For the Giro’s final day in Switzerland, the 170km stage started in Melide, just a short drive from yesterday’s sprint finish in Lugano.
Andrea and I are planning to catch the rest of the race on the climbs and at the finale in Milan, so I got my banner our for our last sign on. Even with a blasting loud speaker and a Giro staff member standing directly in front of us, we still managed to get several more signatures, including 3 of the 4 jerseys.
Steven Kruijswijk in the KOM jersey
Rigoberto Uran
Fumiyuki Beppu
Fabio Aru in the white jersey
Carlos Betancur signs in
We headed up to the road and watched the race gingerly roll out.
Davide Villella & Davide Formolo of Cannondale Garmin
Smiles from Jesus Herrada
Alan Marongoni & Dayer Quintana
Maxime Monfort & Aleksejs Saramotins
Looks like Ryder Hesjedal spotted Andrea waving the Canadian flag
Marcus Burghardt & Heinrich Haussler
We decided to press our luck and drove towards Monte Olongo, hoping to see the peloton on the 10km climb. We were making great time when in Cannobio, just a few clicks from the mountain, we hit a road block. After consulting the satnav and local police, we figured we had nothing to lose by trying to hoof it the 6km (or 8km, depending on who you were talking to) to Viggiona. We had no clue if this town was before or after or even on the climb, we just knew the race would pass through Viggiona.
My coach had put together a swim/run/strength training plan for me while I’m on the road and so far during the Giro I’d done precisely zero of the workouts but I had my running clothes at the ready! A quick change for us both and we took off. We had directions from the owner of the local bike store (which does not rent out bikes, I can tell you that for a fact): he pointed to the parcheggio and then he made an up gesture with his hand. He thought for a moment and then repeated the up gesture, emphasizing that we were not going to have a flat, easy hike. I started to jog a little just to get up the steep trail out of the parking lot and before I knew it, I’d broken into a full run, my legs thrilled to finally be moving again after months of triathlon training followed abruptly by inactivity (and Italian pastries). I’d left Andrea behind but we’d made an earlier agreement that it was every fan for herself in such a situation, so I hoped I was safe!
The bike store guy wasn’t kidding. The trail went up…
and up…
and up…
The views were gorgeous but I didn’t have time to stop and admire them. Without any real idea of how many kilometers the hike was and where exactly Viggiona fell on the race route, I calculated that the race could come through as early as 3:45pm and we’d only left the parking lot at 3:06pm! Hearing helicopters helped me push on (and up!) and I reached Viggiona where I was greeted by an old grandmother who, upon seeing a panting and sweaty woman emerge from the trail after 44 minutes of running, began to shower me with a round of bravos.
But I wasn’t at the race yet! I was on the edge of town, clearly the wrong edge. The town was really a village and the layout must have been based on a rabbit warren with its narrow, rocky lanes darting in all different directions.
I could hear sirens, indicating that the race’s arrival was imminent. After a few wrong turns, I found the main road!! I arrived just in time to see the tail end of about a dozen riders climbing a corner. I could tell BMC, Cannondale Garmin, and Etixx Quick Step were among the teams represented in the group. But was that the break? Or the grupetto? None of the spectators moved to leave so I crossed my fingers I hadn’t missed the race entirely.
After 5 minutes, more race vehicles drove up the road, so I knew at least there’d be a few more riders. In fact, I had missed just the break and the next rider to follow was none other than the race leader, Alberto Contador!
And just behind him was Ryder Hesjedal!
Movistar pulled for Andrey Amador who is within striking distance of the Milan podium while Steven Kruijswijk looked to pad his narrow margin in the KOM competition.
A tired looking Fabio Aru was a few riders back.
Mikel Landa followed solo. The next several riders appeared alone or in pairs, all of them tackling the demanding climb as best they could, which made it all the more exciting to get a smile and a wave from Adam Hansen mid-climb.
Uran sat on Betancur’s wheel on the ascent.
Luis Leon Sanchez and Nate Brown.
There were a couple of packs of cyclists that went by, dragging themselves up before eventually descending into Verbania. One of the last riders on the road, Luca Paolini drew huge cheers from the spectators.
By the time the last race car had gone by, I’d been standing on the climb for just 15 minutes! I turned back towards the village and found my way back to trail, but this time I was able to pause a little and enjoy it all.
Viggiona church
Cannobio seen from above
When I got back to Cannobio, I found Andrea at a cafe and as we walked back to the car, we spotted race highlights on TV in a restaurant. The race had ended just as I’d finished my run back to town. While I’ve enjoyed the racing at the Giro, I haven’t always been excited by the stage winners, so it was wonderful to see the Philippe Gilbert had soloed to his second stage victory this Giro!
Can’t wait to see what will happen in tomorrow’s mountainous stage with 3 categorized climbs and a summit finish!
Today’s 17 autographs came from: 21 Fabio Aru, 31 Francesco Bongiorno, 61 Rigoberto Uran, 65 Iljo Keisse, 76 Cedric Pineau, 89 Aleksejs Saramotins, 93 Tsagbu Grmay, 112 Andrey Amador, 132 Sam Bewley, 149 Eugert Zhupa, 159 Davide Villella, 167 Cheng Ji, 181 Steven Kruijswijk, 201 Alberto Contador, 209 Matteo Tostto, 212 Eugenio Alafaci, and 213 Fumiyuki Beppu