Giro 2014 - 'Big Start'

dolan_driver

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Oooof

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hu ... 65425.html

Just seen that from Rob Hatch on twitter. What a world we live in.

I read this article but I don't see the connection between this incident and the Giro. The location where the bomb was found is probably 10 miles away from the nearest point of the Giro stage and I doubt any of the Giro entourage would have been staying at this hotel either.

There is a lot of activity going on at the moment with the dissidents here in Dublin but bombing a visiting global sporting event is not likely to have been on their list of targets. This bomb was more than likely going to be used to target an organised crime gang leader living in Dublin. In fact one of the well-known gang leaders is probably on the top of their list and his house is not anywhere near the Giro route or any hotels.

I was going to say the dissidents aren't stupid (they quite obviously are and are a whole range of other things too} but they are struggling for support for their outdated "cause" and carrying out a Boston Marathon-style bombing is unlikely to have been their ambition with this bomb. I think the weather was always going to be the biggest threat to safety on the Irish stages.

DD.

cougie

We went to Belfast to catch the first two stages - had a brilliant time. Belfast really embraced the Giro. I've never seen so much pink in my life. Locals were all brilliant and very welcoming. I'll definitely be coming back.

I've seen the TdF start in Dublin in 98 and the Tour start in London (whenever) and really Belfast knocked them into a cocked hat.

Top marks to them.

I think Yorkshire might rival Belfast - but they have a lot to do !

cougie

Oh and have most of the NI clubs changed their colours to have pink in them this year ? Must be tricky in the races !

dsoutar

Has there been any published reaction from the teams about the visit to Ireland ? I must say I was blown away by the support watching it on the telly - what an amazing atmosphere it much have been

Well done you !

chrisgal

Massively proud of this wee island and its people, just goes to show how sport can transcend, embrace and unite.

One the other hand with local/euro elections and the marching season coming up I unfortunately expect normal service to resume

barry_kellett99

TailWindHome wrote:

Fairly sure the group of young lads in pink at the front were Nico's junior team

Some of them
The majority were Cycling Ulster youth riders from all the clubs from around the province.

barry_kellett99

knedlicky wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Watching rerun last night it looked very like an OGE rider in middle of chain gave a high 5 and a wave to crowd on a fast bend.

I saw that too, think it might have been Brett Lancaster.
Hard to know if it was a wave to a friend or a signal to the following team car.

OGE rider appeared to give a high 5 at Stormont but he was waving for fans to stay in.

However, when they passed us at Stranmillis, one of the riders who had gone off the back after doing his job High Fived loads of people on his way up the hill 3km from the end.
What a guy!

Got a good bit of club publicity for ourselves with a nice retweet from Rigoberto Uran too! Great weekend.

durhamwasp

Had a cracking weekend in Belfast, top city - I will definitely be back.

Atmosphere was excellent, and loads of interest in the cycling, but not so much that it was unbearable. We got to easily stand at the start of stage 2 at Titanic quarter, right on the barrier even though we only turned up 20mins before the start. Likewise we got a decent spot with 125m to go even though we only arrived about 25min prior to the finish.

Was a little bit surprised at how few cycling jerseys/caps were kicking about, saw a couple in bars but very few really. Think there were 2 others in Wetherspoon after the stage and that was it (us 6 had ours on).

Yep, well done Belfast.

NeXXus

cougie wrote:

Oh and have most of the NI clubs changed their colours to have pink in them this year ? Must be tricky in the races !

Yep! Racing is a non issue, unless officially recognised club kit - Giro pink editions aren't able to be worn.

kaacp

Alan A wrote:

My Giro is complete.

After a terrific weekend in Belfast and Ballycastle, I am just catching up on posts today. And I realised that I was standing behind you at the TTT - you were passing around a bottle of Italian whisky, and my brother was happy to take a slug! You were also at the same corner for the practice that morning, and managed to sneak into a couple of my photos of the FDJ boys clambering over the barriers.

(I'd post them but I just can't seem to get the hang of that particular technique.)

This internet thing can be very weird!

Otherwise I can only echo all the comments here about the atmosphere, the sea of pink everywhere and how fabulous it was to be part of it all. Pink has been replaced by a dose of the blues today...

alanp23

Just to echo all the other comments...

The atmosphere in Belfast was just amazing. Everybody wanted to be involved. It was a huge sporting event and everyone wanted to join in.

