Giro d'Italia Stage 3 – May 11th, Armagh - Dublin 187km **Unmasked Spoilers**

postitnote

Had a great day out yesterday at a very early part of the stage through Loughgall. The breakaway had already happened at that stage with 4 riders out in front with the Neri Sottoli rider a minute behind them frantically trying to catch up.

We were at the bottom of two rolling hills through the main street and to see the wave of the peloton and team cars coming down towards us was spectacular.

A big congrats has to go to all involved, the PSNI were on a PR exercise with one motorcycle outrider having time to high 5 people as he passed!

Then at home watching it on tv, listening to the BBC commentators botching every single town name on the route. And for all the worries you all had it wouldn't be well supported when it crossed the border, well it looked like a fantastic turnout and (nearly) as good as up here

Seeing my lone Neri Sottoli rider from Loughgall being swallowed up by the peloton 5 hrs later made me a bit sad, but fair play to him!

And what a finish too! Kittel came from nowhere!

Purchase made from amazon yesterday:

Towbar mounted bicycle carrier.

retalivity

Question:

What happened at the border with the PSNI/Gardaí outriders? Did the PSNI go right up to the border and tag the gardai in to continue??

Pigeon Reaper

I was at my local bike shop. Free food, drink and pink candyfloss courtesy of the owner. 30 minutes to go until the pelothon passes when my pager went off to rescue a person. Kudos to the Gardai and Civil Defence guys who organised things so we could drive down the closed roads to the station. The rescue took a few hours so I missed the race but it did have a good outcome. Luckily I had recorded the race so got to see it later on.

daragh_

Wasn’t able to make Belfast so I signed up to be a Marshal with Cycling Ireland. Got a lift out to Swords from a club mate and after signing up we were all put on buses and dropped off along the route. Myself and another Boardsie (Hi Con) were in Portmarnock, just up the road from the big screen and the fun fair.

It was an interesting day, 5 hours of standing around, getting rained on, chatting to anyone who passed by, followed by a short period of utter fear that something terrible would happen on our stretch of road.

The public were great, they really got into the atmosphere. Every second person was wearing pink and I was surprised about how many people had been following the race and had a reasonable grasp of what was going on. Con had an Race Tracker on his phone and we were passing on updates to anyone who was interested.

Couple of guys from Dominoes Pizza rocked up with a Billboard and wanted to know would it be ok to hand out water to the riders!!!! Was lost for words at the one!

Half and hour before the race came through we did a walk along both sides of our section, picking up any stray rubbish, lots of discarded cable ties (ffs) and just giving people the nod that the riders would take up the whole road. Everyone was really pleasant. We had one over enthusiastic photographer step out on the road as the lead bunch were passing but a good holler got him in back on the pavement before the peleton took him out.


Can’t say I actually saw the race as I was too nervous checking the crowd but it was really really great to be part of something like the Giro and play a very small part in the running of the race.

Big thanks to Cycling Ireland. Especially for the pint afterwards!

Bukman13

Phillip Deignan's Diary of stage 3

http://www.stickybottle.com/races-results/deignans-giro-diary-i-dropped-back-to-the-cars-jackets-in-both-hands-and-in-my-mouth/

One of my favourite parts of cycling is how direct rivals are always happy to help one another out.

"When I went back through the cavalcade, my Team Sky car wasn’t there so the Orica GreenEdge team car came up and I handed them in the window to their directeur sportif Neil Stephens."

Jawgap

I wondered what caused the spill on the way out of Drogheda (near Southgate).......

From talking to Michael about it after dinner this evening, he said that there was a rut along the hard shoulder, which suddenly went from tarmac to gravel and it caught a few people out on that side of the bunch.

Pffffft.......amateurs - I cycle that stretch regularly and it's never caught me out.......:D

postitnote

I just learned what a stickybottle is

Lusk_Doyle

Jawgap wrote: »

I wondered what caused the spill on the way out of Drogheda (near Southgate).......



Pffffft.......amateurs - I cycle that stretch regularly and it's never caught me out.......:D

And people wonder why we don't cycle in the hard shoulder more often!

simonrooneyzaga

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Maybe its just me, but I think Paddy Power are an absolute disgrace. The shock-jock marketing attempts are not lost on me - and they clearly work, they have people (me included) taking about them, which is Objective #1 for them - but pathetic stunts like this are an embarrassment to the country on a day when we were trying to showcase all that was good about the country. Is "unpatriotic" too strong? PP CEO Patrick Kennedy obvious fancies himself as a chip off the old Michael O'Leary block, but on a day like this, to pull a stupid stunt like that - and especially following the bet he offered on the Pistorius trial - shows him and his low rent company to be a sad joke.:rolleyes:

It's certainly not just you, but in reality, PP couldn't give a ****e. The people they offend are not their target market. They are a top notch marketing company first and foremost.

Pinch Flat

http://www.strava.com/activities/140082033

:eek::eek::eek:

I think we should form a Boards Cycling Malitia to take some of these back, bloody cheek.....

Inquitus

Pinch Flat wrote: »

http://www.strava.com/activities/140082033

:eek::eek::eek:

I think we should form a Boards Cycling Malitia to take some of these back, bloody cheek.....

We need a thread for this, major Qudos to any boardsie who recovers a KoM from the marauding vikings of the Pro Peleton!

banjopaul

DisasterIRL wrote: »

Pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/4w8Lr

Haha found myself! http://imgur.com/Kqwxo4v

Raam

retalivity wrote: »

Question:

What happened at the border with the PSNI/Gardaí outriders? Did the PSNI go right up to the border and tag the gardai in to continue??

Not sure what the arrangement was for the Giro, but years ago I did a 4 day sportive, Tour of Ireland (now, sadly defunct) and afair the Garda outriders met us at the border and the PSNI lads turned around at that point.

BeerNut

For the souvenir brochure, some photos of sign-in in Armagh yesterday:

Hmmzis

Just saw the finish - OMG Kittel!!! Some afterburners that man has.

Lusk_Doyle

Hmmzis wrote: »

Just saw the finish - OMG Kittel!!! Some afterburners that man has.

Some distance he made up. No surprise he was in a heap on the ground after.

Zyzz

Pinch Flat wrote: »

http://www.strava.com/activities/140082033

:eek::eek::eek:

I think we should form a Boards Cycling Malitia to take some of these back, bloody cheek.....

Id be down for that, Boards Peleton out to reclaim all the KOMS!

macadam

Any where I can get a full recording of yesterdays race, my daughter forgot to set the sky box, and tonights repeat only was highlights..

hardCopy

Zyzz wrote: »

Id be down for that, Boards Peleton out to reclaim all the KOMS!

Charter a bus to draft off

Pinch Flat

http://www.independent.ie/sport/young-irish-cycling-fan-apologises-for-controversial-giro-selfie-with-collapsed-marcel-kittel-30269917.html