coastline. (I’ll be sure to pack the sunscreen and Speedo.) At stage 7 I’ll join forces with our own Ale Federico, who lives in the area and has local knowledge like nobody’s business. Along with our daily race reports, Ale will keep the Roadside Reports rolling with stops at key stages of week #2. The Grand Tour’s grand finale will be covered by the expert reportage of our own Ed Hood – a veteran now of more Grand Tours than I can count – or he cares to admit.

Add in race analysis of key stages from pro rider Lee Rodgers, and you’d best block off some serious time to soak up all the atmosphere, action, and negroni news you can stand.

• Tour of California
If you don’t think your plate is full yet – don’t forget the Tour of California runs May 12-19 – and we’ll be there with photog-extraordinaire Darrell Parks as he shoots the race like no one else, and we’ll post up his daily Photog’s View from America’s biggest stage race.

And be sure to click into Monday & Thursday’s EuroTrash for all the news & videos you need as delivered by Alastair Hamilton, ToolBox Tuesday’s for the most complete library of training topics I’ve seen – and raft of the best PeloPics from the month, and of course the ever popular Daily Distractions (… can’t believe I haven’t mentioned ‘em before now!)

I hope you join us – and enjoy following this fantastic month of racing as much as we’ll enjoy presenting it.

Thanks for reading –
Richard Pestes

Like PEZ? Why not subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive updates and reminders on what's cool in road cycling?