Notaresco—Termoli, 181km
The day before was chaotic and brutal in the stormy Apennine Mountains, today was the complete opposite. It was a slow and un-notable day on the Giro d’Italia as it quietly and scenically traveled along the Adriatic Coast south to Termoli at a relatively leisurely pace. The new leader of the Giro d’Italia, the Hungarian Attila Vallter (Groupama-FDJ) looked great in the maglia rosa, and he had a relatively un-stressful day to just enjoy the moment and soak in the accomplishment—the reward for so much heavy-lifting done yesterday. In the breakaway today was Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) for the third time this Giro already. And he was joined by Mark Christian (Eolo-Kometa), and Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane). Thus, it was only the three smallest teams in the race that did any sort of the animating. But the break never had too big a lead, there was never any dramatic question about whether they were going to survive. They were caught with un-notable routine with 17km to go. Then the sprint trains took to the front of the race. Despite an interesting 12% ramp in the last 2km, it was a relatively routine sprint. Fernando Gaviria (UAE) launched extraordinarily early to literally try and pull a fast one on everyone, but Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was on to it. He stayed in the slipstream and then still launched a fine sprint in the last 200m to take another stage win, his second of this Giro. It was a dominate performance from Ewan. He did not wait for anyone to catch the early launching Gaviria for him. He did the work himself to catch the escapee, and still had the energy to finish off the sprint anyways. But even with the superb show of athleticism by Ewan in the finale, there is no denying that the day was overall a snooze-fest.
Why was such an inevitably quiet stage designed in the first place? How does this pass for sport? How does such a stage get wire-to-wire converge? It was not enthralling viewing. There is little out of the ordinary for me even to report—not even a historical or architectural tangent caught my fancy today. What was the point of the existence of this stage?
Was it just practical? These starting and finishing towns bid or paid the most money to host stage. The race needs the slow parts to build up anticipation for the exciting parts. The pure sprinters need enough flat opportunities too or else they won’t attend the race at all which detracts viewership who tune in to see the stars. It is impossible to have all big mountains stages, not only because of geography, but because the riders would not have enough energy to truly animate and light up the race on the most crucial days. Is it only for these practical purposes, or is there more to it?
Yes, there is. And you know the answer.
You are not here just to be entertained. Think about it. If you watched more than just the last 5km of today’s stage, you know this is the case. If we just wanted to be entertained, we have a plethora of other sports to choose from. We are here for more than the gluttonous Romans at the arenas who Russel Crowe’s Gladiator, Maximus, questioned. Think about the title of this show. We are here to go on a journey. Who has gone on a road-trip or traveling adventure and not had a slow moment? The slow moments are inevitable, and yet also to be savored. It is a time to decompress in the middle of the action—O! see the stage profiles of the days that were and are to come. This is a time for solid reflection, what do we make of all that has happened thus far? Sometimes serendipitous events can take place. Truly, in all great stories that are moments of downtime, and many are not sure why such chapters or passages were inserted. A year ago, I finished reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. I enjoyed the book as a whole, but it was an excruciating grind to get through it all. There were whole chunks of the book that I did not understand the existence for—at the very least surely parts could have been edited down and streamlined better. Ah! But even I can appreciate one aspect without absorbing or realizing the full meaning of the many drawn-out chapters. Part of the beauty of the length was simply more time to intimately acquaint myself with the characters. What were the cuts of their jibs? What were their mannerisms or beliefs? How did they handle adversity, minor or major?
Now bring it back to this drawn-out chapter of the Giro. We have already been treated to see what many of these men can do in the heat of battle. But what are they like outside of battle? Before on a quiet day, Taco Van Der Hoorn (Inetermarche) and Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) were just grunts in the trenches, now they are heroes. Even after their major exploits are over, truly the camera and we love them. Then the other big priority of this slow stage: Did we not all try to size up and learn more about this new Attila Vallter Hungarian wearing the Pink Jersey? Within 24 hours he has set himself on the path to become the most famous Hungarian cyclist possibly of all time. Was it not nice to see him literally have his day in the Sun, before battle resumes tomorrow and he is put to the test once more? Truly, if we think deeply, we can acknowledge the place for these quiet transition days. We not only advance the journey geographically, we advance the story’s plot even if it seems only character development. The sprinters’ statistics, narratives, and trajectories became more sculpted. All of us noted Gaviria’s unorthodox tactics and Israel Start-Up Nation’s Davide Cimolai’s second second-place on a Giro stage this year—both are ones to continue watching. And we “mingled” and became better acquainted with others for the rest of the stage. In addition to Attila the HUNgarian, we watched Simon Pellaud in yet another breakaway—O! surely a sweet spot is forming for him in all of us. Of course, more could be said about all this, especially musings about why we want to be on this journey with these riders. I am only scratching the surface at the moment. But more will be said, so why not leave it here for now. And let us simply soak in the quiet easy day on this Italian Odyssey.
Cycling Odysseys 