Giro d’Italia – Day Four, Nae Middle
Ciao, amici!
I was saying to Martin that I'm a bit worried, I've been wakening up feeling great - always a bad sign.
The trouble with my usual Giro partner in crime, Dave being back in Scotia and suffering from Giro withdrawal symptoms (he's coming to le Tour, though) is that everything we write and photograph is subject to close scrutiny.
Breakfast today was pears, bananas, strawberries, and cherries. Half a hundred-weight, three euros!
This morning, he's making the point that it's wrong to compare le Tour with the Giro - they are two different beasts, each with their own characteristics and quirks.
A fair point Dave, but I was actually responding to those who write in forums and the like saying that; 'the Giro is better than the Tour' probably without having been to either.
He also makes the point that we shouldn't rattle on about long, hard stages - that's what a Grand Tour is all about.
Whilst Viktor's view is that the Grand Tours are too long; the first and last weeks attract a lot of attention but nobody is really interested in the middle week and they should be cut back to two weeks.
Answers on a postcard, please.
Vino is brought forward to sign the display sign on sheet, having just signed the real paper one.
It was a hectic one, today, but maybe we tried to do too much ?
It was a sprinter's stage from Frosinone to Cava de 'Tirreni, today and driving the stage didn't seem a good option - long flat urban roads.
Vino and some balloons.
We decided to do a "glam start/wasted finish" piece plus a Michael Mørkøv interview at the start and an interview with Liquigas PR man Paolo Barbiere at the finish in the press room at Cava de Tirreni.
Richie Porte is riding a superb race, and says howdo as he fights the scrum of riders at the sign on stage.
The trouble was that we lost a lot of time on the way to the start due to the grim sign posting that they have in Italy.
The glam start went fine but we didn't quite conclude the Michael interview and agreed to ring him later to answer the last few questions.
Damiano Cungeo signs for fans on his way to sign on.
Two minutes after the riders leave in glorious sunshine, the rain pelted down. For us, it was coffee time.
Off to the finish along the motorway, beneath imposing Monte Cassino.
The Paolo Barbiere interview also went well but he had to dash before we concluded, too - his masseur needed to see him?
Ed and Paolo chat in the quiet press room. (click for the full image)
We struck out to photograph wasted riders, stressed soigneurs, resigned to their fate mechanics and the general 'Napoleon's retreat from Moscow' that is the aftermath of a stage.
There were a lot of tired lads today, after the five k's of climbing to the finish. Here's wee Robbie fighting bursitis in his knee too.
However - a vast crowd, teeming rain, a sea of umbrellas, narrow streets and a bum steer on the team bus park location contrived to deny us the opportunity to do an 'after' piece.
Three pieces - no 'punch lines' but bit by bit we pulled the jigsaw together.
We decided to make it a 'start' piece, only; we got hold of Michael by phone as he lay on the massage table - 'you must speak proper English Ed or I can't understand you!' and Paolo rang to make his last couple of points about the UCI's handling of the Pellizotti affair.
A glimpse of the finish straight from a fire escape outside the press room.
With Martin battling dire signage and world champion standard tail-gaters, we found our digs down in Salerno - the same place as Dave and I were in last year - and got to work.
Saul, the Liquigas mechanic lets us play with Nibali's Cannondale.
We had nice shots from the start, Martin edited those whilst I amended the copy, then I got the Mørkøv interview written up - it was nearly 11:00 pm before we finished.
Saul and and a soaked Martin have a blether.
The Paolo Barbiere piece will have to wait until today.
As for the race itself, we skipped most of the parcours but did drive the last 10 K.
The last five in particular were hard, dragging ever upwards on bad surfaces - the only saving grace was that they were straight.
The tough finale meant that there were GC riders in the mix at the line - Evans and Vino - as well as classy all rounders like Pippo and the pure sprinters had a lot of their venom drawn on that dragging, nasty tarmac - Tyler Farrar was on his knees by the line and big Greipel blew on the run in, that's why Columbia adopted 'Plan Goss.'
To perfection as it transpired - Martin grabbed a great shot of the Columbia train shaking hands as they rode the finish straight, clued in by their ear pieces that 'Gossy' had won.
It's out of focus, but you get the gist. Adam Hansen and Marcus Sieberg are chuffed that their hard work paid off.
The shot was out of focus, though - not surprising given that there were eejits exploding fire crackers beside us.
