Sunday, April 28, 2024

Tag: Giro d'Italia 2008

Giro d’Italia – Day 10: Stage 21, Cesano Maderno – Milano (Individual Time Trial)

Today's Gazzetta in Cesano Maderno has Emanuele Sella's little face smiling out at us with a headline that makes a play on his name: "S(T)ELLA" = star. Life is so much easier when Germans don't win stages! Inside, a headline says; "Bruseghin da podio. Di Luca si arrende." I ask our hotelier what 'arrende' means; he slumps his shoulders, drops his arms to his side, puts his head to one side and let's his tongue hang out - yes, we can understand the translation.

Giro d’Italia 2008 – Day 9: Stage 20, Rovetta – Tirano

Paolo Savoldelli 10 out of 10, Danilo Di Luca 9.5 out of 10: the Gazzetta gave Friday to LPR - and so they should. Stage racing at it's best; even if Contador wins on Sunday in Milano, Di Luca can hold his head high. Ricco gets a 9; if he can keep his feet on the ground then he must surely win a giro - but not this one. Contador on 6.5; as Diquigiovanni's DS, Savio told us yesterday; "Perhaps Contador will have a bad day."

Giro d’Italia – Day 8: Stage 19, Legnano – Presolana/Monte Pora

Buon giorno di Legnano! Another German stage win and the Gazzetta front page says - "three days of truth waiting to attack Contador" - old Jens doesn't get so much as a mention until the fourth page of Giro reports, deep in the paper - like I said yesterday, the Italians just love the Germans winning their tappas...

Giro d’Italia – Day 7: Stage 18, Mendrisio – Varese

Today we were in Mendrisio but we belled Viktor from Verbania last night... We were feeling quite mellow; words and pics sent, a nice plate of pasta, a glass of beer and a stroll by Maggiore in the warm air. "The only reason I watch the race is because there's nothing else on TV, those photos you take are holiday snaps, Sella looks like a schoolboy, 'certain of the GB rider's' aren't proper pros, the scenery is terrible... "

Giro d’Italia – Day 6: Stage 17, Sondrio – Locarno

The girl in the petrol station where we just filled up was stunningly beautiful - I sent Dave back in to buy Coke, so he could see her; why don't they have girls like her in the filling station at Wester Hailes? The Gazzetta is on my lap as we head for 'partenza' in Sondrio. Even though you can't speak Italian, you can get the jist of most of what's being said; "Sorpresa Van Den Broeck, delusione Savoldelli."

Giro d’Italia 2008 – Day 5: Rest Day

Rest Day at the Giro d'Italia 2008... "When you hear the tootin' of the whistle, you never have to guess; it's Casey at the throttle of the Cannonball Express" - Dave and I were just debating the lyrics of the Casey Jones 60's TV programme, if anyone can give us the full lyrics, we'd be much obliged. Sorry, on long transfer drives like this, you get to talking about all sorts of things.

Giro d’Italia 2008 – Day 4: Stage 16, San Vigilio di Marebbe – Plan de Corones (Individual Time Trial)

The balcony from our digs has the most perfect views you can imagine. It was a hassle to find, but now that we're here it's simply magnificent, it's like looking out of a plane, we're so high and the view across the valley is so spectacular. The Plan de Corones stage made for great TV and if we'd had mountain bikes with us and no deadlines to worry about it would have been great to be up there on the dirt section.

Giro d’Italia 2008 – Day 3: Stage 15: Arabba – Passo Fedaia/Marmolada

"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglay," Rabbie Burns must have had a premonition about the Giro when he wrote that. It should have been a short hop over the Pordoi Pass from the digs to the start at Arabba to Marmolada. The jobsworth policeman at the top of the Pordoi settled our hash though; "No, you stop now, road closed, no journalists, only team cars!" Aye, cheers pal, you'll soon get that job you want in the riot squad, bludgeoning students. Sorry..., I was ranting, wasn't I?

Giro d’Italia – Day 2: Stage 14: Verona – Alpe di Pampeago~Val di Fiemme

Another long one, from Verona, it's 11.35 pm local time, Saturday and we're still in this pizzeria at Pozza di Fassa. The stage finished down on schedule and by the time we walked off the mountain; got set up in the press room, fired the pics away, completed the words, drove here, found the hotel and checked in, it was well after 10.00. The hotel is nice, this is ski country and the Austrian border isn't far away so it's all chalets, wide eaves and timber - very picturesque.

Giro d’Italia 2008 – Day 1: Stage 13, Modena – Cittadella

Ciao ! Ciao ! It's 9.30 pm here in Verona, city of opera, Romeo and Juliet and Stage 14 of the 2008 Giro., from Modena. We're sitting outside our hotel with our "welcome drink" - not a bad beer, as it happens. It's been a long one - up at 03.30 am; car to Turnhouse; Easyjet to Stanstead; Ryanair to Brescia with two screeching Essex girls in the seats in front of us, then hire car to Verona.

At Random

Neah Evans – Winner of the Melton CiCLE Classic 2018

VeloVeritas first got to know Neah Evans (Storey Racing Team & Scotland) at the Berlin Six Day, a year or two ago, since then she’s built an impressive track palmarès with success at national, UCI and Commonwealth levels. And now she’s added Britain’s toughest road event to her roll of honour; the CiCLE Classic at Melton Mowbray, also known as ‘The Rutland’.

Richard Bussell – 2015 British 10 Mile and Hill Climb Champion

The CTT Hill Climb Championship is usually won by a specialist or if it’s a longer climb then the roadmen tend to come to the fore but when the CTT 10 Mile Champion wins the hill climb championship it merits further investigation; that’s why VeloVeritas just had to ‘have a word’ with Mr. Richard Bussell (RST-Aerocoach)...

Rab Wardell – A Trip Into The Unknown

Whilst Endura have been getting all the attention recently, other Scottish riders have been looking to raise their game too. Rab Wardell is taking his talent south - to Southport's Kinesis team. We caught up with him to talk about the move - eventually. (Rab is a fan of having his mobile on 'silent' after five pm - but of course, this means he doesn't hear it when it rings!)

Humbie Mountain Time Trial 2010

Stuart Moran (Perth United) made it a successful trip to East Lothian for the Humbie Mountain Time Trial 2010 today, taking the win over a hard two-lap circuit by 20 seconds.

Under-23 Het Volk 2007

Continental TV may be dire, but there's a good choice of radio stations; Percy Sledge is telling us about "When a man loves a woman", as we jump back into the VW after paying homage at the Karl Buyse monument in sleepy Wontergem, heading for the Under-23 Het Volk 2007. Buyse was a son of the Flanders sod who won the Tour de France in 1926. A long time ago maybe, but not forgotten here in the heartland.

Ben Swift – Milan-Sanremo Runner-up; “I can’t think what else I could have done”

Team Sky’s Ben Swift seems to have been with us a long time but the fact is he’s that he’s still only 28 years old, just coming into his prime as a rider. And if any of us thought his third place in the 2014 Milan-Sanremo was a fluke we had that notion debunked when the man from Rotherham stepped up one place on the podium to second spot behind controversial winner, Arnaud Démare (F des J & France) in this year’s race – Démare having been accused of taken pace from his team car on the Cipressa climb whilst coming back from a crash.