Hello and welcome to yet another edition of my Extremely Online series! After another rest day, the Giro d’Italia is back and heading north through Italy.
I wrote a lil’ recap of the action so far and also did the important work of identifying team counterparts to Eurovision entries, because what else do you expect from me at this point?
Elsewhere at Cyclist we have galleries galore: from Stage 9’s Blockhaus battle by Chris Auld to the muddy farmroads at Tro-Bro Léon through the lens of James York.
Now onwards to the next Extremely Online article we go before we have to turn back around for Arnaud Démare.
La mer, Démare
I’ve heard of people jumping off boats to swim to shore like Simon in the first Inbetweeners movie, but never the opposite way.
At one point it looked like that was the only option Arnaud Démare faced.
There had been a lot of talk on commentary about the ‘last ferry out of Sicily’ that apparently you cannot miss under any circumstances.
But Démare had the typical lengthy post-victory duties to deal with after winning the stage five sprint into Messina.
Unfortunately, this meant the ferry left without the maglia ciclamino on the way to Calabria and onwards to Palmi for Stage 6.
They were alerted by the sight of Groupama-FDJ car and Démare on his bike, and the ferry turned around to pick them up.
Ongoing De Gen-eral Classification battle
Following on from the beginning of the Aimé/Thomas De Gendt rivalry last week, it has been steadily gaining traction both during the race and online.
Take after Mount Etna on stage four for example…
The result of that lead out duty for Girmay…
Friday the 13th was unlucky for Aimé De Gendt on stage seven…
But all is fair in love and war.
Just look at De Gendt’s reaction to De Gendt being classic De Gendt and winning on Stage 8.
Everyone liked that.
Biggest supporter
Another staple feature of an Extremely Online article: Rein Taaramäe’s dog.
Hanna Taaramåe posted a video of their dog barking at the TV as he watched his owner during the Giro d’Italia.
I’ve seen my future. And I love it.
(Owning a dog and making them watch cycling. Not competing professionally or anything.)
Special shoutout: The beauty of Eurovision
My favourite night of the year has passed, but it took form in the wonderful shape of Eurovision.
Glitter, glamour and gyrations. What else do we need in life?
With Måneskin’s return to the stage after winning last year, from Graham Norton’s quips and a shock second-place for the United Kingdom, it was a magical night that sometimes I wish could happen multiple times a year.
As a grown adult, I finally hosted my first Eurovision party. With that, a trip to Ikea or B&Q and buying a decanter, I appreciate the fine homey things in life.
Let me know your favourite act on Twitter 🙂
See you next week!
Main photo credit: Lotto-Soudal via Twitter.
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