Thursday morning, before I slept I found Merida-Lampre's hotel and Cannondale/Saxo-Tinkoff's hotel by chance. So after the check-in I took my bike and revisited the latter. It was the other side of the road from the harbour empty yard where the presentation would later take place.
At the hotel where Saxo-Tinkoff was staying I saw Japanese media people and greeted. I asked and they told me BMC's hotel was nearby and RadioShack-Leopard's hotel was on the other side of the small harbour. So I went and found the hotel. "Costa Salina" housed Belkin, Europecar and RSLT. OK I got what I needed to know. Came back to la Matonara and took a shower and changed. I packed a bit of food/drink, camera and flags and walked to the harbour. I was the first one to squat behind the barrier. It was 12:20.
Last year I showed up at place de Lambert in Liége arround 7:00. I began squatting arround 7:30?? There was a man before me but this man abandoned after a while. And I stayed. This makes me the first squatter for two years in a row! I am not making this up. Let's see what I can do in 2014 in Yorkshire.
I saw TP (Team Presentation) in Brest, Rotterdam, Liége and Porto-Vecchio. I liked the one in Rotterdam and Liége.
I liked the former because it was multilingual although French was missing. The moderators spoke in Dutch, English and Italian.
I liked the latter as the live band accompanied the show although English was missing. The band's female vocalist was from Sicily and helped the moderators communicate with Vincenzo Nibali. So French and Italian were used.
OK I am not sure if I can make it to Yorkshire next year but I am expecting English will be the main language.
If the Grand Depart were held in Luxembourg, a minimum of four language would be used. English, French, German and Luxembourgish. These are minimum. Additionally others could be available like Portuguese or Italian as many people working in the media have various ethnic backgrounds.
This year's show was not bad but not so memorable. Oh by the way, Nicolas Roche was never formally introduced to the public. He is well-know in France and his name was indeed referred on the stage. He is the only one who did not get properly introduced. The roster the MC had got Nicki Sørensen's name on it instead of Roche.
No McDonald's in sight. No free wifi. I had to turn on the expensive roaming option on to get to the net.
Finally Trek announced that it had acquired the license from Leopard SA. It was about the time. Next year, the team will be Trek-(sub-sponsor, if any). There are rumors that staff (and riders) who are strongly linked to JB will be purged. I just hope everybody I like stays.
Friday morning I woke up a bit late. I needed a good sleep. It had been a while since I last slept on my back. I got up arround 9:00 and got a shower. I had to get to the hotel and get the autograph from Jan Bakelants.
The hotel's parking, where people stalked on riders, was not so crowded. In fact, almost deserted. Not so many people came all the way to Corsica after all. I don't know this had been expected by ASO or the tourism office of the island. Norwegians, New zealanders (or Australians) are easy to spot as always. The former wear that Jerseys or shirts with Norwegian flag or letters proudly. The latter have flags and kangaroo figures or kiwi figures (flightless birds). And recent years Czechs have been ubiquitous. They now enjoy their place in cycling sport.
Cycling sport is not too nationalistic. That is what I like about it. A team consisting of multinational riders and staff members aiming the one goal. This is beautiful.
- 2013/07/03(水) 02:35:05|
- はじめに
-
| トラックバック：0
-
| コメント：0
