Firsts / Highlights - First stage start, first open air market
Miles Ridden - 53.7 miles
Vertical Feet - 1,417 ft
Route - View Today's Route Here.
View Solighetto in a larger map
It seems counter-intuitive, but I would probably have more current Giro results from Kent at the switchboard in Steamboat than I have following it live in Italy. It is such an odd thing to watch an event that covers over 100 miles of open road in a day. There isn't a scoreboard you can watch to see what is happening.
The answer to yesterday's question is that Mark Cavendish wore the pink jersey for Team Columbia today. I never heard whether it was because the team selected him, or if he was the first team member to cross the line. I suppose it is the same thing. If he crossed the line first, it is because the team selected him.
We left Venice this morning and rode to Solighetto in the pre-Alps. This was my second trip to Venice in the past 3 years, and both times I have left feeling like I had not spent enough time. I think I will have one more chance when Brad comes to visit in early June.
There is no Internet access at my hotel here, so this post may be delayed for a couple of days.
This morning, our spectating was limited to watching the start of Stage 2 from Lido di Jesolo. The race didn't start until 1:30, so we had some time to gawk at the team cars, equipment and mechanics. Everyone had a very clear role to play to get the teams ready to role by race start and the trucks ready to move onto the next town. Some were prepping bikes, some were packing and securing the load and one guy was doing laundry in the washing machine and dryer they carry in the truck. It was like watching a colony of ants at work.
I saw Lance's new road bike at Astana's hotel and Ivan Basso's rig at LiquiGas. The interesting thing is that I did not see a lot of prototype parts on any of the bikes. Everything was the very best you could buy, but surprisingly, nothing jumped out as something you could not build for yourself if you felt you needed to in order to keep up with your neighbor down the street. On some of the teams, each rider's name is painted on their frame like a fighter pilot's call sign on the side of a jet. That is a pretty cool customization, but I thought there might be more.
The procession of the race departure was interesting. I watched from the 0 km marker where the race officially begins, even though it was several kms after the ceremonial spot where the riders start riding.
About 45 minutes before departure, the road had been closed for some time and a high speed parade went through with sponsor vehicles, load music and eye-candy girls in convertibles. It was moving along at about 30 miles an hour, and I assume they run the entire course in front of the race. A little while later, the caravan of 22 team busses headed out of town toward the finish line. I assume the trucks went out at a similar time, but I didn't seen them. Over the next 30 minutes, a steady flow of Giro official vehicles and police cars and motor cycles headed out on the course at high speed. The official vehicles are all brand new Skoda cars, and there must have been at least 50 of them. It appeared that VIP's who bought their way in with a "donation" were in the official vehicles ahead of the race. Who knows what kind of influence you have to yield to get in one of the team cars. The only person I know who has done that is Robin Williams.
As the start time grew closer the TV motorcycles gathered just ahead of the 0 km marker next to me. After 2 hours of waiting, things happened quickly. The first signal that things were about to happen is the TV helicopter started approaching. The grand poobah of the race in one of the Skoda cars passed under the 0k banner and waiving the starting flag. 198 riders were directly on his tail. I could hear a lot of gears shifting as everyone accelerated up to a racing pace and Lance Armstrong lead the peloton under the starting banner.
Just as the racers passed under the banner, the TV motorcycles launched out ahead of the race. Those are some skilled people on both the front and back of those motorcycles, but that will wait for another time.
The peloton accelerated and was past us in less than 30 seconds. Then came the internal combustion component of the race. About 66 team cars sped under the banner and were jockeying for position just like the racers. These are all perfectly clean, brand new vehicles covered in sponsorship logos. It looked like a car race by itself. The cars actually took longer to clear the start area than the riders, but they were gone within about 60-90 seconds. Finally, 10 ambulances followed and a few dozen more police and it was done. Before we could mount our bikes to begin our ride, crews were starting to tear down the barricades and advertising banners.
By the time the race was out of town, it was almost 2:00, and we still had 80 km (50 miles) to ride to our hotel for the night. While the mutants headed east, we headed northwest to a spot close to their finish line tomorrow.
It was a nice ride on the Venetian flats for the first 40 miles. After that, we hit the pre-Alps and very suddenly hit some abrupt climbs. After 2 1/2 days with no more than a bridge overpass to call a hill, it was a shock to the system. All day, we rode through vineyards and fields of poppies and lavender. Many miles were on roads that were not as wide as a bike path back home. On a couple of occasions, a car would pass in the other direction. Even though I was on the white line on the right side and the car was on the opposite white line, I still needed to tuck in my elbow to avoid leaving a big sweaty mark on his window. I have no idea how 2 cars would pass.Image for the day - Having such a tight squeeze passing a car had me curious. I stopped and lay on my stomach perpendicular to the road with my belly button more-or-less in the middle. I touched my toes on one white line and reached the other white line with the palms of my hands. Based on that, I think the roads were about 8' wide.
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