In 2013, we spent two nights in Paris as we finished up travelling in Austria, Italy, and France, and were ready to fly home. For years we had followed the Tour de France on TV, but when Lance Armstrong retired and the drug allegations hit, we lost interest. Still, it was late July, so after everything was booked, we decided to check out the TdF website to see if it would be near any of the places we’d be staying.
To our delight, it turned out the finale was going to happen the day before we were flying home, and as luck would have it, our hotel was less than a kilometre from the finish line at the Arc de Triomphe. It was so exciting to be in Paris for such a celebrated event, and we were lucky to see the riders several times as they rode their final laps down the Champs-Élysées.
Fast forward thirteen years to our six-week stay here in Lucca when we learned that the Italian version of the TdF — the Giro d’Italia — would be starting Stage 10 right here on May 20, 2025!
Monday, May 19 - We’ve been here for three weeks now, and every day, there have been more and more signs of the Giro’s arrival: routes planned, sections of road repaved, signs up all over letting people know what will be open and what will be closed on May 19-20. They’ve closed the schools for two days, there’s a competition for the best storefront decoration, there is Giro bunting zig-zagging across the streets, and multiple lead-up events have been planned, including the 10km walk that Erik and I participated in on our first weekend here.
Today, we went for our daily walk around the walls, with a stop at Esselunga for groceries, and we saw preparations are now in full swing. Three-quarters of the city wall is closed to vehicles until tomorrow night, and a number of streets will be closed all day tomorrow.
I imagine it’s a bit of a struggle for the Lucchese people who need to get to work or find last minute childcare with their kids out of school, and I can only imagine what the town will be like tomorrow morning as the huge media contingent arrives.
While we were out walking, we kept our eyes open for cyclists checking out the route, but didn’t see any. They actually have a day off today, so we’ve wondered where they are staying. We just need to watch for young fit men with powerful legs and skinny arms. As we returned to our apartment, the small parking lot across from our front door has been taken over by TV support vehicles. Interesting!
Tuesday, May 20 - Today we are trying to decide where the best place might be to view the race. This leg happens to be a time trial, which means each rider rides the 28 km to Pisa alone, with one racer leaving the start every minute or two, in reverse order.
Our hopes are pinned on #101, Derek Gee, a Canadian who is the team leader for Israel Premier Tech. He’s currently in 20th place overall out of about 180 racers. The race starts at 1:15 pm so his start time isn’t until about 3:50 pm.
The start line is in the largest piazza in the city (Piazza Napoleone), which is about 500m directly east of our apartment, so we headed there first. We easily found a spot halfway down the road so we could see both the starting gate and the right turn onto the wall where Erik and I walk or ride almost every day.
We watched about ten racers head out and tried to get pics and video of them as they flew by. Then we walked over to the other side of the old town, to the two sharp hairpin turns, where the riders got back down to the road and exited the city. It was a great spot to watch, as they really had to slow down to make the turns. Each rider has a police motorcycle in front, and a car with extra bikes and gear, plus another motorcycle or two behind. The higher ranked riders also have cameras following them, and there were helicopters and big TV cameras at various points of the race.
After watching for an hour or so, we walked 20 min back to the apartment to have lunch and watch the race on TV. Then about 20 min before Derek’s start time, we walked a few minutes to another point on the wall, and waited to see him go by.
Because the riders leave at exactly the time posted, it’s easy to watch the ones you want to see. Still, he flew by so quickly it was hard to get a picture. It took about 3 hours for the 180 or so riders to leave Lucca, and by the time the last 20 fastest riders were set to take off, the skies were clouding over and rain was threatening. In fact, we had a thunderstorm and rain warning for the late afternoon.
After Derek passed us, we walked back to the apartment to watch the rest of the race on TV. By this time, it was starting to rain in Pisa, but lucky for Derek, he was just ahead of the worst of it, and it was only sprinkling when he arrived in Pisa 30 min later.
But for the top 19 riders behind him, things were not going so well. The rain had started to pour, and by the time each of them finished the race, it was just dumping down, causing them to lose a minute or more in their TT times. This worked out well for Derek in the end, and he was able to move up to 12th place overall, an amazing 8 places ahead of where he started.
(And as an update on Monday, May 26, he has continued to move up the “general classification” ranks and is currently in 5th place overall with the hilly climbing legs of the race ahead, at which he excels.)
We had a great day being a part of yet another iconic Italian tradition, and we enjoyed seeing the Italian people so pumped every time a rider from Italy rode by. Here are a few more photos from our day.
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