A Fangirl at the Giro,part 3: Verona-Verona

PS (which,in this case,stands for Pre-Scriptum): Miss Fede hasn’t been able to write anything new on this blog lately because of reasons not depending on her will.Or,at least,yesterday’s big party depended on her will,but the 3 tests she had to face in the last 2 days of school didn’t. Anyway,as you may have noticed,I,aka miss Fede,didn’t wish a happy birthday to Andy Schleck on Thursday.Not that I forgot about it,mind you: simply,I was too busy to find a decent pic of him and write ‘Happy birthday’ (it takes years to do these kind of things with my computer).

However,back to today,this is my last post for the month of June.In fact tomorrow morning I’m leaving to go on holiday. I wish you all a good month of June and wish the boys a good preparation for Le Grande Boucle.In the meanwhile,I’ll be laying on a beach,have another birthday party and keep my fingers crossed for Chris Anker’s possible inclusion in Saxo Bank squad for the TdF.

Verona: the city of L’Arena,the city of Romeo and Juliet,the city where it’s illegal to eat in the squares and the city where 2010 Giro d’Italia ended.

On 30th of May 2010 my family and I arrived there after a 2 hours travel,at about 11.30 am.We parked our car near the stadium,got on a bus and arrived to the center of the town in a few minutes.When we arrived there we noticed that some famous people were trying the TT parcours.Amongst them I could recognise Cipollini,Fondriest and the former gymnast Iuri Chechi.I could also spot an unidentified Cofidis rider trying the parcours and the whole team Sky getting ready for the reconaissance of the parcours. Unfortunately,I couldn’t tell ‘which-rider-was-who’ and so,although I know that I saw the whole team Sky,I can’t remember the face of any rider.Well,things that happen.
On the notes of “More than a feeling” (the song of the Mtv series ‘Scrubs’),we arrived to L’Arena.It was about midday and so we had more than 2 hours before of the start of the race. ”Let’s go to the team buses!”,said Fangirl.”Some riders are trying the parcours,so the buses must be near us!”.Logic approved Fangirl’s idea and asked a policeman whether he knew where the buses were.”Sorry,I don’t know”,he answered.I got the same answer from another policeman,from a man of the organisation and from other 2 policemen.Then a person said “The buses are behind the Arena”.We went there and,as Logic had predicted (“They can’t put 20 buses in the little streets behind L’Arena!”),the buses weren’t there.At that point my father got fed up and so we abandoned the research of the bus.We found a quiet place near L’Adige (the main river of Verona) and there we sat down.It was almost 2 o’clock,so we were pretty surprised when we saw Samoilau arriving towards us while trying the parcours.Corti (the first rider to start the TT) was going to start in about 30 minutes time,and at that point we were more close to the beginning of the parcours rather than to its finish.However,we soon realised that Samoilau wasn’t the only one on the parcours.A few minutes after him in fact we saw De Greef (surprisingly,Fangirl didn’t try to jump on him),Matthew Lloyd (who looked thoughtful,was wearing his green jersey,and wasn’t riding full gas at all) and Linus Gerdeman.Also Gerdemann was riding quietly and looked thoughtful.
At about 2.40 pm,Corti arrived.He had fought hard to be the 'maglia nera' of 2010 Giro d'Italia and so he was now getting his well-deserved applause.On the stage of Recanati,when his main rival Frapporti was just 3 minutes faster than him,Corti even chose to abandon the main group and crossed the finish-line with 5 minutes of delay.That’s class,baby.
After Frapporti,it was Cameron Meyer’s turn to ride in front of us.When my father read the name of the Australian TT Champion on the sheet of paper on which we had printed the TT start list,he asked me whether Cameron was a track rider.In Italy track isn’t very followed,but during the last World Championship my dad had the chance of watching some events and, between the ones he watched,there was also the points race,which was won by Meyer. Therefore,when he arrived,dad cheered for him and looked very happy.
After Gaudin,Flens,Rabon,Ignatiev,Andriotto and Sutton,it was Graeme Brown’s turn to arrive. He was one of the few sprinters that had faced all the climbs of this Giro without retiring,so me was ready to cheer for him.Little problem,the one who arrived wasn’t Brown,but a Saxo Bank rider,Michael Morkov. “It’s Michael!!”,Fangirl stated as soon as she saw him.”Logic,please,can I scream something?”. ”I’m sorry dear,but it’s better if you avoid it”,Logic answered.In fact Logic hates the name Michael because it has a different pronunciation depending on the country where the person called ‘Michael’ was born.I mean,in England it is pronounced in a way,in Germany in another and in France in another one.Since I don’t know Danish,I couldn’t be sure of the exact pronounciation of the name,so I decided not to scream it.And,when I thought “Let’s scream Morkov!”,Michael had already ridden past me.What an anger.

