Arrivederci Irlanda, grazie mille Giro

Today after three unforgettable days of professional cycling, we will say farewell to Italy’s grand tour and express our gratitude to the Giro for bringing La Grande Partenza to our country.

This great event appealed to our sports-loving public.   

They descended onto the streets in greater numbers than anyone anticipated, and did so despite disappointing weather conditions.

  

As one of the Volunteer Now officials appositely said to me – the preoccupations with red white and blue, with green white and orange were superseded by a huge embrace for pink.

From the Belfast Lord Mayor’s dyed hair, to pink pylons, pink sheep, pink bicycles, pink tractors, pink Belfast Telegraph, pink shop window displays, the elaborate decoration of people’s gardens and houses - the one hundred thousand welcomes afforded to our visitors told the watching world that all of Ireland salutes and reciprocates grand gestures. 

The rearranging of ecclesiastical cathedral services in Armagh, the re-organisation of school timetables and the accommodation of road closures caused no undue fuss.

It seemed like and indeed it was an honour to host the first stages of the Tour of Italy.  It was a privilege to see it on the streets and on TV and, in a small way, to be a part of it.

The final stage (Sunday May 11) began in Armagh, ending in Dublin reminding us that collaborative cross-border event management works.   

The bid to stage the Giro here had involved a joint effort from two Governments.   
This will deliver economic environmental and social benefits.

After all the rhetoric, photographs are a good way to tell the story of the last day.  

The scene is provided by Markethill County Armagh (population c 1300) which lies 27 kilometres into the 187k stage.

The caravan which precedes the riders was led by a group of taxis, appropriately re-sprayed for the occasion.

A series of vans merchandising a special Giro outfit did a lucrative business.   

For £10 you could buy a commemorative kit consisting of a tee-shirt, cycling cap, backpack (no prizes for guessing the colour scheme), clapper as well as 4 bracelets representing the Italian national flag.

Just as yesterday’s scenes (Saturday 10 May) on the Giants Causeway stage where small and large places were packed full of cheering fans, it seemed that the number of people on the streets of Markethill by far exceeded the population of the village.

You feel proud of our people for entering into the spirit of the event.

 

In a repeat of yesterday’s stage, the expectant crowd’s first glimpse of racers in Markethill was a breakaway group of four cyclists.

  

A good five minutes later the peleton arrived, by which time the level of excitement was itself at world record levels. 

Given the normal pace of the riders, it was a relief that nobody crashed or collided with anybody or anything.   

The enormous herd wisely slowed and carefully negotiated the wet and dangerous 90 degree bend turning towards Keady.

What impressed as much as anything was the manner in which the appreciative people of rural Armagh gave the plethora of support vehicles of the 22 teams as raucous a reception as they gave to the cyclists. 

Everyone was awestruck by the uniqueness of an occasion which showed that top class international sports stars could race through your own little village, past your own house.  What a thrill.  

Life doesn’t get any better.

The spectacle of the families departing in such an orderly way left the volunteers feeling good about a job well done, a job that these local people made it easy to do.

Previously someone had remarked to me about the apparent chaos within the main field of cyclists. 
TV cameras show support cars weaving through the peleton, seemingly at random as cyclists mill about fetching bottles, rain capes or food. 
The aptly-named domestiques are loaded up with supplies to somehow dole out their team  leaders. 

It all portrays an apparently southern European attitude to health and safety that viewers here might find slightly baffling.
We could do worse than adopting the healthy lifestyle of our Continental neighbours. 

  

A propos chaos theory, I watched the sprint king Marcel Kittel live on television in the late afternoon. 

His chances of winning appeared to be slim as the American Canondale team’s drive-train took ruthless command of the race in the final kilometre.

And yet somehow the turbo-charged German managed to power his way up the flying field to take victory by the short (or enormous, depending on definition) length of a wheel and repeat his winning feat, conquering in Belfast and now in Dublin - celebrating his birthday.   

An overwhelming display of the sheer physical power and a massive will-to-win exhibited the requirements of class and fitness that are needed to compete and succeed at the highest level – in any discipline.  

Inspiring.

Ciao Giro.  Complimenti a tutti.

©Michael McSorley 2014