The piece written by Gianfranco Josti and published just yesterday it was a little shockPerhaps if we hadn't read it, we wouldn't have written this editorial. Talking about it among colleagues at the Giro, We have in fact realised how many adverse conditions we have accepted to work in cycling during the time of Covid. And how now that the Government has removed the various restrictions, we continue to suffer themThere are those who work in much worse conditions, let's be clear, but Having at heart the quality of what we produce, we realize that we are operating with full steam ahead.
The place designated for meetings with the riders is the mixed zone, a lane of a few meters where the athletes speak with the media Photographers are also prohibited from the bus area, where great photos have always been taken.
The place designated for meetings with the riders is the mixed zone, a lane of a few meters where the athletes speak with the media Photographers are also prohibited from the bus area, where great photos have always been taken.
A forbidden tour
Josti remembered Chats and discussions on the buses before the start are prohibited.. He recalled the interviews done during the massages, in those long moments in which the rider really lets himself go: forbiddenHe spoke about the Virtual press conferences, which will be held online today on the rest day thanks to the bridge made by RCS Sport, while until 2019 rest was the way to frequent the team hotels, exchanging free words that would be useful in the rest of the race to build more substantial stories and insights.
There is one thing Josti either didn't notice or didn't want to write about. The much envied accreditation that allowed us to pass between the riders, shortening travel times, has now exhausted its superpowersIf you want to go to the sign-in sheet to access the mixed area, where the interviews at the start are held, you must do so. crossing the wonderful people of fans. Nothing bad, it also helps to realize the paths left at his disposal, but once again it lengthens the time and makes the work difficult. Journalists are no longer allowed to pass on the race route, while for example the Bersaglieri gang is not batted an eyelid. Blocking your passage are men dressed in black who take pride in exercising their power.. While as fans excluded from the stadium, There are colleagues who try to sneak in using tricks and underhanded means. This also leads to a loss of dignity..
Massage interviews have always been a source of wonderful pieces: here with Pantani And here with Nibali: photos and pieces made up until recently
Massage interviews have always been a source of wonderful pieces: here with Pantani And here with Nibali: photos and pieces made up until recently
Unhappy teams
Al Tour of Italy and in all RCS races it is like this. The blameless colleagues in the press office who work with us and for us pay the price, they bend over backwards and are often forced to justify decisions taken elsewhere.Asked about this in recent days, director Mauro Vegni said that we will try to reverse the trend in this last week: we would be eternally grateful to you for it. They would be too the teams, who had their accreditation requests for their sponsors rejected: those who pay the salaries and would like to enjoy the show from within. In the rest of the world, from Türkiye to France, passing through Belgium and the Netherlands, certain restrictions have been eliminated.So much so that in the more recent Flèche Wallonne and Liège it was possible to work as before.
The reason given by RCS Sport is that president Lappartient would have requested to keep the athletes in the bubble: but What kind of bubble are we talking about if the riders are surrounded by people in the hotels and stop to take photos on their way to the start? The UCI simply recommended adhering to the host country's regulations. And Italian regulations have eliminated certain restrictions.
But there is a but. RCS Sport must comply with UCI regulations, as must the ASO and other organizing bodies.If it is true that for every infringement of the technical regulations heavy fines are issued, one wonders who the French pay very high fees to the constituted authority or that the control criteria are different.
Another sport
Yet there is who benefits from this uncomfortable situationThose who stay at home and tell readers they're at the Giro and other races. Those who, thanks to the possibility of accessing virtual press conferences, have the same… privileges as those who invest and send their journalists onto the racing roads, to offer a more compelling insight into it. Those who somehow, instead of telling stories, act smart thanks to a system that allows them to do so.
But in doing so, cycling changes. If you move it to the virtual realm, it no longer makes sense to invest in sending envoys, the taste for storytelling is lost and we end up offering the public and, by extension, the sponsors a poor and standardized product. If everyone writes the same things, does the Giro benefit? Cycling and the story that followed it were something else. Let's all make sure they get back to that?
