Amitrice

As Carol and Roger returned from their days watching the Giro d'Italia, their route took them right through the heart of earthquake country.

We imagined things couldn't be much worse than what we had seen in Norcia (see "Terremoto" from May 14, 2018).

The hamlet of Spelonga disabused us of that assumption.  Of the half-dozen buildings in town, not one was undamaged.

In the small village of Grisciano, things were even worse.  The entire village had been leveled...save one building.

There was a small cafe housed in a prefabricated modular building, where a number of other people stopped...along with us...for a cup of coffee and a jaw-dropping peek at how a whole community just disappeared.

Across from the cafe was a large banner that said, "We will rebuild and return to the place of our hearts."

As we got closer to Amitrice, we saw a road sign for the town...and the road wasn't closed.  So we took it.



Amitrice is nestled in a valley below the snow-capped peaks of the Appenine mountains.  The natural setting is very pretty.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Remember this photo from our previous blog post?



This is what the main street of Amitrice looked like before the earthquake.

This is what that same main street looks like 22 months after the earthquake.

Before the disaster, the town of Amitrice was half-again as big as Pienza...still pretty small by current standards.

Most of the town is a "red zone," too  dangerous to allow people in.  The Italian military constantly patrols to keep rubberneckers (like us) from getting themselves into trouble.

Almost two years later, the amount of rubble that remains to be cleared away is staggering.

Only a geologist...or perhaps an architect...could understand why one house would collapse into a heap while the one next to it remained standing.

There are a handful of buildings scattered around that engineers believed can be saved...with proper reinforcement.


Meanwhile, the buildings will wait, wrapped in their scaffolding, until reconstruction of the town can begin.

Just beyond the far end of town... outside the red zone...the government has erected two small villages of prefabricated buildings.

This one is home to the six restaurants that existed in town before the earthquake.

A similar village houses the grocery, bank, and other businesses that used to line the main street.

It brings a few jobs to town.  But with most homes destroyed and people living elsewhere, the community is on economic life support.

 Amitrice is famous for one dish, served in all six of the restaurants... pasta all'Amitriciana.

We, of course, stopped for lunch and ordered their signature dish.  Carol describes it a slightly spicy with white wine, olive oil, pepper, and pancetta.

As we were leaving town to return to Pienza, we saw a sign for where the restaurant and hotel used to be before the earthquake.  We turned into the parking lot and saw...

The Favorites, the Upstart, and The Local Hero

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

The Giro d'Italia is all about winning.  Nothing can beat the excitement of the sprint to the finish line.

But cycling gained its popularity in Europe and has retained it because of the larger-than-life characters who have been the super-stars of the sport.

This year's Giro was billed as a contest between two men:

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

Tom Domoulin won last year's Giro d'Italia with a gutty performance.  Known as a time-trialist and not a climber, Domoulin won hordes of fans by sticking with the more famous climbers as they ascended the longest and steepest roads in Italy.

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

Unlike last year, Domoulin has not won any stages of the Giro going into the last week of the race.  He's stayed close, sitting in second place, 2' 16" behind the leader.

His performance has been steady, but not electrifying, as it was in 2017.




Many commentators said Domoulin won last year's Giro because this man was not in the race.

Chris Froome is the reigning champion of both the Tour de France and the Vuelta de Espana.
He's one of only nine men ever to have won two grand tours in the same season.

If he could win this year's Giro and the Tour de France, he would be one of only six men to have won all three grand tours and one of only four to win a double in two different seasons.


When Froome announced he would compete in the Giro d'Italia this year, he was instantly granted the status of "favorite," and the sports media salivated over the duel between the two men.

But things have not worked out in accordance with the media hype.  The day before the start of the Giro, while training, Froome fell and injured himself.  Then, 10 days later, his bike slipped out from under him while climbing on a wet road, and he lost almost another minute to the leader.

On the day pictured here, he was still suffering from those injuries and fell 40" farther behind.

courtesy: Cycle Insider

On Stage 14 (last Saturday), Froome got a bit of redemption.  He dropped all competitors on the final monster climb up Monte Zoncolan and sprang from 12th place up to 5th.

However, on the last rest day, just before the final week of the Giro, he sits 4' 52" behind the leader.  There are still five stages in the Dolomite Mountains, a terrain where Froome excels, but it's a huge amount of time to make up.

