Giro di Lombardia, start delayed in Bergamo

Context

TL;DR

• The group halts the start of the Lombardia for four to five minutes
• Remco Evenepoel speaks on behalf of the riders
• The protest comes after the incident at the Tre Valli Varesine
• The race sets off from Bergamo toward Como after the stoppage

Key facts

• Event → 120th edition of the Giro di Lombardia
• Date → Saturday 10 October
• Place → Bergamo
• Actual departure → delayed by approximately four-five minutes
• Route → 239 kilometers from Bergamo to Como
• Spokesperson → Remco Evenepoel
• Previous → Tre Valli Varesine of 6 October
• Team involved → Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team

On Saturday 10 October, in Bergamo, the group of riders delayed the actual start of the 120th edition of the Giro di Lombardia by around four-five minutes. The race included 239 kilometers until the arrival in Como and the gesture was chosen to send a signal on safety in cycling races.

The departure stopped in Bergamo

The first start, the fictitious one, was given shortly after 11. When the time came to actually start the race, however, the group remained still. The wait lasted about four or five minutes; only afterwards did the runners begin the planned kilometers up to Como. The initial and actual departure therefore took place in two distinct moments, with the second start preceded by the collective gesture.

Remco Evenepoel was the spokesperson for the protest. The rider represented the group's requests in a phase immediately preceding the race, transforming the delay into a message aimed at the cycling world. The request was clear: greater guarantees are needed so that the competitions can take place, containing as much as possible the risks associated with the vehicles present on the track.

The choice came four days after the Tre Valli Varesine, played on Tuesday 6 October. In that race, a collision with a police motorbike present on the route involved two riders from the Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. The reference to that episode gave the Lombardy protest a precise content, linked to safety and management of the roads during races.

The group therefore did not use the moment of departure for a simple variation of the procedure. The arrest in Bergamo was presented as a collective stance, taken after a serious accident and other problems that occurred in races held nearby. The sequence led the riders to ask for safer conditions before starting the test towards Como.

Operational details

The incident that formed the backdrop to the protest at the Lombardia was the crash that occurred at the Tre Valli Varesine. The race had taken place on Tuesday, October 6 and had involved two riders from the Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Marcel Camprubí and Thomas Gloag. Both had collided with a police motorcycle that was on the course.

Tom Pidcock's account

Tom Pidcock, the team's captain, had reconstructed what happened at the end of the race. According to his version, the vehicle had appeared in front of the riders, moving in the opposite direction from the group. The impact had mainly involved his teammates in the leading positions.

The consequences for the two riders had been different. Camprubí had managed to resume the race without any particularly serious consequences. Gloag, on the other hand, had been forced to withdraw and had subsequently been taken to hospital for some injuries he had sustained, especially to one knee.

Pidcock had expressed great concern about what had happened and, after seeing his teammates fall, had wondered whether he should continue in the competition.

Pidcock explained that he had become furious after seeing his teammates fall and had considered stopping, but had continued after receiving reassurances about their condition.

The problem raised by the crash concerned not only the individual vehicle involved. The incident had refocused attention on the management of authorized vehicles and access along the roads used by the competitions. During a professional race, those roadways should be completely protected from outside traffic.

The Coppa Bernocchi precedent

Another incident had occurred the day before the Tre Valli Varesine, on Monday, October 5, during the Coppa Bernocchi. About twenty kilometers from the finish, a van had reached the course via a side road while the race continued. For a few moments, the vehicle had found itself between the breakaway riders and the chasing group.

It was a different incident from the Tre Valli collision, but the presence of a vehicle unrelated to the competition had brought the same problem back to the fore: preventing vehicles not involved in the race from reaching the roadway reserved for the riders. The two incidents, which occurred within a few days, contributed to increasing the group's attention to safety.

Key points

A protest that goes beyond the delay

Once the protest had ended, the Giro di Lombardia got underway as scheduled from Bergamo. The brief stoppage therefore did not cancel the race: the peloton followed the planned schedule, covering the 239 kilometers to the finish in Como. The immediate fact is that the start was delayed by a few minutes and then continued without any further developments described in the source.

The significance of the gesture, however, was broader than its duration. The account presents those four or five minutes not as a simple irregularity in the starting procedure, but as a collective protest calling for higher safety standards. The decision came after two different incidents that occurred in races close together on the calendar, bringing the relationship between riders and vehicles on the course back into focus.

The group’s request mainly concerns the safeguards needed to reduce risks during a race. On the one hand, there is the management of authorized vehicles, such as the motorcycle involved in the Tre Valli Varesine. On the other, there is access to the race course, such as that used by the van that entered during the Coppa Bernocchi. These are different situations, but both have fueled concern about protecting the roadways reserved for the competition.

The organization of the Coppa Bernocchi had also described the incident as serious and stressed the need to prevent vehicles unrelated to the race from accessing the course during the competition. This adds to the consequences of the Tre Valli incident and explains why the group chose to make its position visible before the Lombardia.

A message published by Eurosport Italia described Evenepoel as the group’s spokesperson and presented the stoppage as a protest to be taken seriously. The Bergamo protest thus gave public form to a request that had already emerged in previous races: better protect the courses and minimize the dangers linked to the presence of vehicles. After the signal sent by the group, the race nevertheless got underway as scheduled.

Source: varesenews.it