Anyway,I must say that I was really happy for Michael's Giro.He’s another rider who comes from the track world,but he faced all the tough Giro climbs in a very good way. Therefore,chapeau to him and to all the other track riders who finished this super hard Giro.
After Haedo (Fangirl screamed “Go Go Lucas!”),Brown and Engels,the Canadian champion Tuft arrived.Then,after Roberts,it was Albasini’s turn.He still had his face injured and covered by a white medicament,but at least this time he wasn’t bleeding.
After Facci,Kaisen and the young (and brave) Pirazzi,Flouchard (who had been outsprinted by Pineau in Novi Ligure) arrived.The following riders to arrive were Spezialetti,Van Emden, Reynes,Bertolini and King (who looks really young and who,after the stage,had to go to Bergamo to take his flight).Then Lastras,Fischer,Elijzen,Le Floch,Stamsnijder (great surname), Marangoni and Konovalovas arrived.Ignatas was welcomed by the screams of the girls of my family,since last year in Milan he was very nice with us.He looked very focused on the race and was riding very fast.After his top 10 placement,I think we can nickname him ‘The man of the last TT’.

Then Velo,Sijmens,Hayman,Fothen,Daniel Lloyd ('‘Wasn’t he wearing the green jersey?”,someone asked),Sabatini and Hinault arrived.Sabatini was the first Liquigas rider to arrive (and one of the few sprinters that finished the Giro),while the arrival of Hinault caused someone to begin to talk about the other Hinault,Bernard.
The following rider to arrive should have been Kalle Kriit from Estonia,but in his place another rider,BMC’s Schaer,arrived.Also Danilo Wyss arrived and,when he we had just stopped asking ourselves where Kalle ‘Not Blomkvist’ Kriit could have ended up,there came the Cofidis rider.He wasn’t followed by his team car (it arrived alone after some time),looked pretty tired and nervous and was the only one,until that moment,that wasn’t wearing his glasses.We thought that,probably,he had started the race too late,although it’s more probable that he punctured (or crashed) somewhere during the first part of the TT.Actually,it wouldn’t have been a surprise.In fact I was in a point between two curves and the way some riders faced these curves really scared me (after all,there's a reason why they are pro riders...).
After Forster (another of the sprinters who survived),Bookwalter (one of the few BMC riders that ended the race),Klimov,Arashiro,Stangelj (first Astana rider to arrive),Dall’Antonia and Brandle,Monier arrived.His reaction after his victory in Pejo Terme had been very moving and sweet,so I cheered for him pretty loudly.He was followed by Henderson (another sprinter),Russ,Kireyev and by the 41 year old Inigo Cuesta.I believe that Cuesta is an exceptional rider,since he’s also the oldest of the peloton.Therefore,respect to him,that managed to finish the Giro in spite of his not so young (at least from the cyclistic point of view) age.
After Krivstov,Bono,Cusin and Stalder,the very promising Craig Lewis arrived.He was followed by Marzano and by another interesting athlete,the Tasmanian Cameron Wurf,who before of discovering cycling took part in Athens Olympic Games.At the time,his sport was rowing.
After Mazzanti,Vanotti arrived and was welcomed with some loud screams and applauses.He was followed by Bisolti,Stortoni (two good young riders),Lang,Nicki Sorensen (yay!), Grivko, Moncoutié and Simoni.Actually,we realised that Gibo was arriving not because we saw his team car or things like that,but because the tifosi started to scream as never before.After all,it was the last occasion to cheer for him during a race.
Simoni was followed by Turpin,Bertogliati,Lund (allez!),Failli,Duque,Zandio,Gustov and Szmyd.The following rider was Gustav Larsson.He looked focused and fast,and in that moment I understood he could win the stage.After all his podiums,he really deserved a stage victory in a GT! And btw: Gustav looks much better live than in tv.
He was followed by Pineau,Dan Martin (who rode a good Giro),Tosatto,Cummings,Horrach Rippoll,Losada,Ochoa,Jackson Rodriguez,Matthew Lloyd,Righi,Eibegger,Caruso and by the small (and promising) Sarmiento.Then Pozzato arrived,followed by Barry, Codol, Jufre, Amador and Wiggins.Once again,I found myself making comparisons between Fedrigo and Wiggo (and not because of their TT abilities...).
The English TT champion was followed by 25 year-old Samoilau,who was very active during the last days of this Giro.He was followed by the young Marcel Wyss (my mother has a weakness for him,because ‘he looks so young and cute!!’),Kiryenka and Uran.A few minutes after Kiryenka had arrived,an old man asked us whether Vasili had already ridden past us.Unfortunately,the answer was ‘yes’ and the man looked pretty disappointed.
Then Bakelandts and Tschopp arrived,followed by Laurent Didier.Also Laurent rode very well during this Giro,since he worked for the team and showed he has talent.He was followed by Agnoli (another good young rider),Petrov,Serpa,Wegelius,Trofimov and Chris Sorensen.Chris looked very focused,with his violet glasses on,and for the 3rd time in 3 days Fangirl went bananas as soon as she saw him.”What a handsome man!”,she thought for the following minutes.Actually,Fangirl went so bananas that,if you see the vid that I made with CA,you realise that he disappears from the screen after 0.1 seconds.After all,I’m not a good photographer in normal conditions,let alone when I see my favourite riders.Talking about Chris,I must say that he raced a wonderful Giro.He won a stage,helped Porte on the mountains and managed to finish the race in spite of a flu.Chapeau.
