Thanks to Mel Rathe!
From Ben Sharp- Stage 1, Italy.
Info should be at girodibasilicata.com. Our hotel doesn’t have internet so I’ll have to be brief.
Good racing today, 107km with 2 KOMs. At the start, Slovenia, Russia, Croatia, Japan, Bulgaria, Belarus and a host of Italian national teams, 110 riders in all.
The team was active early and as Ian Boswell suffered through the race’s first crash (and got back in), Jacob Rathe was taking control of the race at the other end. He managed to escape with a Russian rider and stayed away (being joined eventually by 2 others) for about 85km. He scooped up the KOM jersey and finished 4th. Nathan Brown put himself in the late race move and won the bunch gallop for 5th. Ian Boswell rolled across in the top-20 with Charlie Avis just behind. Aj Meyer and Austin Arguello came off the back on the last climb and came to the finish only a couple minutes in arears. Tomorrow is the “queen stage”, 97km over hilly terrain.
Everyone is happy and healthy, and devouring homemade pasta…
YAY!
