Hunter ready for Italy

The gruelling tour, one of cycling's major annual events, rolls into action in Venice and ends 21 stages and 3455.6 kilometres later in Rome on May 31.

Hunter goes into the tour buoyed by his third-stage victory in the recent Giro del Trentino.

“I've been at home the last week and its quite nice to relax,' Hunter said.

‘ Well thats if you can call getting up at 6am every morning relaxing. The wonders of having a daughter who thinks up-time has to be with the birds.'

‘The training has been rather casual but I figure if I'm not ready now I'm never gonna be, but I've also done quite a bit of sweating on the trainer which helps a lot with the leg speed.

‘I might not be able to ride Wednesday unless i get out really early because I've got a long bit of travelling to get down to Venice.

‘ I had my ECG done today as well and the Doc said im good to go no hassles at all with the hard working ticker. ‘

Hunter is joined in the Barloworld line-up by fellow South African John-Lee Augustyn.

This year's Giro is made all the more interesting by the fact that seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong makes his debut.

Source: Sassoc.co.za