Sorensen was followed by Moreno,Weening,Miholjevic,Voeckler,Mayoz,De Greef and Dupont. Last year De Greef ended in the race top 20 and so did he this year.Considering that he’s still young,I think he’ll soon become a good GT rider.
Dupont was followed by Alexander Efimkin,by Kruijswijk (you’ve gotta love these complicated Dutch surnames),Cioni,Gerdemann,Ardila Cano,Karpets and Gadret.Gadret was probably one of the biggest surprises of this Giro.After all,he’s been a mtb and cyclocross rider for a lot of years and therefore this Giro really suited him.
The Frenchman was followed by the very promising Mollema and by Cunego.You won’t believe it but,when Damiano arrived,my photocamera’s batteries died.In terror,I told that to my sister and failed in my attempt of changing batteries in 3 seconds time.After that,my sister didn’t talk to me for some minutes.
It was now Pinottis’ turn to arrive.Now the riders had to arrive with 3 minutes between one another,but we had to wait a lot before that Pinotti arrived in front of us.Marco was followed by Kiserlovski.Robert is just 23 and I think that,if he didn’t have to sacrifice himself for the team,he could have been dangerous also for the highest part of the GC.After all,he was in L’Aquila breakaway as well.
Then Sastre arrived (his helmet completely covered half of his face),followed by Vinokourov. That famous part of me who likes charismatic men watched him carefully and noticed that he was wearing pink gloves.Imo,you have to be a true man to do that.Or,more probably,your usual gloves must have abandoned you.
After Vino,Richie Porte arrived.He was fighting with the Kazakhistani for the 7th place and looked very fast.A thing that surprised me a lot that day was that a lot of riders looked completely still on their saddles and didn’t even move their spines while pedalling fast!
After screaming for Richie (a man from SB car watched me,causing Logic to scold Fangirl off because she was making me look ridiculous),I applauded Evans and Scarponi.Scarponi was fighting with Nibali for the podium and,in this fight,I supported Michele.After all,Nibali is young and can have plenty of other chances in his career,while Michele is already 31.And then,Michele is such a funny guy.For example,when a journalist told him "Hey,you gained a second on Basso and the other GC contenders today!",he replied: "Well,by gaining one second pro day,I'll probably win the Giro,even if I'll have to wait about 180 stages for that".
The "thirdultimate" rider to arrive was Nibali,followed by the super Arroyo (no pink bike for him) and by Basso.The support for him was incredible and he looked terribly concentrated.
After Basso arrived,we went to L’Arena.While going there,we came across Sylvester Szmyd and Valerio Agnoli,who both looked very relaxed.Agnoli was joking with 2 girls,while Szmyd was in front of him,next to his wife (or girlfriend,I don’t know).To his surprise,a familiar asked for his autograph (“I can’t believe i! Someone has asked me an autograph!”).
Then,while walking to L’Arena,my mother gave me a poke in the ribs.”Who’s that?”,she asked me.I watched and,to my surprise,realised that Vinokourov was there,riding slowly back and forth,probably looking for a policeman that could tell him where his team bus was.He was really sweated and,when he found the policeman,probably asked him where he had to go.I was too afraid to get nearer to him,so I let him go.Soon,a group of about 5 men with Kazakhistani flags appeared.They were true Kazakhistani from Kazakhistan and some of them were even dressed in traditional blue clothes. They even had a traditional hat and,when I imagined Vino wearing that,I was shocked for some seconds.
When we arrived to l’Arena,however,we saw that it was too crowded and too noisy.So,we went behind it and from it we could see (and hear) Basso’s arrival.But,especially,from there we could see everything was going on behind the scenes and so we could watch Larsson chatting quietly to a man behind the podium.
After some minutes,Scarponi came out from L'Arena.He had just lost a Top 3 placement for less than 20 seconds and therefore everyone was sorry for him.However he smiled before of getting onto the anti-doping bus.
While wandering ‘round the Arena,then,we saw a sign.”Team Buses”,it said. And, obviously, Fangirl went bananas when she saw it.We followed the signs,got lost,asked a policeman for help,came back to L’Arena,tried another way,got lost again,imagined Vinokourov wandering around like we were doing in that moment,and finally found the Liquigas bus.No one was there (everyone was at the podium ceremony),while other buses (BMC and Lampre) were almost ready to leave. Eventually,I found a SB trunk.But where was the bus? Outside the trunk there were two men who looked pretty busy.I didn’t know what to do.”Ask them for help”,Fangirl suggested to Logic.”Well,why don’t you ask them for help?”,she replied. “Excuse me”,I said with a very low voice,getting nearer to one of the men.”Could you tell me please where the team bus is?”.”Well,it’s probably over there”,he told me (I couldn’t understand clearly because Fangirl always takes control of me when she is near team buses) .”Thank you very much!” I said.The man was extremely kind with me,because ‘over there’ was actually behind the street corner.Just a blind couldn’t have seen the bus.But me in that moment was blinded by Fangirl,so I can be excused.

