We took our flags down and drove back to Asciano to spend the night at the aire/sosta.  They’ve put up a nice new fence that borders the field next door.

The next morning we got going at a decent time and headed towards our next destination of Lido di Camaiore for the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.  We needed to get past Siena, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge.

We got halfway to Siena when we were stopped by a backup of vehicles.  Wondering if there had been an accident – we could see a police car – I got out and walked to the spot and discovered that the road was closed due to a sportif.  None of the police there spoke english but my italian is still good enough that I understood it would be about an hour before the road opened again.

Like many other vehicles we turned around and looked for an alternate route.  Once again, however, we were stopped.  This time one of the traffic wardens spoke good english and was super friendly.  We patiently waited about half an hour until the bulk of the sportif had passed, then were allowed to go on our way.

Skirting Siena we made our way to Lido di Camaiore and were once again thwarted in our objectives.  First of all we couldn’t find a service station that had gpl (for our gas stove) and actual service on a Sunday.  Hoping we at least had enough to boil water for tea in the morning we went to the parking area beside the Hotel Joseph where we’d stayed before.

We’re not sure why but the whole parking area was blocked off – on one end by race buses, and the other by a barrier with a couple of campervans in front of it.  We drove a short way and parked for the night outside a local soccer stadium.  Many cars during the night gave friendly ‘glad you’re here’ honks to welcome us – not!

It poured rain off and on all night long, and in the morning we decided to skip the initial ITT and go to a spot along the route of the second stage for the next day.

We chose a small town on one of the climbs – Castellina Marittima – and drove a couple of km past where we found a nice wide fairly flat spot with a wonderful view of the plain below and the sea in the distance.

In the morning after breakfast we took a walk back down into the town and had a lovely cappuccino.

Walking back up to the campervan we decided we were not in the perfect spot for the race and drove back to the edge of the town to watch from.

There was a breakaway of five, followed about 2 ½ minutes later by the entire peloton…

Alaphilippe was up near the front, and one of his teammates threw his bidon right at us – score!  I got photos of Michael Woods in the bunch…

…as well as Cavendish…

Shortly after the race passed we headed back to the aire/sosta on the shores of Trasimeno, passing through some very beautiful Tuscan countryside on the way.

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