MY GIRO LOVE - HATE RELATIONSHIP
I’ve had the opportunity of racing the Giro d’Italia twice and after two participations I have a love-hate relationship with this Grand Tour.
2016 was my first edition. We started in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. The team presentation is something I’ll never forget. Thousands of people attending and such an amazing vibe. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. The first three stages in The Netherlands were amazing. Perfect weather and people lined the route literally every kilometre of the way. I found myself in a 4-man breakaway on stage 3 and came agonisingly close to winning my first GT stage. I attacked the break 12 km to go and got 1.6 km from the line. Sigh…!
That stage, however, gave me confidence in my ability and during the next 3 weeks of sufferfesting I found myself in multiple mountain stage breakaways and helping the team secure Kosta’s top 10 GC in Torino. I loved the Giro!
Stage 21 to Torino, our final stage, pouring rain and a crazy final circuit we had to race a couple of times. The final circuit was so chaotic they neutralised the GC before the race was even finished. About 3 or 4 laps to go we crossed this cobbled bridged and someone hit the deck. Everyone pulled up their handbrakes, but with the wet surfaces we all slid. I actually thought I did a good job and came to a stop until I felt a hit from behind. The next couple of seconds was a blur and my next memory was struggling to stand up from the ground and looking for my bike. Eventually in the chaos I found my bike with its twisted handlebar and broken front wheel. Our mechanic did a quick fix and I got back on. As he pushed me away and I tried to hold the handlebar I felt this excruciating pain shooting through my left elbow. I’ve never broken a bone before and yet I knew I did some damage.
So with only a few kilometres left of the 2016 Giro d’Italia I found myself in the ambulance unable to continue. X-Rays at the finish confirmed a fractured left olecranon which required surgery to fix. I left the Giro with this unsatisfied feeling, almost as if I’ve been cheated on. Yet, I loved the 3 week journey I just had. Weird.
2017 was my second participation, obviously. We had a strong versatile team with plenty of stage winning possibilities. We had a great team vibe and this set the stage for a great 3 week Italian road trip.
Our high morale and team fighting spirit helped us achieve daily ‘mini victories’. Daniel wore the KOM jersey for a couple of stages while Kristian, Ryan and Nathan sprinted to top 10’s consistently. Omar won an epic stage into Bagno de Romagna and took over the KOM lead. It’s incredible how a stage victory can lift everyones morale and energy for the next stages.
With our team lineup I had the task of looking after our protected rider/s of the day. This ranged from keeping the team out of the wind, placing them in position before dangerous sections or climbs, bottle duty etc etc. This left little room for hunting personal success.
Personally, from the start, I felt a missed just a little bit of shape to transform a ‘good job-done’ to a ‘most impressive lead-out or chase’ ever. I partially blame this on having two race days in the two months prior to the Giro. Missing that ‘race pace’. Then, the camera bike or Moto 2 recording the pelotons action irritated most of us during the Giro. Stage after stage he drove too close to us giving just that little bit of slip to the rider right at the front of the bunch. All professionals know this little bit of draft helps so much and it’s for this reason that each and every single one of us will take that draft given the opportunity, me included. This has quite a big influence on the race. Usual ‘low danger zone’ sections of the race saw the peloton in single file. The race even split to pieces on a specific downhill which in no means would have caused that damage had the motorbike been distanced properly. So this combined with my little bit of missing shape caused for an irritated mindset during some stages.
Then came the final week. Anyone who watched it or rode it knows it was insane. I’ve never ridden the Stelvio before the Giro. Now I can say I’ve ridden it twice. In one day. With the Mortirolo before. I was a broken man that night. The last week saw stage after stage being over 200 kms with huge mountains to climb. 6 hrs plus on the bike. I was so happy when we reached Milan and the final stage was a 29 km ITT. All I had to do was stay upright. And so I did, officially crossing my first Giro finishing line. Success!
2018… What will I write about you?
