Official fan club Savoldelli
Giro Stage 14
Today we finished in Livigno. We are very close to the Swiss border. Actually tomorrow we will pass through Switzerland for about 15k of our stage. The city of Livigno definitely has a Swiss (and German) flavor. Looking at the hotels and buildings you would think we were actually in Switzerland or Germany.
Immediately after the finish of the race a big (generic) tour bus showed up at our hotel and a bout 50 or 60 people were milling about. My lack of Italian prevented me from finding out why. So I just put my nose to the grindstone and finished work while they all milled about. They would (as in all cities) ask for a capolini (Italian for riding cap — Spelling?) or Boracha (again my lack of spelling of the word for water bottle). You can constantly hear people asking for those two things especially. ALL THE TIME!! So, I tried to not pay attention. Give one away and it is like bees to honey when they find out someone gave something away. It’s easy to get a crown around you when you pass out ONE thing to ONE person.
Later I found out the bus group was Paulo Savoldelli’s official fan club here to cheer on their hero. After his post race massage Paulo came out to greet his fan club. The Italians are really good with their fan clubs giving time often to speak with them. Paulo was out in the parking lot (and even in a light sprinkle of rain) to chat with his fans. That was nice to see him appreciate his fans and talk to them. He spent an easy 30 minutes with them. And as all pros know, rest is important and every minute counts. So to give them 30 minutes made me even more impressed with Paulo.
Being near Switzerland where the price of things here are much cheaper. So close to the border this city needs to keep prices down in order to keep customers from driving the 30 or 40 K to the border. Gas for example was really cheep for once. It was an easy 25% cheaper than any other city we visited.