This week, the "Giro d'Italia", a cycling tour of Italy, passed through the region where I am spending my year abroad. The race began on the 9th of May in Dublin, Northern Ireland, and after two stages in Ireland the athletes came over to Italy. On the 13th of May, the cyclists were awaited with excitement. All classes finished early so that schoolchildren could see the event with their families.
I went with my host family to watch the cyclists, who were going to ride down a road very close to our house. We heard the sound of the helicopter that was filming the event overhead and rushed there as fast as we could. Sure enough, when we arrived, the cyclists were approaching. They came onto a roundabout, swooping round the corner at very high speed and whizzing past us like the wind. We took a few photographs but it was quite difficult to get a good shot when the bikes were travelling so fast. The cyclists were all dressed in very colourful and tight fitting clothes and were riding bikes with extremely thin frames. They were followed by lots of cars carrying spare bicycles, police cars and finally an ambulance.
The race passed through the town very quickly because they had to move on to the big city further down the coast. It was still very exciting to witness part of their journey around Italy because I'd only ever seen a cycle race on television before. This year, another famous cycle race is beginning in the United Kingdom: the Tour de France. The first stages of the tour will travel through Yorkshire, the county where I live in the UK. Maybe I'll get the chance to see part of another race in 2014!
Have you ever seen a cycle race? What kind of sporting events are you interested in?
