It might seem strange, in the era of maximum technology, digitalization, social networks that transmit everything (even the most mournful and disastrous events) in real time, that a service that is almost 50 years old is still so basic for the Tour of Italy. And yet Radio information it is still there, punctual, listened to by every insider. And this applies not only to the Giro d'Italia, but to every federal event.. Certainly, over time, the service has been updated, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by progress. Upon closer inspection, however, much has remained the same, starting with the passion.
A service that has been present for 47 years
Virgilio Rossi This is his 30th Giro d'Italia, but he knows the history of Radioinformazioni well and describes it almost with love, remembering when in 1975 the service was introduced to the Giro thanks to the Milanese radio amateurs who convinced the historic organizer Torrians to use them: «Even then there was Professor Enrico Fagnani, who hasn't missed a single edition. He started as a high school student and is now an established audiologist. After the group was founded, at Torriani's initiative, the service has gradually become more well-equipped. Over the years there have been important steps, such as in '79 when the service was included among the official FCI ones, on a par with judges and race commissioners.».
Over the years, the Radio Information service has been repeatedly tossed back and forth between the Federation and the League. Clearly, the service has evolved over the years, primarily thanks to the advent of the Internet and then increasingly sophisticated cell phones: "This progress went hand in hand with the affirmation of the service which also began to be used abroad., in the tests organized by Italians, for example I remember that since 2013 we have been working on Tour of Poland, from 2014 to the Dubai Tour which has now become the UAE Tour and this too is part of the WorldTour orbit».
The new technologies
The use of new technologies has also made it possible to offer an increasingly qualified product despite the use of personnel that has not increased that much over time: «At the Giro we have two cars and two motorbikes, a couple of radio bridge operators, another couple who take turns at the finish lineWhen we are in the Dolomites, a second land bridge is needed, so the number of people increases, but we are always in the order of ten, give or take a little».
And what about the vehicles? "The calculation is easy: one car and two motorcycles in the race, two cars at the finish line, and one or two cars for the bridge. Many people ask us if we also have a means of transport for all the equipment, a caravan or whatever you want to call it, but it is not necessary, because nowadays we are talking about very sophisticated equipment but also contained in the volume, so we can carry it with the vehicles that follow. Even if we're still talking about a lot of pieces, on the order of a few hundred. After all, we have to distribute information from eight sources: two from the bikes, one at the front and the other at the back, then the management channel, the marshals' channel, the "bridge", the finish line, the medical service, and a support service for the rest.
One week to assembly
However, assembling all this equipment, testing, and checking takes time. Gianni Hacksaws He moved to Budapest almost a week earlier to prepare everything. Romano (Rossi is from Imola) is on his 38th Giro and has been driving the Radioinformazioni car for "time immemorial" where Rossi is the speaker (together with Isabella Negri, who relays information in English and French and then attends press conferences always as an interpreter): «I'm a bit of a veteran of the group, clearly when the Giro starts from abroad there are many more checks to doIn this case, we only brought the radio equipment. For the rest (cars, motorcycles, and so on), we used local equipment. All our usual facilities have since been moved to Sicily. Otherwise, we would have had to use a cargo plane to transport everything..."
Seghetti can attest to how the work has changed over the years: "Enormously, it's easier now in many ways. We have much more powerful tools, and we're always in touch thanks to cell phones. It's all easier and allows us to be more precise and useful.What hasn't changed at all is the passion we put into it and also the environment, which has remained as genuine as it was in the beginning."
Radioinformazioni's work doesn't begin with the start: "We have to be on site at least a couple of hours beforehand," Rossi continues, "both to test all the equipment and to provide information to those who arrive. Then we stay after the stage, until the awards ceremony, then we pack everything up and begin the journey to the hotel. We'll be out and about for at least 12 hours a day, but we often go way overboard…».
Memories of a lifetime
In so many editions, the memories pile up in the mind: «There are so many that it is difficult to make a selection. For example, I remember well the stage interrupted on the Colle dell'Agnello due to an avalanche, there was the Swiss Richard in the breakaway, the one who had won the Olympic title. Then I can't forget the Weylandt accident, that day marked the lives of everyone who was there."
«Instead, I would like to remind enthusiasts of the epic Gavia stage under the snow – Seghetti intervenes – the one won by the American Hampsten because for those of us who were there it seemed like a surreal situation, lost in time, as if it had really been a joke of time that had suddenly brought us back to the cycling of its origins».
In so many editions, we often found ourselves touring Europe, given the choice to start from abroad: «The Giro also gave us this opportunity, we were able to discover corners that perhaps we would never have seen otherwise – underlines Rossi – The most beautiful place? For me, Belfast, that was a real adventure in a city that had so much to say.».
