The big pink

Over the course of three days in Ireland the 97th Giro d’Italia rolled past many things dyed or painted pink; sheep, horses, pylons, water skiers, windmills and the hairdo of the mayor of Belfast to name a few.

Now if you are unfamiliar with the Giro, then it’s the first Grand Tour on the racing calendar and this is only the 11th time it has started outside its natural habitat of Italy. First raced in 1909 as a way to boost the sales of the Gazzetta Della Sport, the obsession with pink comes from the colour of the aforementioned paper and has stuck ever since. Thus the person with the quickest aggregate time after three weeks of toil pulls on the Maglia Rosa, or “Pink Jersey”.

The Giro isn’t as well known as the Tour de France but does have the reputation of being the more brutal of the two. Long stages coupled with perverse climbs and frequently terrible weather - just last year they had to rearrange a stage due to the road being closed by snow - mean that the ability to win a Giro goes beyond talent and into the realms of bloody-mindedness. Bradley Wiggins' attempt last year to follow up on his Tour win ended up in a demoralising withdrawal in the second week. British cycling has come a long way, but not this far as yet.

With that in mind it’s been unfortunate that the Tour de France’s well-publicised upcoming long weekend in Yorkshire has meant that the second biggest cycling stage race in the world, starting so close in Northern Ireland, has gone largely under the radar. Not that anyone remembered to tell Belfast this; it was heartening to see how the city had taken to the generally unfamiliar sport, lining every route with London 2012-esque crowds. From the slightly drizzly conditions of Friday night’s Team Time Trial to the grim conditions of the race getting out onto the roads proper on stage two there was a raucously pink, if slightly damp, mob getting into the spirit at all turns.

UK interest in the race was also not helped by a number of high profile names deciding to skip it in favour of a French romance. Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish and even last year’s Giro winner - Italian Vincenzo Nibali - were all absent. Add on late withdrawals such as Peter Kennaugh and it meant that the sole Brit in the race was the lonely figure of Team Sky rider Ben Swift. A man who is in fine form and more than capable of taking a couple of stage wins before the finale in Trieste, but still not a name that would register on most non-cycling fans radar.

However, there were Irish riders present. Riders who were given rock star receptions where ever they went. From every second person who had a story of how Sky’s Phillip Deignan had taught them all they knew about cycling, to the generational pressure on the shoulders of Nicolas Roache, son of the 1987 Giro-winning Stephen, it’s obvious that the Irish had bought into the myth of this fine race.

Then there is the third home rider, surrounded whenever he stopped moving, even for a quick sip of water, the unfortunate Dan Martin. I say “unfortunate Dan Martin” because fresh from falling on the last corner of Liege Baston Liege while leading, here his bike slipped from under him on a wet manhole cover during the Team Time Trial. This resulted in a broken collar bone and an early trip back home via a Dublin operating theatre. His Giro lasted less than 20 minutes.

After the two successful days in an Italio-Belfast melting pot, where Svein Tuft took the Maglia rosa on his 37th birthday on Stage 1 and the German pin up-cum-cyclist Marcel Kittle won the bunch sprint on Stage 2, the caravan then moved down to Dublin. Anything the north could do, the south was going to try and go one better. Once again the centre was a riot of pink, and the big crowds along all routes into Dublin hint at the possibility of a lasting united legacy for cycling across the country. Stage 3 again came down to a bunch sprint - and coming from so far back he was almost in a different city, Kittel accelerated past everyone to win it on the line. I do hope Mark Cavendish wasn’t watching that while he warms his cockles on the Tour of California.

A memory the slightly bewildered Italian race organisers and leather-faced journalists will surely take away will be the idiosyncratic Irish weather. Venturing outside in full waterproofs you’d step into a bright warm May afternoon. By the time you’d swapped cagoule for sunglasses the rain would be coming in sideways. A fact that was proved by the sheer amount of kit the riders had on them at all times. Neoprene scuba gloves nestled alongside short sleeved team jerseys.

So now that the Giro d’Italia takes itself back to the more familiar, and warmer, setting of Bari in Southern Italy, what’s going to happen to all that pink? Of all the things that were rustled up by the local tourist board to fit the colour scheme, possibly the most thankful will be our woolly friends. According to a taxi driver I spoke to, and who would discount the wisdom of a cabbie, the pink hair dye used was not fit for human consumption, thus meaning the sheep have been inadvertently saved from becoming a reluctant guest to a Sunday lunch booking.

So, if only for those grateful ovines, the Giro’s Irish adventure can be seen as a rousing success.

BBC Radio 5 live will bring you the latest from the Giro d'Italia until its conclusion on 1 June. You'll also be able to hear commentary on the 2014 Tour de France from it's start in Yorkshire on July 5. You can read more about both Grand Tours on the BBC Sport cycling pages.

Download the latest BeSpoke podcast here