So, if Domoulin and Froome have yet to light up the race, who's created all the excitement?

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

The answer is 26 year-old upstart  Simon Yates.

He is the son a British cycling legend Sean Yates and twin bother of Adam Yates (who just finished fourth in the Tour of California).

Yates, this one, grabbed the maglia rosa (leader's pink jersey) on the 45 km climb up the Gran Sasso.

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

He won again by dropping competitors on the steep collblestones just before the finish in Osimo, a finish Carol and Roger watched from the side of the road.

This is Yates' first Giro d'Italia.  His enthusiasm has proven infectious, and even fans of other teams find themselves rooting for the young Englishman.

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

Bike racing is a team sport.  A team leader can save 30% of his energy by drafting behind a team-mate (Yates is in pink; his team-mates in yellow and black).

This leaves him enough gas in the tank to pull out all stops as they approach the finish line.

Not every team truly likes its leader.  Yates, in contrast, is very popular with his team and never fails to credit them for his victories.






So far, a Dutchman and two Brits have been the focus of this blog post.  But the Italians have not been shut out of their own grand tour.

The sprinter Elia Viviani has won four stages of this year's Giro...more than any other rider.

He currently wears the purple jersey, earned for the most sprint wins.  His lead, at this point in the race, appears insurmountable.

And there's a Pienza home-town favorite, because his family lives here.

Diego Ulissi is the nephew of one of our Pienza friends (see "In Search of the World's Most Expensive Food" from November 15, 2016).

Ulissi is not a team leader, but he currently sits in 45th place (out of 176 cyclists who started the Giro).

Whenever we see him on the TV at the bar where we watch the race, a small cheer goes up.

Go Ulissi!  We're all rooting for you.





Update:

Stage 19 0f the Giro d'Italia turned the whole race on its head.  The stage was a beast with four mountain passes to climb.

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

Simon Yates, who had led the race up until today, simply ran out of gas and finished in 79th place...38 minutes behind today's winner.  

Tom Dumoulin, held on to second place with a gutsy ride that...under any other circumstances...would have made headlines.

courtesy: Getty Images

But the day belonged to Chris Froome, who launched an 80 km solo escape over three mountain passes that left everybody else in his dust.

The reporter for the London Telegraph called it, "one of the most extraordinary solo attacks in...cycling history."

He finished three minutes ahead of his nearest rival, took over the race lead, and pulled on the magnolia rosa.






Dumoulin sits 40" off the lead with one more mountain stage, 214 km long and three passes to climb.  Tomorrow's for all the marbles.

You can see video highlights of Froome's remarkable performance today on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9USGFIF2UWc.

A 2,000 Mile Parade

The Giro d'Italia...which runs during the month of May each year...is one of three grand tours on the pro racing circuit.

This year's race covers 3,563 km (that's 2,200 miles) over 21 days.  It demands top physical condition, because it's like running 21 marathons over three weeks.

This year, Carol and Roger went to Umbria and Le Marche to watch several days of racing.


This blog post, however, is not about bike racing; it's about the incredible logistical challenge presented by such a race.

Towns compete for the privilege of hosting the Giro, because it brings lots of business.

The color of the Giro is pink.  It's the color the leading cyclist wears.  It's also the color of the paper the Gazetta della Sportiva, the primary sponsor of the race, is printed on.

Towns dress themselves up with pink ribbons and balloons...

The more creative they get, the more media coverage they get.

Millions of people turn out each year to watch cycling's Grand Tours.  Not all of them are as fanatical as this fan.

Real tifosi (maniacal fans) turn out hours...or sometimes days...before the race passes by in order to get a prime viewing location.


Their sign reads, "The Giro drives me crazy."




So, what does it take to support a race with 22 teams and 176 riders over 21 different stages?

First of all, somebody has to drive the route early each day and put up route markers, distance markers, sprint points, mountain summits.



Dozens of signs for each stage of the race.

Then, hours before the race passes by, police and tow trucks remove the cars of people who disregarded the signs to clear the race route.

Then, over the final two or three kilometers of the course, race organizers put up hundreds of barriers to keep the tifosi from getting in the way of the final sprint.

After the race, they take down the advertising and the barriers, pack them into a truck, and move on to the next town...so they can do it all again the next morning.

The good news is, spectators don't have to pay watch the Giro.



