La Corsa Rosa 2024
We raised a glass of this to "Taddy Poe-gatcher" (as many call him) on Sunday as the Giro d'Italia finished in Rome. Maybe next time we'll go see it there live? We enjoyed the first three stages in Piedmont.
Some might call the race dull since Pogacar pretty much led start-to-finish but along the way he created some nice memories, whether it was throwing out stuff to the crowd or just riding away from his rivals but somehow at the same time not making them look bad.
Sure, some will say he had no real rivals but you can only beat the guys who have the guts to show up at the start, the rest can be sore-losers though its mostly their fans that endlessly whine "If only MY guy was there!"
Well, your guy wasn't there, either by choice or accident, so too bad!
New talent was revealed, especially Italians Antonio Tiberi (best young rider and maybe on the podium if not for an early mechanical issue?) and Giulio Pellizzari, the youngest guy in the race on a 2nd string team. Wonder if Tiberi's old team regrets canning him over the cat/pellet gun fiasco? They kept the racist tweet guy, what's he done lately? Wonder if that same team wishes they'd used something other than SRAM after the equipment failure in Rome? Couldn't help but remember Bauke Mollema's comments about their stuff awhile back, but they just keep cashing the fat checks.
Has sprinting changed? Seems like it to us..66 tooth chainrings with 11 tooth sprockets? Mamma mia! Little guy sprinters who can turn the cranks over fast look to be going the way of the dodo...will the "Manx Missile" have any luck if he makes it into LeTour 2024?
RAI TV's coverage was even better than recent years if you discount the awful Alessandro Fabretti and hapless Ettore Giovanelli, but the "dream team" of Pancani and Cassani were back together again for the stuff that counted while the Processo alla Tappa (post-race show) degenerated into a snooze.
What else was not so great? Well, there was THIS, another black-eye on the rider's so-called union. Quickly forgotten until the next tantrum from the clownish rider union official whose initials should be "CYA". Another issue was the feud between RAI TV and RCS the Giro organizer. Rather than working together they seemed to be at war, same as Milano vs RCS...another fight that makes no sense and doesn't help Italian cycling at all.
Meanwhile, LeTour will come to Italy! We'll head up to Bologna to see a stage or two before our annual visit to our old CycleItalia HQ, Hotel Ariotto.
W Il Giro!
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