Italy Day 16 and Italy Day 17

The second largest cycling race in the world is the Giro d'Italia. Our trip just happened to take place while the Giro was going on. We cycled some of the same courses that the pros did (but not on the same days). It was interesting to see how big the sport of cycling is in Europe. Our last full day in Italy was the last day of the Giro, which also ended in Rome. We were excited to see our first professional cycling race!

We dedicated the whole day to the race. It didn't start until 2:00pm, but there was plenty to do. All of the cycling team vans blocked an entire street. The bikes were put out in front to look at. Skyler was in heaven!

This is me in front of a bunch of Cervelos bikes. My triathlon bike is a Cervelo so I pledge my allegiance to them.

This is one of the bike support vehicles. Every team had a couple of them for following the cyclists on the course.

Lance's bike is different from the rest of his teams. His is the yellow bike that was designed by some guy who does artwork for Obey.

We waited outside of Team Astana's van to catch a glimpse of Lance. Lance is not only popular in the US, but everywhere else too. He is the most famous cyclist...ever. He has won the Tour de France seven times!

So not only did we see Lance, but I also got to meet him and get his autograph.

During our time in Italy we saw many groups of caribineri doing nothing. It was weird. There would be like 20 of them gathered around a truck just talking. I'm sure they were watching the surrounding area, but it just seemed like overkill to have so many of them in one area.


The last stage of the Giro d'Italia was a time trial. This means that each cyclist starts at a different time. They started the cyclists about 3 minutes apart. The starting order is the order of the places, with the last place going first and first place going last. It's more dramatic that way.

The finish line was right in front of the Colosseum. The cyclists actually ride around half of it for the last 200 meters.

We picked a spot about 400 meters from the finish line to watch the cyclists.

Each cyclist had a motorcycle police escort in front of them and a team support vehicle in the back. As the top cyclists starting coming by, there would be another motorcycle with a cameramen on back too. There were also several helicopters flying overhead.

We saw Lance zoom by!

This is the first place cyclist, Denis Mechov. Notice that there are some people with umbrellas? Well, this is the first time that it started raining on our trip. The rain started during the last few cyclists rides. The last cyclists are the top guys so this was trouble. The first place cyclist, Denis Mechov, was only 25 seconds ahead of the second place cyclist, Danilo Di Luca. 25 seconds is not that much time and could change the tide of the ride easily if something bad were to happen. Well, something did happen. The most dangerous time to be racing is at the start of rainfall. With 450 meters left, Mechov takes a spill, falls off his bike, and slides on the ground. His support team was able to grab a new bike off the top of their car and he was back on the saddle in no time at all. Luckily, the fall cost his just seconds so he was able to maintain his lead. Denis Mechov was declared the winner of the Giro d'Italia.


The awards ceremony took place immediately after the finish of the stage. We got a front row viewing of the ceremony. The problem was that other people wanted to see what was going on and it started to get a little crowded. People started pushing and yelling to push the fence down. We were right next to the fence and were feeling a little nervous about this riotous activity. The people on the ceremony side of the fence were also nervous too so they sent some police over to calm everyone down.

The winners of the Giro d'Italia:
Denis Menchov, Danilo Di Luca, and Franco Pellizotti.

The winning team of the race was Astana, which is Lance's team.

That night we ate our last dinner in Italy. It was a sad moment, but at least we got to eat more pizza!

The next day we began our long trip home. We rode in every type of transportation to get home. First, we took a taxi to the train station. Then we rode the train to the airport. Then we got on a bus to get to the check-in terminal. Then we had to take another bus back to the main terminals. Then we had to take another bus to the airplane. Then we flew to New York where we took a bus to the baggage terminal. Then we took another bus to the correct loading terminal. Then we sat in the airplane for 2 hours waiting to leave. Then we flew to LAX where our wonderful friends Kenny and Jill picked us up in their car and took us home. What a day!

Our trip was a the trip of a lifetime! It was great because Skyler and I got to experience Europe for the first time together. We were also able to see parts of Italy that most people normally wouldn't see. I really enjoyed cycling through the country and I definitely enjoyed camping more than I thought I would. The day after we got home Skyler was already researching our next trip to Europe. It would be so much fun to get a group of friends, rent an RV, and travel around Europe. Let's hope this year is good to us and we are able to do this again next year!