Well friends, the Il Giro d'Italia 2009 is finally here, and it promises to be an exciting one, let me tell you. Exciting because this race will be a centenary edition. Yes, sir, 100 years of Italian cycling, Italian glory and Italian fun are to be celebrated as soon as Saturday May 9 through May 31. So there you have, 23 days of cardiac arrest! I am so ready to enjoy this tour, I can hardly wait. I have everything ready. My TV, my PC, several recordable DVDs. We are going to have professional racers of great caliber, like Lance Armstrong, Ivan Basso, Di Luca, Levi Leipheimer, Cunego, Alessandro Petachi, Filippo Pozzato, Carlos Sastre, Denis Menchov, Tyler Farrar, Thomas Danielson, Christopher Horner, Vandevelde, David Zabrieski, Mark Cavendish, David Millar, Bradley Wiggins, Michael Rogers, Davis Allan, Popovych, Jens Voigt, Fabian Cancellara, Juan Jose Haedo. Professional cyclists in total: 52 Italian20 Spanish12 Belgians10 Russians9 French9 US-Americans8 English (UK)6 Australians6 Dutch (Netherlands)6 Ukrainians4 Colombians4 Slovenians3 Germans3 Danish (Denmark)3 Swiss (Switzerland)3 Swedish2 Austrians2 Belarusian2 New Zealander2 Polish2 Venezuelans2 South Africans1 Argentinian1 Canadian1 Finnish (Finland)1 Croatian1 Irish1 Kazakh (Kazakhstan)1 Kenyan1 Lithuanian1 NorwegianRelated articles by ZemantaThe Superheroes of The Tour of California (mishscifimusings.blogspot.com) Leipheimer, Armstrong take top two spots in Gila (nationalpost.com) Armstrong uses Tour of Gila to get back in shape (canada.com)