Northern Italy is probably one of the most beautiful places
in the world and a cycling mecca! To get a last minute opportunity to see the
Giro was not to be missed. Having originally booked a holiday in the Alps on
spec and had a quick glance at the route of the Giro I had put hooking up with
it out of my mind for the trip. Honestly!!! But upon realising that the roads
in Italy are the brilliant for travelling on, I realised that despite being
@360 km’s from the TT stage, I could easily get there in 3 hours. Great roads,
no delays! And so the TT stage was to take place from a small east coast seaside
town called Gabeche Mare to a town over 50K away called Saltara. My first
thought was that trying to book a hotel at @3pm on the day the Giro was rolling
into town would be impossible or extortionate but to my surprise there was no
problem whatsoever in booking a room that was approx. 100 yards from the
riders hotels, and for €50 for the room and breakfast!!. Outside the streets
were closed off for the team lorries, buses and cars while the mechanics
beavered away preparing the TT bikes for the day ahead.
Two things I probably expected prior to visiting the Giro
before my arrival. 1 was that it was such a big event , similar to a
premiership football match, no one would get anywhere near the riders or staff,
and the second was that with this once every few years event rolling into town,
hotel rooms, choc ices, and everything else in between would have tripled in
price over night! Both these proved to be complete misconceptions.
We arrived in G Mare at around 5pm. Already the team buses were rolling into town. It so happened that the Astana and Sky were almost
right outside my hotel! With each team having the two big race favourites it
was almost as if they were keeping an eye on each other, parked meters from
each other and staying at the same hotel! There was a 3 hour transfer for the
riders from finishing that days race which meant they weren't due in until
between 8 to 9pm. It was the day that a lot of riders came off on a wet decent
including Wiggins. A few people hung around the hotel, being a good Irishman on
his holidays, I went right in for a few pints!! Soon a few of the riders
started arriving and checking in and then heading for evening meal. Astana and
Sky at 2 tables almost beside each other, each with their own food and chefs
though! First to arrive and recognisable was Rigobertto Uran. Not as tall as he
looks but extremely lean and light. He had waited for Wiggins after his fall
along with Haeno and there was talk that maybe he didn't need to do that and
could of kept himself up in the GC. There was also rumours that he was to leave
next year. In all the 24 hours I was there I didn't see Wiggins interact with
any of his other team members particularly Uran who watched a lot of the commotion
outside the front of the hotel when Nibiali arrived from his balcony with a
team mate.
After speaking with the Sky chef I found out that Wiggo had
come in a side door, was fed and watered and tucked up in bed! I ran into David
Walsh whom I talked to for a good while. A fellow Irishman he and Paul Kimmage
were the two original whistle-blowers about Lance Armstrong and doping. They
accused him for years and were ostracised and sued by Armstrong. So when the
truth recently emerged after more than a decade of them making their claims
(including writing many books), David Walsh’s hour had came and is now
recognised as one of the principle cycling journalists particularly when it
came to the subject of doping. Following Sky’s success at last years Tour there
was a lot of speculation of doping in the French media and others. Sky took the
unusual step of inviting Walsh into the team with open access to form his own
opinion. He currently is the chief cycling correspondent for the Sunday Times.
Kimmage lost his job there mainly through the litigation from Armstrong whereas
Walsh managed to hang on to his. So it was nice to meet him. He described a lot
of the bullying that went on by Armstrong against him and other journalists.
His latest book btw is LA confidential (I have a copy if anyone wants a lend).
One funny point that day was that Lance had tweeted he heard that the whole
press room clapped when Wiggo came off, but Walsh was in the press room and was
able to confirm (and tweeted) there was no such thing! Two old enemies locking
horns again!!!
A few more beers followed in a few more bars in the
locality! Walking back to my hotel passing by the Sky trucks that were still working
flat out on the TT bikes for the next day who did we run into only Sir Dave
Brailsford. I have to say one of the nicest, friendliest and likeable fellas
you will ever meet. For the head of the team with so much pressure on him to
produce results he had an undeniable aura of calm and control. There was no
running around making sure everything was done, no panic, no hint of a man
under pressure. He just knew everything was fine and he had a word and a smile
for everyone. With so many staff around too, there was no jumping as the boss
had just turned up! Everyone just carried on with their job, everything was
under control with everyone knowing their job!
Quite a few of the team were foreign but there were a number
of English. One we met and had a great chat with on many occasions was Martin
Ayres from Coventry. Martin is a mechanic that works for Jaguar who sponsor the
team with cars. One day one of his bosses came into the factory and asked if
anyone wanted to work with the team and with no one interested he reluctantly
obliged. He knew nothing about cycling then but in the last 3 years has grown
to love it. While specifically the mechanic he was part of the team and put his
hand to anything. I first met him while he was blow torching the decal
‘prototype’ off the carbon wheels, the wheels they were going to use the next
day. He was still there at 1am washing the cars and when I went back down at
8am he was just heading for his breakfast having got to bed at 1am and back at
work at 6am!! Everything had to be spotless. Hard work but he enjoyed every
minute of it. I later met him driving the team car after the riders in the TT
and was kicking myself I didn’t ask him if I could go with him as I’m sure he
would of obliged! He also does the twitter feeds and live website updates! Nice
guy!
