Trasimeno was particularly lovely in the morning sun the next day.
We had another delicious cappuccino at the same place we stopped at a few days ago and then began to follow the route markers for the day’s stage. They passed right through Pila – where our hairdresser/barber has his shop – and we went all the way to the edge of Foligno. The drive was all on the back roads and the whole area was very beautiful.
We parked in a large parking lot right outside a cafe and got a bite to eat, then settled in to wait for the race – we were just over 4 km from the finish.
The race passed by in no time – they were really moving.
We got back into the campervan in time to watch the end on GCN on my ipad, then headed up the road to the aire in Trevi for another nice quiet night.
Our next destination was for Friday’s summit finish at Sasso Tetto, passing through the town of Sarnano along the way. However upon arriving we changed our minds – it was so windy up top we were wondering if we were going to get blown right off the mountain.
We did stop to make chicken in curry sauce with rice for lunch, then spoke with some fellows that had stopped a bit further down. They told us that the race didn’t actually go to the large hotel but rather up another road where the ‘memorial to Scarponi’ was.
We drove up the other road to have a look – fairly desolate and again very very windy.
I got out and braved the wind long enough to take a few photos then we went back down through Sarnano and back along the route to the town of Gualdo.
Finding a nice flat wide spot just outside the town we pulled in for the night, being joined by the very large bus with the Belgian couple. We’ve met them several times now, most recently at last year’s Lombardia.
The next morning we went into the village for cappuccino before deciding that we would watch the race from right in the town rather than down the road where we’d spent the night. An observation: I don’t think it’s possible to get a bad cappuccino in Italy – even though the coffee brand is often different it’s always excellent – too bad the roads weren’t as superior.
It was far too windy to put the flags up, and they even took the ‘King of the Mountains’ banner down to prevent it from blowing away or coming down on the riders. There was still the painted line on the road but it’s not nearly as impressive.
The race was a little late arriving – the wind might be ok when it’s at your back but the fierce headwind going up the mountain could not have been fun.
It took a lot longer for the race to pass this time, and once again we watched the end on GCN – they’d shortened the course by a couple of km due to the wind at the top. It was a very exciting finish with a sizeable group actually sprinting up the slope of the very hard climb and Roglic coming out the winner.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 