The tour's three-day detour through Ireland has provided a valuable window on to the beauties of the country for bicycle enthusiasts in Italy.
Two television channels, the state-controlled RAI 3 and the privately-owned Telemontecarlo, devoted several hours every day to live coverage of the race. For cycling fans who wanted even more, there was always the coverage available on France 2, the French national channel that can be picked up in much of Italy.
The attention of the sports papers was somewhat distracted by the final stages of the World Cup. There was also plenty of action, from dramatic falls to doping scandals, to keep the attention of journalists on the race rather than on the Irish scenery.
There were, nevertheless, sufficient glimpses of what the Irish countryside has to offer to inspire the pens of the more lyrical bicycling reporters. "This is where Mel Gibson made Braveheart," Alessandra Giardini, the reporter for the sports daily Corriere della Sport, wrote of the first stage through Co Wicklow.
"Those of us who saw it in the cinema and allowed ourselves to become enchanted by the image of Scotland reflected in his blue eyes didn't realise that we were actually falling in love with Ireland."
The Rome daily Il Messaggero also took the time to praise the "enchanting scenery" of the stage, with its "green plains and rocky hills".
Only the hard-hearted reporter of the Rome daily La Repubblica, broke the spell by writing of a "boring and predictable" first stage.
The setting for Chris Boardman's dramatic fall on the second stage was all the Irish tourist board could have asked for - rolling hills, views of the sea and even a glimpse of a timid sun.
Ireland is becoming an increasingly popular destination for Italian holiday-makers and the three days of the tour will certainly have done the tourist industry no harm.