I had asked SDB if Brad would be going out that am to do a
recci of the course. He said he had it done several times and knew it inside
out but he would go out at about 9.30am if I wanted to see him! After his
disappearance in the side entrance the night before I was there at 8am!!!
Pints, hangover and all!!! I wasn’t there 10 mins talking to Martin again and
who comes strolling out of the hotel on his own only Wiggo! I was the only one
there with a few of the mechanics. I said hello and wished him luck for the
day. He looked and nodded at me as if he didn't want to be wished luck! As if
it’s not something you do!! But in a nice sort of way! He was to try out a
brand new bike today, the Bolide! A black frame with gold decals. It looked the
biz! He had a chat with the chief mechanic, went through every detail of it for
about 30 mins and then strolled back to the hotel! I had a chat to him on the
way, said he wasn’t sore from the day before, looking forward to the TT etc. I
asked would he mind a photo, no probs!! Great. Then one of those moments in
your life that you just cannot believe happened…..twice. I held up my iphone to
take a front pic of the 2 of us and……….it froze!!! It wouldn't take! I think
the first time it ever happened in thousands of photos!!! He had a laugh at
that! He said don’t worry he’d see me later! I quickly got my phone back
working again, ran up, got him to pose again, and the feckin thing wouldn't take again!!! He had a right laugh at that! I was ready to put it through the
wall! He said he’b be back in a few min and to hold on!!! I waited around for
about an hour but no sign! It had suddenly got a lot busier with a few press
and lots of little Italians on bikes everywhere!! My God they are a bike mad
nation! I was cursing the phone for missing the opportunity as I thought it was
just too busy now. There was a lot of attention around Nibali at the front of
the hotel and the Astana team. There were riders going everywhere. The next
thing I know there was a rush at the back and Wiggo was out! He was getting
ready to go on his bike and I asked for the photo again, he laughed remembering
me, posed for the photo and laughed ‘you’re gonna set this lot off now’!!! He
moved then to his bike and he was gone! Job done!! I had noticed how light he
was but it was only when looking at the photo I realised how tall he was. I’m
6’ 1 and he’s at least 3 inches taller! And to be that weight!!! @62kgs!!
We walked around the town which had been transformed that
morning, the stages were built in a matter of hours and all the barriers etc.
Everyone knew exactly what to do! All these people follow the Giro around from
town to town and it’s just second nature! The locals it has to be said made
such an effort! Pink balloons and bike everywhere, shop windows dressed etc,
etc, it really was a credit to them all. And not one hint of over charging for
anything! The amount of bikes and clubs and riders that had made their way into
town was amazing! They love their cycling there. Perhaps the only thing they
love more is their hero, the Pirate, Marco Pantani was remembered everywhere! Not
sure if he was from the area but he certainly wasn’t forgotten!
The TT got under way. I discovered later on that all the
team busses with warm up areas were about 1km away in a large car park. They
were all there and it was so easy to get so close to everything including
riders. In fact they just rode to the start out through the car park by you!!!
It really was a bike racing mecca there!
Wiggo had fallen to 21st on the GC after his
tumble the day before so it meant he was off with all the riders at 1 minute
intervals. This was meant to be an advantage as he had lots of rabbits to catch
as opposed to the top 15 who went off at 3 minute intervals! Riders were
extremely focused. All bikes were weighed and measured before they started (and
seats levels checked too!!). Met a group of riders that had come from Thunder
Bay cycling club in Ontario, Canada to cheer on Ryder Hysdal! In fact they had
made a 2 week riding holiday out of it!!! Phew!
Wiggo was red hot favourite but a puncture meant he lost
time and came second! But an Englishman still won by 16 seconds, a man many of
you met last year, at the Mersey tunnel dash (10 mins of hell) record holder Alex
Dowsett! The real winner on the day was probably Nibali. He was expected to
lose around 2 minutes to Wiggo but in the end he only lost @15 seconds. He did
a great TT as did Cadel Evans who showed a return to form for the first time
since he won the tour 2 years ago. The first sign of Hysdals problems showed
up, loosing over 2 minutes in an event he is normally strong in.
So that was it, they finished in another town 50K away,
Saltara, but we decided not to follow!
It really was an experience! I was surprised by how open and
accessible it was. There were team bikes and wheels lying everywhere. I was
amazed none of it was nicked!!! Top of the range stuff lying everywhere.
Everyone was very relaxed and friendly. The Italians love their cycling! I
wouldn’t rule out another trip next year or even to the Vuelta this year. A
well panned 3 or 4 days with bikes and rides included would be a very enjoyable
club trip indeed!!!
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| Pauric and Sir Bradley |
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| Pauric and Sir Dave |
A superb experience and a great read Pauric, well done!
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