Giro d'Italia

Cycling is not a hugely popular sport in the US. Most Americans barely noticed when Greg Lemond won the first of this three Tour de France in 1986. More people took notice when Lance Armstrong began to dominate the event with his seven wins through the early to mid 2000’s. Still, for Americans, it tends to be a “foreign” sport in more ways than one. They have no comprehension that it is a team competition and that riders don’t compete for their country, but rather on an internationally mixed team. It typically isn’t a wide open free for all on any given team. Each member of the team has specific duties and responsibilities. There is a leader whom every rider supports. There may also be a sprint specialist or climbing specialist who is brought forward and supported at appropriate times. However, most members of the team are referred to as domestics; think of worker bees. Their job is to ride in support of the leader and to, hopefully, finish the race. If the leader, or some other member of the team has equipment problems, crashes, or simply has to stop to take a dump (peeing is done while riding), the helpers circle back and assist in bringing the rider back to the pack. Being in the pack, or peloton, is essential as the aerodynamics of riding in a large group provides the efficiency necessary to survive thousands of miles of stage racing. When the pack is going too slowly, or a sprinter needs to be led out towards the end of the stage, it is the helpers who make that happen.

The Tour de France is the world’s premier stage race. But, it is far from the only one. In Europe, one of the biggest tests leading up to the Tour is the Giro d’Italia. It is the Italian version of the Tour de France and has been around almost as long. Interestingly, while it is considered a tune-up in preparation for the Tour, there aren’t that many riders who have won both and even fewer who have won both in the same year. Neither Lemond nor Armstrong EVER won the Giro. The big guns from a team often sit it out to save their legs for next month's Tour, while the team itself competes in order to gain conditioning. Like the Tour, the Giro does not cover the same route from year to year. This year’s edition started in central Italy, worked down toward the south and has since swung back up toward a finish with grueling stages in the northern mountains. Yesterday’s Stage 10 started in Civitaveccia and finished in Assisi going down the Via Cassia directly past the Porta Romana in Viterbo. So, 100 meters from my doorstep, I was able to watch the premier cyclists from around the world fly by at 43-44 km/hr. That’s around 27 mph for those of you who are metrically challenged. On a bicycle. For well over 100 miles yesterday.

The stage was considered moderately hilly, but most of those hills came in the latter part of the stage. By the time they reached Viterbo, 50 km from the start, there was a 5 man break over 3 and a half minutes off the front of the peloton.

The roads were actually entirely cleared of traffic. All the cars you see in any of the pictures are official race vehicles or support vehicles from the 20+ teams competing. Next came the main pack. As is traditional, the leader was near the front in 9^th position within the peloton as can be seen in the picture. Most Americans realize that the leader of the Tour wears the yellow jersey and most, erroneously, conclude it is some relation to the idea of gold. The reality is that the color comes from the color paper that the original newspaper sponsor was printed on. For the Giro, the leader wears the pink jersey (Komen Foundation be damned) which comes from the color of the paper Il Messaggero is still printed on.

The race has been relatively easy so far. Only a few riders have dropped out, mostly due to crashes. Nobody has been dropped as a result of finishing too far behind the pack. That usually only occurs in the high mountain stages. Yesterday was no different as only a single rider was off the back of the pack for some reason. It couldn’t have been a key rider for the team as he was being led back to the peloton by drafting off a team car which is strictly forbidden and risked disqualification which never would have been allowed for a rider important to the team. All told, even with the gap, the entire race went by in less than 5 minutes. A blur of bright colors, a chance to cheer if you happened to spot your favorite rider or team in the flow of bikes and then they were gone as if they had never been there.

Checking online this morning, it appears that the peloton caught the break at some point and any others that occurred so that there was a mass finish at the end. Still, the pink jersey did change hands on the strength of a 20 second time bonus for crossing the line first. I doubt any serious contender is really worried. The real race happens in the mountains where huge chunks of time can be gained or lost.