Northern Ireland tickled pink as Giro fever sweeps Belfast

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland turned pink on Friday to welcome the Giro d'Italia to the streets of a province known more for its years of sectarian conflict than as a host of major sporting events.

Some 200 of the world's top cyclists will set off in Belfast and race for three days across a province beset by three decades of violence that cost the lives of 3,600 people before a peace deal largely ended the bloodshed 16 years ago.