The Marco Pantani Movie finally made it to RAI International only a few days after its Italian premier on RAI. I set my DVR to record it but was unable to get enough time to watch until Monday when I came down with a cold and was at home with a few hours to kill.
The Marco Pantani Movie was produced by RAI and has the same qualities as any major network “Movie of the Week”. The story follows Marco’s life through a flash back that is bookended with Marco smashing a plate glass window during the 1999 Giro at Madonna di Campiglio when he found out that his Hematocrit level was above 50%. The 50% threshold required that Pantani take two weeks off from cycling as a health precaution. This meant that he was booted from the Giro where he was dominating.
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Paolo Savoldelli kept his Maglia Rosa in an Armstrong like stage 1 performance. Il Falco scorched the field by 11 seconds over a 6.5 km circuit which is a large margin. Paolo Looks to be defending his Giro win from last year, but the course, especially the last week of the Giro does not suit his skill. Il Falco is more of an all round rider, not a pure climber like Rujano, Simoni and others.
At the start of the Giro Saunier Duval’s Pietro Algieri and Gilberto Simoni both started pointing to Tom Danielson as a dangerous rider. He is playing support to Paolo Savoldelli, but there isn’t much word on his official role on the team. When Danielson is mentioned, it is not so much as a supporter, but someone who will race his own race. This makes complete sense since the last week of the Giro is well suited to the Disco Climber.
Interestingly Giro commentator David Cassani is playing down Danielson’s chances saying that he is a rider who performs well in the US but not so wel in Europe. They also said that he started road cycling late in his career and cannot be considered a young rider any longer. Cassani might be forgetting his 8th place in the Vuelta. It is not a win, but it is a decent enough result.
Hard to believe that the Giro is starting this weekend. The most fun to watch of the Grand Tours will have many options for American viewers.
1) OLN TV and Cycling .tv combined forces to offer live daily coverage. http://olntv.com/cyclysm/
2) Eurosport.com is promising to offer some sort of daily coverage. If they provide video then that is a free option vs. getting the Cycling.tv deal. http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/giro-d-italia/2006/
3) You can try and catch the RAI Sport video and audio from RAI Sport. Check out http://www.beelinetv.com/ for the links.
4) Catch live streaming from the Gazzetta dello sport site. http://www.gazzetta.it/
Visit the site just as the stage is underway and you will see a live streaming option.
5) If you understand Italian you should call your local cable or satellite tv provider and get RAI International.
http://www.international.rai.it/
RAI International provides amazing coverage of the Giro. Not only do they show the stage live, but you get the commentary of David Cassani and Aurio Bulbarelli who are light years ahead of Phil and Paul. Sorry, Phil and Paul, you do a great job, but these guys are on another level.
After the stage is finished the RAI International coverage continues for around 90 minutes with “Il Processo della Tappa” which is a studio show that discusses the day’s stage. They bring in all of the important retired Italian riders and talk with the animators of the days stage. This show makes the subscription worth it. Make sure you have a DVR or TiVo or your VCR ready to tape.
