Milano-Torino 2021
We boarded a plane for the first time in awhile to fly to Milan. Why? To visit our friends at Piedmont Cycling Resort while picking up a few things from our storage there and to see a few of the end-of-season races, starting on Wednesday. We stopped by Volpiano to visit our friends at GIOS on the way to Torino, who kindly gave us a sack of foccaccia.
Friend Jacek Berrutti (son of Luciano) had been there earlier with so much that Marco and Aldo couldn't eat it all. Like donuts it's a thing best eaten fresh, so we gladly took it off their hands before we got back in the car to drive along the route. The idea was to start close to the famous climb to the Superga basilica, where the race finishes.
We parked the car, unpacked the bikes and followed the race route towards the climb. After a missed turn we started up...and up. Zio Lorenzo stopped just to take this photo at the 3 KM-to-go marker. It had nothing-to-do with his tongue being tangled up in the front wheel spokes. Really!
Next time you think of Milano-Torino as a flat race since there are no mountains between the two cities, check to see if the finish is here, as this IS a climb! We were in our lowest gears, standing at times on the double-digit percentage parts, but as you can see above, we eventually made it.
Here's a shot of the basilica, certainly an iconic finish for this historic race.
The RASPINI salumi people were up there, handing out free samples. Perfect to go with our foccaccia! A local bar provided some liquid refreshment so we hung up our banner and sat down to wait for the race.
But first, a little roadwork?!?! We've seen paving work being done just a day or so before the Giro d'Italia arrives but this was a new one...patching potholes an hour in advance? Mamma mia!!!
Soon enough, the race arrived. The poor guys had to do this climb TWICE!
Great for us of course since we could see 'em climb past us twice. Roglic and Yates led up the final time, both looking much stronger than anyone else. Post-race a quick ride down the way the race went had us back on the flats in no time and back to the car to pack up and return to our hotel for a hot shower by 7 PM.
From there it was off for some dinner at Vineria del Pozzo.
We'll enjoy riding our bikes around in Monferrato for a couple of days before heading east to Bergamo to await the finish of Il Lombardia on Saturday.
La vita e bella!
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