Got the Gorilla!

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Geo: 45.3246, 8.42369

As this was the first day when our hotel didn't include breakfast, we decided just grab something on our way to find the team buses. A little bakery was on the way, so with a couple of croissants and 2 cafes in hand, breakfast was served -- and consumed on the steps of a church in the plaza.

After following the Tour de France once, and the USA Pro Challenge a few times, we've come to the conclusion that the start of a stage is a much better place for meeting cyclists. Since we have Gnorm the Gnome with us, and he's a big cycling fan, our plan was to try to meet a few of the riders that we haven't had an opportunity to meet before.

The 2nd bus to pull in was that of Bahrain-Merida, whose big-name rider is Vincenzo Nibali. He's not necessarily our favorite cyclist, but he is pretty good, and we're not likely to have the chance to see him in the States. We hung out with the other fans, for a good half-hour. It seemed pretty unlikely that we'd get a chance to ask him for a photo anytime soon.

Another of the names that was near the top of our list was Andre Greipel. He's a German sprinter with Lotto-Soudal. Being as he's a sprinter, and given that the final 7 or 8 stages are pretty mountainous, he's unlikely to do very well in the remaining stages. Greipel's a pretty big star, so his team allowed him to leave after this stage, to get back home to his family, and start training for the Tour de France. So that meant that today was our last chance to "get" him.
When their bus pulled in, I watched for where the door would end up, gauged how far back the mechanics were likely to put the ropes, and stood front and center. For a hour.

We chatted a bit with the team mechanic, Nick, who was pretty friendly. I think he's more likely to be nice to someone who isn't screaming "Greipel! GREIpel!", and barking at the mechanic to know where Greipel is. (He's in the bus, in a team meeting, because this is their work...)
Eventually, the team did emerge from the bus, and I summoned my high school German knowledge to ask "Herr Greipel, kann ich ein foto machen, bitte?" (Hey, it worked with Jensie).
He obliged, and now Gnorm has had his picture taken with the Gorilla!

Since it's quite a coup to get one top-name rider in a day, and the riders were all starting to head off to the start of the race, we didn't really go seeking out anyone else. We did walk around the other team buses, to see who might be still accessible. As we came up to the Sunweb bus, I figured race leader (and Cutest Belgian Boy in Cycling) Tom Dumoulin was probably impossible to get to, but we remembered that this was the team of American Chad Haga, who's not only a very good cyclist, but a reallyreally smart guy (with a mechanical engineering degree, I believe), and a clever writer. He blogs, Tweets, and otherwise pontificates, and we've enjoyed reading his stuff. I spoke up to ask if Chad Haga was still here, and a rather tall fellow answered "I'm Chad." I wonder if he's used to living a bit in the shadow of Tom Dumoulin (as most of the Sunweb riders probably are). He kindly obliged Gnorm's request for a picture, and we let him get on his way to work.

We spotted, and liberated a couple of pink arrow signs, which is a coveted souvenir for us.

Back to the car, and we were on the road to Vercelli.

Travel tip: If you enter a toll road, put your ticket in a secure place where it can't blow away when you open the door at the gas station.

Worst use of €79.50 ever.

We arrived in Vercelli, and lucked into one of the 4 free parking spots in this part of town. Our B&B owner, Cristina, was just delightful. She welcomed us in, showed us our room, and we got to meet her little white dog, Yeti. He was a sweet puppy, so we were surprised when she said that he normally doesn't like people to pet him. That'll make you feel like you have special powers. 😊

She recommended a place for dinner, then took the liberty of making a reservation for us, which was great.
And the fact that the restaurant was all of 50 feet from the front door of the B&B was pretty awesome as well. It was a great dinner, with everyone being way more accommodating to our American selves than we really deserve.

This was the first place on our trip where we had more than 1 night booked, so we were looking forward to not driving the next day.

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Photos

Piccolo cyclisti
A school group of tiny Italians was there to take in the festivities

Andre Greipel!!
Andre is a great sprinter, and we were thrilled to get a photo of him with Gnorm

Chad Haga
Chad is a good rider, and also a good writer. He's a bright guy who uses his brain to write columns about life as a cyclist

Yeti
Yeti the dog. He liked us.