I rode the stage 2 route on the Friday (Got wet! but also got some stunning views) and the locals had pretty much painted everything pink. Bikes, houses, a petrol station, a golf club that had changed all the pin flags to be pink and that electricity pylon that you may have seen on the TV. (I never saw a pink horse though). Its hard to describe the effort everyone had put in.

There was a huge number of people including men, wearing something pink all weekend. Everyone just embraced the whole event, drivers were courteous to all the cyclists and the welcome of the people was without exception overwhelming.

I'm back in the Yorkshire bubble again now, but we are going to have to work hard to beat that weekend.

knedlicky

Nobody has mentioned it here, it was too early to be seen on the TV coverage, and I've not seen a photo, but an Italian acquaintance told me that at the village of Dunloy, between Ballymena and Ballymoney on stage 2, hanging adjacent the stage route, there was a giant poster of Pantani wearing the pink jersey.

frenchfighter

tailwindhome

knedlicky wrote:

Nobody has mentioned it here, it was too early to be seen on the TV coverage, and I've not seen a photo, but an Italian acquaintance told me that at the village of Dunloy, between Ballymena and Ballymoney on stage 2, hanging adjacent the stage route, there was a giant poster of Pantani wearing the pink jersey.

There was.

frenchfighter

Photos from the three days:
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/05/ciao- ... in-photos/
Good article on logistics of moving back to Italy:
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/05/movin ... ern-italy/

tailwindhome

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news ... alia-2014/


Yeah.

We nailed that one.

So when are we getting the World Championships?

tailwindhome

Promise I'll stop posting on this thread (sometime)

Forgot to add, these guys seemed to be everywhere over the weekend

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FAN-CLUB ... 4167073463

RoadPainter

chrisgal wrote:

Massively proud of this wee island and its people, just goes to show how sport can transcend, embrace and unite.

One the other hand with local/euro elections and the marching season coming up I unfortunately expect normal service to resume

The mayor seemed like a properly good guy and somebody who might be able to help unite things. It would be fantastic if a few senior people on each side said "wasn't that great, let's tone our flags down a bit and concentrate on uniting where we can." Maybe the presence of pink could continue as it's one of the few non-divisive colours!

As an outsider, the marching season seems a really annoying tit-for-tat that just drags up the past and prevents people moving forward. I guess you'll never be able to get rid of it though as too many people are too stuck into their traditions (ie winding up the other side).

And when you've got a split as deep as beer (Harp or Tennents, never both!) I figure it'll always struggle to be solved.

frenchfighter

First min of this video is very well done. Music makes it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKucBZ8YCYk

mulletmaster

Great video, our tourist board needs to be pushing similar around social media

jmacsam

Thursday just like any other day - here's what happened for one of our guys in the club:-

http://phoenixcycling.proboards.com/thr ... 14-day-any

Macaloon

jMACsam wrote:

Thursday just like any other day - here's what happened for one of our guys in the club:-

http://phoenixcycling.proboards.com/thr ... 14-day-any

"...I whispered to pettachi it's the legs that count not the bike mucker."

That's a great tale. Top read.

RonB

jMACsam wrote:

Thursday just like any other day - here's what happened for one of our guys in the club:-

http://phoenixcycling.proboards.com/thr ... 14-day-any

Great stuff & thanks for posting. Any of your folks involved in the RAS this yr? I think it starts today.

frenchfighter

Great story. Not sure how he kept up on his commuter!

jmacsam

@FF - Stu would be top 'amateur' TTer in the club which made the whole thing even extra special for him
(David McCann is a member and the top TTer too but he's a just retired pro)

@Ron - yes, first time in the clubs history that we've actually entered a 'club' team - fguys have done it as individuals before, so super exciting - few of us planning to cycle down to Skerries next Sunday for the finish and the street party, so more pink on show

Couple of links if you want to follow it:-

http://phoenixcycling.proboards.com/thr ... 2/post-ras

https://mobile.twitter.com/_awdo/status ... 3187662850

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JyDTFlghZYg

And McCann is doing the RAS too but he's doing it as part of a team of former RAS winners ! - which should be interesting

frenchfighter

Haha makes sense now!

RonB

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

alan_a

Great read. Chapeau.

tailwindhome

TailWindHome wrote:

..these guys seemed to be everywhere over the weekend

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FAN-CLUB ... 4167073463

Seem to have had a right old day today

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