Giro d'Italia races through Val Chisone

Tuesday saw the 100th anniversary edition of the Giro d' Italia stage come hurtling down Val Chisone, at the bottom of our road, past Bella Baita's perch up in the hills, on it's way to the Pinerolo finish line. Like the racers the race continues on for me as well. After the finish of one stage then it's on to the next. We've had a very active May and this years race brought us mostly cycling enthusiasts here to see the race up close and personal.
For those of you not familiar with the Giro d'Italia bike race, or more affectionately known as the "Giro", is Italy's version of the Tour de France, a grueling long distance series of stages, over 3,00o km long, that will test the mettle of even the fittest. The Giro has often been a warm up race for many Tour de France racers, although, many have shied away from it as being too testing and not enough recovery time between the end of this race and the French race. That was always the reason given for Lance Armstrong not competing in this race. So, this year we find Lance in the line up, working to support his team, in spite of a nasty fall just a few weeks back. I have to wonder if our enquiries for this time period have something to do with Lance's presence bringing the race to a broader audience.

We enjoyed the day at the finish in Pinerolo with some of our guests and friends. There was a variety of activities going on, the sun was shining, and so a good time was had by all. The big screen TV was great to be able to follow along the route, when there were so many great places to watch the competition and of course, we couldn't be in all of them.
Later on that evening it was entertaining to hear everyone's stories of the day and their various vantage points of the race. The Giro is almost half over, but you can still follow along or have a look at the different stages on Wandering Italy's 2009 map of the Giro. If you want to see what one of our guests had to say about staying with us during the Giro, or if you enjoy learning more about what all there is to do and see in Italy, Go Italy is a great place to start, or Go Europe for a broader view.

I have a lot of posts piling up with some recipes coming shortly, I promise.

Review of the past few ......

Well this looks like it might be a bit of the tour itself also.
The Giro d'Italia has come and gone,
The Festa della Republica, June 2, come and gone,
and my brother and sister in law, come and gone also.....but lots of fun to savor over the next bit of time. The Giro d'Italia is to Italy what the Tour de France is to France. High energy, top notch bicycle racing over a grueling 3 weeks all over Italy with enough pain and suffering to last a life time, or at least till the Tour du France kicks off about a month later. The long road races, the breath taking mountain climbs and descents, often in weather just one step off snow on top to add to the effort. It's every bit as thrilling as it's more famous cousin, and taken just as seriously here not only by the racers, but by the Italian fans as well. Some of the racers use it as a training tour for the French tour. Ugh, gluttons for punishment or adrenalin/endorphin junkies I've never been quite sure which it is.
We had some of the support crew stayed with us when the tour rolled into our big town of Pinerolo, situated at the mouth of our valley, played host to the tour. It was an exciting couple of days, with last years Miss Italia ( a local Piedmont girl, second year running) coming to town the night before to add a bit of glitz and excitement to the event the following day. Our crew got up early to put up the various banners and advertisements that helps to keep this show on the road. The crowds were thick and the excitement palatable with loads of hype and pink afloat to keep the kiddies and parents all aglow with the anticvipation of the cycle race coming to town. The race to the finish line was marred by a light rain that started just before their arrival, making the sprint a slippery affair exacerbated by plastic ads placed on the last few feet that proved to make a dangerous spot where the pack started falling like dominoes behind the winners in an ugly end to an exciting race. Alessandro Petacchi, a long time favorite, won his third win of this tour and his 22nd win of the national tour. It was a fun day conjuring up memories for me of when Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond use to bring a bit of European excitment to Colorado when the "Coors Classic" race was still alive and cycle racing was a big event every year. Fabrizio reminisced about coming to the Pinerolo stage with his grandfather and it was a big day out from Serre Marchetto. It was nice to make some new memories.