I may be alone in this view but I think there are some sports that aren’t really spectator sports. In saying that I realise that what constitutes a spectator sport for one fan is the closest thing to a brain numbing activity for another.
Football, loved and watched by many, bores the pants off many rugby fans I know. Golf, a sport I’d happily watch on television, is the closest thing to watching paint dry for those with little or no interest. Cricket - the idea of sunny days in the open air politely clapping a glorious stroke has an appeal, but live televised test cricket, I just don’t get it.
If you don’t understand the subtleties and rules governing a sport then the chances are you’ll never understand why its on TV.
That brings me to cycling and the 2010 Giro d’Italia. I understand a little about cycling. I used to cycle a fair bit but in recent years I’ve been lazy. This year I’ve started cycling again, no more than an hour at time, but I admit I’m finding it tough.
I don’t really consider cycling to be a TV friendly sport but whenever I’ve been in Italy when a major race is televised, especially the Giro, the bars are full of cheering fans. I was surprised the first time I realised that it was cycling and not football that was on the television. From the roars I thought somebody had just scored.
I’m full of admiration for the strength and levels of fitness that are required to compete in a major race day after day. Next to the Tour de France the Giro d’Italia must be one of the toughest races for any professional cyclist. They seem to go at speeds that God never intended.
This year the Giro d’Italia has two stages passing through Abruzzo. The 256km stage 11 on Wednesday 19th May from Lucera in Foggia to L’Aquila in Abruzzo looks like a tough one. That’s followed by the 191km stage 20 on Thursday 20th May along the Adriatic coast from Città Sant’Angelo in Abruzzo to Porto Recanati in Le Marche. I expect that the bars of Abruzzo will be full of excitement during these stages. That’s assuming that the Abruzzese haven’t closed up to go see the leaders and the peloton as it passes near to their homes.
But cycling isn’t without controversy. Today I read in the Guardian online “Italian Danilo Di Luca has been banned for two years for testing positive for illegal blood booster CERA during last May’s Giro d’Italia, the Italian Olympic Committee’s (CONI) anti-doping tribunal ruled on Monday”.
This is sad news. I remember the Giro of 2009 and how Di Luca, who is from Spoltore in Abruzzo, came so close to winning overall, only losing out by 41 seconds to Denis Menchov of Russia. It was a very exciting Giro for Abruzzese who were still coming to terms with the earthquake of 6th April. I wrote about it at the time and was hoping for Di Luca to do well. Unfortunately it now looks as though my excitement, and that of many Abruzzese was unwarranted.
So for 2010 I hope the Giro d’Italia is as exciting but without any of the negatives that have plagued this sport in recent years. I hope that those cyclists and teams who bend the rules and cheat do not profit by their efforts. I’d like to think that the 2010 Giro will be drug free but I don’t believe that will be the case. The most I feel I can hope for is that the major players, the stage winners and the overall winner earn their positions by honest means.
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