A long day, we'll know if it was a good one or not when we see how the pieces look on Pez.
The guy who sets the pieces up at Pez - Jered Gruber - is like Martin in that they can make silk purses from sow's lugs.
Sometimes, I look at pieces and think, 'did I do that? it's not bad!' but a lot of it is their skill at laying the piece out.
07:19 in Salerno on Tuesday, I'm sitting out on the veranda as the big ferry port comes to life.
Martin is still knocking up those well deserved 'zeeees.'
Today is a sprinters' stage, with the finish way over on the other side of Italia - Bitonto. No relation to the Lone Ranger's neebz, apparently.
Where we are in Salerno is the furthest south I've been in Italy, so I'm looking forward to venturing to the heel of the Italian boot and the 'olive capital of italy' - so famous that there's no mention of it in the rough guide.
And some sunshine would be nice - it's been the wettest Giro I've witnessed.
Anyway, Puglia calls; tell you about it tomorrow - and I've not bought my Gazzetta, yet.
Bocca lupo! - and I'll tell you what that means tomorrow, too.
Related articles
- Giro d’Italia – Day 2: Stage 1, Caprera – La Maddalena (Team TT)
- Giro d’Italia – Day 1: Stage 13, Modena – Cittadella
- Giro d’Italia – Day 5: Rest Day
- Giro d’Italia – Day Five, Tyler Again
- Giro d’Italia – Day Three, Riders in the Mist
- Giro d’Italia – Day Two, Strada Bianchi
- Giro d’Italia – Day 9: Stage 20, Rovetta – Tirano
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- Giro d’Italia – Day 3: Rest Day
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A Scraping of Pink…
I think I’m having an affair, with the Giro. Don’t get me wrong I am totally committed to the Tour, a long, steady commitment that spans a decade and will continue steadily for many to come, but last year, towards the end of those yellow July days, I started to wander.
I agree with Dave, there is no comparison. Both are Grand Tours, stretching across two countries of chalk and cheese: France is not Italy or the other way, so follow their major ‘velo’ races. I began to hanker for the Giro in late July, before the tail of the riders hoofed it over the last lip of Ventoux, before I even knew it; such is the lure of the pinkest race of the year.
I thought big; I even planned the weaning of my infant son around it. The thought of early morning espresso, late evening grappa, my bike and a few mountains to sweat on, and due to Ed’s (I always feel the world is right when VeloVeritas gets on the road) plugging: the pink ‘Gazetta’.
As they do, ‘things fall apart’ (Yeats). I am not at the Giro, my son isn’t weaned; I am not even on Italian soil. I’m still here in Scotland, and though the weather isn’t pish for the first time in ages (and it’s been kind of weird weather in Italy), I would still sell my soul, a little, to be there.
It’s hard for an Australian not to have a bit of a thing for the maglia rosa this year: Evans, Goss, Lloyd…and of course young Tasmanian Richie Porte, makes my island heart beat ever louder.
Perhaps it is all about accessibility? As Ed and Martin have recalled on their travels “there's much less officialdom, the folk are great”, so more relaxed, less crowded, friendly. It feels more accessible, more enticing, like it 'wants you to be there'.
As for the race itself, the roads too narrow in the beginning, and the ‘dirt road' controversy... well there is no controversy; the riders haven’t really squeaked about it. These guys, after all, are fit, ready and wanting to be pushed - the peloton would soon tell you if they had a problem. It was nice to see a little of the glam rubbed off and if the riders don’t mind… but you know I am not really qualified to talk about racing as such, I can however write about men and the colour pink.
The Tour is about love, yellow love.
The Giro; well…it’s more about sex: pink, pinker and hot pink, hotter the better. And if there’s a country that can pull off turning itself pink for a few weeks it’s Italy.
The Giro is the perfect makeshift fashion house for women who love pink. However there’s something about a guy who can wear pink, even just a little scraping. It speaks of confidence, a little daring, a little ‘this isn’t just a girl’s’ colour... In fact originally, in the Royal sense, pink was for boys, blue for girls: pink suiting the skin tone of boys better.
In a guttural kind of way, these cyclists are laying down the gauntlet for each other in shades of pink, and that to me is very, very sexy.
So, yes the Tour is still Le Tour but the Giro is something else, kind of the same but with verve all of it’s own, making it’s own history and that’s a good thing in cycling, and I look forward to tasting it in the flesh next year… dressed in pink of course.
Ciao.