PIACENZA – The third stage of the Tour has just begun. While it's not time to assess the race's presence in Italy, we can begin to say something. It took the Tour to remember Gino Bartali, Gastone Nencini and Marco PantaniAnd today, when the Grande Boucle will remember Coppi, we will have to say thank you again. Sometimes in these cases, that usual joke (very Italian and pessimistic) comes to mind according to which things would be different in this country if foreigners were to govern it. And despite the logistical problems, in some cases caused by Italy's inability to abide by the rules, it has been seen that the ability of the French to enhance what they offer is truly masterful.
Prudhomme's skill
The Tour is to other races what a WorldTour team is to a great professional team. It can be done and in fact a good job is done in both cases., but it is undeniable that having money to spend and spending it to grow the product digs a rather deep furrow compared to those who eventually think more about accumulating it than reinvesting it.
The Tour knows how to tell its story. It presents its heroes and their stories. It represents them and brings them to the roads where the race will pass, to prepare the ground. The presence of Prudhomme Travelling around Italy for months shows how much they care about knowing you and making you feel important.They welcome you, from the Village to the press room. They smile. They are affable and at the same time unyielding. And they show you that they do things with purpose. Want an example? Here it is.
Yesterday morning at the Cesenatico Village, the photographer Stefano Sirotti received an award for his agency's presence at the Tour. When it was time to hand it over to him, Prudhomme threw a riddle in his face.
“Do you remember,” he asked him, “the day we gave you the award for your twentieth anniversary?”
“It was the 2015 Tour,” Sirotti replied.
«But it was also the day after Bardet's first victory in Saint Jeanne de Maurienne – Prudhomme replied – and today is the day after another victory for Romain».
If instead of limiting himself to a handshake, the general manager of the Tour de France had the attention to collect or have collected such information, it means that He cares about the people he speaks to. And that makes the difference.
Money and memory
Yet, as old Pantanians now anesthetized by too many ceremonies, We can't find the beauty in having remembered Marco yesterday in CesenaticoLet's be clear, the "Panta" deserves it every single day that God gives us to live. But why do it only today and only because three Italian regions have put their millions on the table? Okay, they told it and dressed it up beautifully, but why didn't they do it before?
Yesterday in the television news it was heard a fair bit of climbing up the mirrors when Tonina Pantani she said (direct as usual) that Marco was not treated well.
It was wanted to point out that today the management of the Tour is different, that the old Leblanc is no longer there, who at a certain point after 2000 decided not to invite Marco anymore to the French race he had won. Nothing strange: he preferred the solidity (including financial) of Armstrong and his sponsors, in whose name the Texan even covered up a positive doping test.
And then why, if the guiding hand is another, at the moment when Armstrong was seen in the right light, No one felt the need to spare a thought for Marco Pantani from Cesenatico, rereading history before anyone paid to do so? There would be no shortage of opportunities.
It's business, we know. And the Tour knows how to handle it better than the others, to the point that The departure of the 2025 Vuelta – a race owned by the Tour – from Piedmont is now a done deal. So we take the beauty of Italy that the French are showing off so masterfully. We are in awe of the dedication, kindness and preparation of Prudhomme and his men. But we don't feel like embracing them beyond a certain point. They're not doing it just for us. If Spain had put the money in the pot, they would have spoken (and rightly so) with the same competence and passion about Fuente, Ocaña, Bahamontes and poor Java Jimenez.
