Giro d'Italia in Ireland 2014

[armaghniac]

What a crash!! Madness

I have seen marshalls in other races signalling a split in the peloton at similar roundabouts. Useless southen b**tards 

You're right. It happened at every traffic island on the way into Belfast yesterday.

I wouldn't have thought that this was a decision to be made by local marshals,  I would imagine that the organisers would have certain engineering principles for curves, widths etc and would survey the entire course and instruct the marshals accordingly.

[Jeepers Creepers]

The commentators on Eurosport were saying that it was quite bizarre that there were no marshals on the islands as there were so many of them!? Up to the Giro themselves.

[bennydorano]

Some crowds milling about Armagh, had to be 10k+.

Got a bucketload of photos, someone stood in front of me & ruined my Cadel & Quintana photos as they left the mall area. Milling around the paddock area was brilliant, better than seeing them ceremonially whizz past. Class day. Kudos all round to the NITB, Darach McQuaid & co and even the Stormont gobshites.

TDF would be nice now i predict it's arrival for 2020!

Kittel's win was something else, thought he was done for & Swift had it

[orangeman]

The German can sprint. He won it by a wheel on the line and such was the speed that he had built up going over the line he must have been 10 bike lengths ahead 50 yards past the line.

[Tony Baloney]

Some crowds milling about Armagh, had to be 10k+.

Got a bucketload of photos, someone stood in front of me & ruined my Cadel & Quintana photos as they left the mall area. Milling around the paddock area was brilliant, better than seeing them ceremonially whizz past. Class day. Kudos all round to the NITB, Darach McQuaid & co and even the Stormont gobshites.

TDF would be nice now i predict it's arrival for 2020!

Kittel's win was something else, thought he was done for & Swift had it

Aye it was good in Armagh. I went to the Shambles for a while and the Mall and then watched them zip out of Armagh outside the Tech. Got a few photos of Cadel and Kittel etc. Few heavy showers but blew over pretty quickly. Didn't bother head out to Keady etc. as I knew they would zip past in seconds.

[JimStynes]

It's been absolutely brilliant this past few weeks. Hope they see this as a success and bring the tour here at some stage.

We've been learning about it in school this past two weeks. One wee lad asked me why does Usain Bolt not race in it, as he thought that the sprinters got off their bikes and sprinted to the line like they do in the olympics. Another asked how do they carry their bikes when they are climbing up the mountains. They were 100% serious as well.

The commentators on BBC were absolutely shite by the way. I can't stand your man Cartlon Kirby, he just seems to wing it and constantly get names wrong throughout the whole day. I was hoping for your man Liggett from eurosport.

[bennydorano]

Kirby seems to be the Eurosport#1 nowadays since David Harmon pulled the pin. Irishman Declan Quigley is very good. Not sure who Liggett works for, he's the voice of ITV2, but he'll probably be the voice of the Tour of California on Eurosport tonight. Must all be subbying!

[RealSpiritof98]

This morning was a truly unreal experience in Armagh, the people came out in force, i havent a clue how to predict crowds but id go at 20k or so. Shame the the town got little or no coverage on the telly this evening, the waxing lyrical that went on about Belfast the 2 previous days i thought 'Armagh' itself would have got more than a mere mention. (btw i could be wrong and missed a promo) Mark Simpson on Newsline was amazed by the 2000 in Richhill today, if he'd bothered heading on into town it would have been great viewing. When in the Shambles in early morning and then watching it pass me at ogle street, I was struck by the sheer size of the event i.e police/stewards/team cars etc and the organisation that must go into and event like this. What did come into my head was, How the feck do the make any money? The tour would be amazing but id say a different town would get the nod.

[imtommygunn]

The atmosphere in belfast was fantastic for this. Best i've seen for any event of any description up here. Really hope something like the tour de france can come here too. I think it will do wonders for tourism on the whole.

As has been said bbc commentary was awful. Nobody who says umm so much should be allowed near a microphone!

Events like the belfast marathon should be like this and sounds like a tour of ireland sounds like it's happening.

[Tony Baloney]

The atmosphere in belfast was fantastic for this. Best i've seen for any event of any description up here. Really hope something like the tour de france can come here too. I think it will do wonders for tourism on the whole.

As has been said bbc commentary was awful. Nobody who says umm so much should be allowed near a microphone!

Events like the belfast marathon should be like this and sounds like a tour of ireland sounds like it's happening.

Jeez lads youse are very sore on our very own festival of colour every July  Sure it's like the Giro and Tour every year!

[imtommygunn]

Ha - sure they're almost the same except the giro boys clean up after themselves...

[Tony Baloney]

Ha - sure they're almost the same except the giro boys clean up after themselves...

Certainly less pissing in doorways and sectarian intimidation than "Orangefest".

[Eamonnca1]

What did come into my head was, How the feck do the make any money?

Sponsorship and sale of broadcasting rights. 

[gerry]

Giro d'Italia crash stage 3 2014. As the peloton enters the village of Lusk at a roundabout, the road narrows, which funnels the cyclists through a very narrow strait. One cyclist from Astana team collapses causing a massive pile-up.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqy_K_z9dJ4

[Keyser soze]

Yes the commentators on BBC were absolutely useless, pointless drivel, unable to pronounce any of the place names and struggled with a few riders names too. The guys who used to do TDF on C4 coulda showed them a thing or two, really used to love listening to them.