The bad news is, to get a good viewing spot, a spectator must be on the race route at least an hour before the peloton comes by....and it takes them but a few seconds to whizz past.

Getting a spot near the finish line provides a much more exciting experience, but it's more crowded and hard to see past all the other rubberneckers.

In addition to the eight racers each team has, they bring a small army of support staff as well.

Drivers for the four team cars (One for communications and processing the real-time data from the riders' computers).

The director sportif (coach), two or three mechanics, a chef, a doctor, a physical therapist, a masseuse or two, plus somebody to handle the logistics for all these people.

courtesy: Giro d'Italia

When Carol and Roger came to their first Giro,  17 years ago, it was easy to get up close to the racers. One of the other people on their bike tour wanted to get her picture taken with superstar Mario Cippolini.  She walked up to his team bus, knocked on the door, and asked for him to come out for a photo.  He did.

Not any more.  Now the team vehicles are parked in a secure area with guards by each bus.  Access is strictly controlled.

There are as many media in the Giro parade as there are team members.  RAI, the Italian broadcaster, sent a dozen trucks to cover the race...microwave trucks, satellite trucks, audio and video trucks, plus their mobile control van and broadcast booth.

In the final kilometer of the race, RAI has six cameras.

They have four cameramen on the back of motorcycles and two more in helicopters.

Newspapers and wire services have almost as many still photographers on motorcycles out on the course and at the finish line.

Along with this battalion of technicians there is an equal-sized contingent of print and broadcast reporters.

The man at the right in this picture is a reporter for L'Equippe...the French daily sports newspaper.

Since there's no admission charge to see the Giro, the race organizers have to find some way to raise money.  They name sponsors... dozens of them...wineries, breweries, phone companies, real estate agencies.

They all take part in a parade just ahead of the peloton to get the public exposure they paid for.  These women get to crawl through every town the Giro visits in the sponsors' caravan, day after day, for 21 days.

Finally, before the peloton passes by, there comes the race director's car...accompanied by a squadron of motorcycle cops...announcing the riders are only seconds behind.

Then the thousands of fans who have been waiting patiently for hours near the finish line pull out their cameras....

...and get a photo like this of the winner of that day's race.


In this case, it was Simon Yates....
but more about that in our next blog post.

Terramoto

Courtesy: Wikipedia

On the morning of August 24, 2106, the town of Amitrice looked like this.

Courtesy: UK Talk Radio

Twelve hours later, it looked like this.

A 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook the eastern slope of the Apennines.

Over the next four months, there would be three more earthquakes and another 3,000 after-shocks.

courtesy: CBC

Before the earthquake, Amitrice was a town of 3,000 people.  Almost one in 10 residents died.

Amitrice has asked tourists to stay away.  Most roads into the town are closed.

As Carol and Roger drove from Pienza to watch several stages of the Giro d'Italia, we passed by a half dozen towns that...18 months later...looked like these photos of Amitrice.

We did, however, stop in the town of Norcia...which was actually at the epicenter of the quake.  Somehow, it managed to avoid the total devastation of Amitrice.



But it hardly escaped unscathed.

50 meters inside the main gate to the old city, we saw homes destroyed by the earthquake.

Even where the buildings were still standing, we could look inside and see the damage done.

Dozens of buildings, ones that could be saved, were propped up, awaiting repairs.

Whole sections of the city were blocked off... labelled as "Red Zones"...where it's too dangerous for people to live.

Twenty-one months after the earthquake hit, crews are still assessing damage... working to see what can be salvaged and repaired.

There was clearly repair work going on, but after almost two years there was more work waiting to be done than work that was in progress or completed.

Saint Benedict was born in the town of Norcia in the year 480.  His statue stands proudly in the middle of the main piazza.

The church that bears his name is tucked right behind the statue, next to the Municipio.  You can see the scaffolding that has been erected to hold up the front of the church.

But when you walk around the side of the church, you have wonder whether there's enough of the church left to be saved.

While much of the buildings in Norcia remain standing, much of its unique cultural heritage has been destroyed.

Unlike Pienza, where the streets are bustling with both tourists and residents, Norcia seems to be struggling to recover its breath after a devastating gut punch.

That's why we give credit to the folks who work at Filli Ansuini de Mastro Peppe...where they have been making cheese and sausage for the past 82 years...and were open for business today despite the setbacks.


We wish them...and all the people of Norcia...well and a full recovery.