A day at the race-Primavera Ciclistica

On Monday there was an under-23 international race going on around Montefiascone, part of the "Primavera Ciclistica". Teams from all over the world (but not from the USA, sadly) competed in this race on a course around Lago Bolsena. As regular readers of this blog know, living here in Viterbo we're in easy riding distance of the lake, so off we went mid-day to see the event, won by Enrico Battaglin (who we think is the son of the famous old pro) who you can see in the yellow jersey in the center of the photo. A racer from Eritrea was the best climber and after so many doping stories in the pro news it's nice to see the young guys who are the future of the sport compete. We spoke to the Aussie team for a bit and they told us they enjoyed competing here -- and especially enjoyed the food! Which brings us to the second photo - our original goal was to score a couple of porchetta sandwiches to enjoy during the race but we arrived just as the peloton charged through Montefiascone and there were no trucks selling the tasty, roasted pork to be found. Heather spotted a ristorante right on the race course and since the racers would come past two more times (including the finish sprint) we settled in for some risotto al frutti di mare followed by grigliata mista di pesce, which you can see here, all washed down with the local EST! EST!! EST!!! white wine. We jumped up to see the race pass by during the first plate and were done with caffe and had the bill paid in time to head the few meters to the finish line. THIS is the way to see bike races!