We jumped on our bikes and rode the time trial course in reverse, before it was set up, give or take a couple of wrong turns! We checked out the start area but it was a bit crazy. Only authorized personnel could get anywhere near the start area. Scotty managed to bluff his way past the guards, in his Discovery channel kit, only to woos out halfway up the chute when people who actually knew saw that he was an imposter…there was no discovery team at the Giro (Fi thinks maybe he got pinged for being a non-climber build!) Scotty did manage to find us some sustenance for the trip back to our spectating position – some paninis and 1kg of lasagne!
We did find a top spot to watch the riders where there were a whole heap of Italians spectating too. We made friends with an Italian lady who helped us with rider name pronunciation and we let her know when they were coming!
We waved our Aussie flag at the three Aussie riders and Nick Gates gave us a big cheer and a wave on his way through. Adam Hansen gave us a ‘courtesy wave’. Nick Gates (in 29th overall) was way too focused!
As soon as Contador and entourage rolled passed, the course was open for young and old so we rode the Contador wake back into town (about 15km). It was awesome! We rode flat out, people cheering us on in Italian, we hammed it up (esp Scotty) and got back to our hotel in about 25 mins.
We ended up doing about 65km of riding and 4 hours of sitting around so were really tired when we got back…just strolled down to our fave pizza shop for a couple of BIG slices of fresh margeurita pizza, some birra, and then bed!
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