Giro 2006 - Mortirolo - Herneweb Cycling Blog

Giro 2006 - Mortirolo

[ posted by phill Sunday, May 28, 2006 ]

After driving up on Friday evening before the road was closed at midnight we spent the night camped out on the Passo Mortirolo with thousands of other tifosi. By the time the race arrived there were an estimated 70,000 fans lining the road and it sure felt like it, maximum concentration needed to avoid getting my feet flattened by a team car or end up on TV as the guy who got in the way of the riders...

The Basso/Simoni scandal is hot here in Italy with Simoni accusing Basso of asking for money to let him win the stage. The general consensus among the commentators is that Basso made an error by asking Simoni to wait for him on the descent and then not honouring the traditional cycling gentleman's pact. As for the money side of it the Italian Cycling Federation is going to open an investigation, although I don't see what use that will be with the word of one against the other. Anyway should keep things interesting for a while.

Comments:

Possibly a case of pot and kettle calling? I'll tell you, Iain, sometimes the cycle racing scene has more drama than a soap opera! If bored housewives ever truly got a load of the drama in a cycle race.......well, we'd lose a sport to them! ::GRIN::
By Tom Stormcrowe

great photos!
By Richy

Iain,
Hey, it's a pretty firm thing that Basso won't win the Giro-Tour double now, but that's no reason to stop blogging.
Fill us in, what's new? What does the British view of this doping thing look like?
Just curious
By Caloi-Rider

Thanks Caloi, I needed a wake-up call. Planet herneweb has been distinctly mundane and tedious these past few weeks.
I
By iain

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