Out of the bus there were two suitcases (Larsson and Porte’s ones,I think) and the bus driver,Danny,was there together with other men.I knew that it was highly improbable for my favourite rider,Chris Sorensen,to be still on the bus 3 hours after the end of his Giro,but I asked anyway.”Chris has already gone”,a man told me.”Oh,thank you.Sorry if I disturbed you.Thank you again!”,I said. And,to my amazement,I realised that I wasn’t too depressed.I mean,after all it was obvious.If I were an ill rider with a house in Luxembourg and a family in Denmark,and I had finished a GT at 4 pm of a Sunday,I would get to the closest airport as soon as I could.
On the way back to our car,dad found a magazine all about Rabobank.Someone had thrown it away,but it was still in good condition so we took it.And,thanks to it,I realised that I can understand a bit of Dutch.
When we arrived in front of Diquigiovanni’s bus,we saw Scarponi there.I congratulated him on his Giro while he gave me his signature,and he had a bitter smile before of telling a joke about his bad luck to the person next to him.
Also Cameron Wurf was there and I congratulated him on his Giro as well.He laughed and said something like “Phfew”.”You finished it”,I said.”That’s already something!”.He smiled and then got in the team car,ready for travel towards his home.
The last rider we met was Pinotti.He had just came back on his team bus and,as soon as he got there,he laid on a sofa.The door of the bus was open,so one of my familiars said “Bravo Pinotti!” with a smile.Marco smiled at us and said “Grazie”.After all,there's a reason why Pinotti is one of the greatest riders of the peloton.
On the way back to Bergamo,on the highway,we saw many different cars belonging to the Giro. Actually,there were even some of the infamous merchandise cars.Finally,at 10 pm,we arrived home.And,of course,Fangirl was already depressed because the Giro had just ended.