The Italian jobs.

Another long drive, unpack, pack, laundry sleep and back on the road for 2 Italian one day races, Giro del Belvedere and GP Palio delRecioto.

These 2 races were a highlight for me, and this was mainly due to the atmosphere of the crowd. The races are over the holiday weekend for Festa Della Liberazione (Liberation Day). Libeation day has it’s equivalent in Australia known as Anzac Day and is also held on April 25.

So you can imagine the wonderful mix of holiday, good weather and bike racing.

Both of these races are raced in the style of wars of attrition. The selection is made of those that can keep up the pace, rather then any great attacking strategy as the parcours have some mean climbs ascended a couple of times. The start of the races was in the town square and the fairs offering all manner of fresh produce and ther goods was quite interesting. As the day progresses the people wander out onto the course for a good position and then proceed to have a picnic, which in Italian style is not far from what a would consider a feast.

So you can imagine how a race course lined with Italians getting slowly drunk can provide a pretty vibrant atmosphere. Plenty of Italians came up to chat about them Aussies and in the best traditions of not understanding languages, we still communicated. Even a fresh salami panini came my way, which I managed to hide not eating (being a vego, salami isn’t really my thing), wrapped it up and threw it into the team car for the boss as they drove through the feed zone. The report came back that the salami could have done with a little more curing, but hey, you have to accept a gift when it’s offered.

The finish to Belvedere was one of the wildest crowds I have ever seen at a bike race, they were nuts. It was almost mission impossible to get from one side of the start line to the other, so I could meet the boys as they crossed the line. I did leave it a little late and had trouble explaining that I needed to get to the other side of the finish line, I couldn’t convince the powers that be to let me walk up the road on course. There was no room to walk up either side of the course, so eventually I figured out my plan B. This involved running around to the back of the school clambering over 3 concrete walls and a metal gate to get back to where I needed to be.

When I jumped the barricade to get on course to where the rest of the soignies were, the crowd razzed  me. I was wondering what they were getting excited about, then I realized they were hollering at me! Awesome, I have never been heckled by 300 drunk Italian sports fans before, it’s not bad I tell you. Having been stirred up, the crowd kept on making a racket to the point where one of the course marshals made all the soignies crouch down. Apparently we were blocking the view to the line.

If you ever get the chance to make it to a one day race coinciding with a festival in Italy, don’t pass it up. The boys managed a top 10 result in each of these races and cheered the news of a 2nd place at Liberazione, which is the big race in Rome celebrating the same.

So then we pack up, long drive, upack, laundry, sleep.