Stage 21!

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Geo: 45.462, 9.18963

We had a big day planned, but not so big that we didn't have time for breakfast. The hotel doesn't have a breakfast room, so they deliver a cute picnic basket full of breakfast-y choices. We enjoyed ours on the little rooftop terrace, and then headed off for our adventure.

Metro to Centrale station?: check (Dejo's 24-hour ticket worked, unlike the exit last night)
Train to Monza?: check
Bus to the Autodrome?: well, nuts. We didn't cross-check our planned bus route with the Giro race route.

I guess we could walk, but that'd be an hour, in hot humid weather.
There are some rental bikes. Dangit, we can't download the app.
A taxi! There's a kiosk over there, with a phone -- we'll just call and order a taxi. Except they don't have anyone available now, try back in 10 minutes.
Uber? You can be there in 21 minutes? That'll work.

Ivan came to get us, and took us to the autodrome, dropping us as close to the entrance as he could get us. We found the accrediti caravan with virtually no missteps, and got our passes, just as slick as you please.

Our next task was to go to the VIP area (yes, Michelangelo) and find our contact, Federica. She asked who we'd like to follow. We weren't expecting to have a choice, so decided to look for someone interesting who was starting off at about 1 pm. That'd give us a little time to look around the start, and also some time to find a spot at the finish. Chad Haga (the fellow we'd met in Reggio Emilia) fit the bill, and we requested to be in his follow car.

With an assigned time to be back at the VIP area, we set off to see who we could find at the team buses.

Now, the time trial started from the Monza Autodrome. A race track. Apparently a well-known one, if you're a fan of Formula 1 racing.
It's nothing of interest to me, so I'd never paid attention to the garage setup at a racetrack, but clearly the teams had.
See, if you park your bus on the outside of the pit area, then you have a nice, shaded, breezy garage in which to set up your trainers and things. And since nobody but VIP passholders can get to the other side of that, your riders can warm up in relative privacy.

Hey, whaddya know? WE'RE VIP passholders!! So we hung out a bit in the shade of the pit row area, checking out who was setting up in what garages.
We really wanted to meet some of the Cannondale riders, but their team bus hadn't gotten there in time to claim one of the pit row spots. So, we braved the sun, and hung out by their bus, and were able to get Gnorm a photo with American youngster Joe Dombrowski and UK rider Hugh Carthy.

Woof, that sun is HOT. Back to the shade of pit row, to see if we could find Lukas Postlberger of Bora Hansgrohe -- he was the winner of stage 1, and just adorable in how much he was savoring that whole experience.
He was getting onto the trainer, and I asked (auf Deutsch) if we could have a photo please.
We waited and waited and waited (40 minutes, maybe?), and then he did oblige our request and came over for a photo with Gnorm.
While we were waiting for him, one of the hosts of the GCN Show (an online cycling show that's cycling's equivalent of "Top Gear"😉 came through the garage, so Gnorm got to meet Matt Stephens -- yippee!

As it was getting close to our assigned time to be available for retrieval at the Michelangelo are, awe headed over there. A small plate of toast sammiches was put out and snatched up in barracuda-like fashion. So, half of a 2" square sandwich would have to suffice for lunch.
And a lukewarm bottle of that horrible Sangemini water. Horrible, but it is water.

Chad Haga left the starthouse without us behind him, which was disappointing, but seeing as how the Club Giro (VIP) cars have to come back from taking other VIPs, it's understandable. Traffic getting back from Milan might not be ideal.
We got in behind Georg Preidler from Sunweb, whose teammate Tom Dumoulin might very well win this whole race, so I guess that's pretty cool.

We hopped in the Club Giro follow car (not an official team car, but a VIP car), and buckled up. The fellow driving was pretty experienced in this sort of thing, it seems, having driven the Cub Giro cars for 9 years or so, and I could've sworn he said he either was the race director, or maybe has driven the race director, for a couple of the spring classics.

In other words, don't worry about the crazy driving, he's got this thing handled.

He swerved in what felt like erratic and unnecessary ways, until I realized that he was simply positioning the car to give his VIPs (oooh! that's us!!) a better view of the cyclist ahead of us.

George Preidler proceeded to pass his minute man (the guy who started a minute before he did), and then later passed his 2-minute man as well. So that was pretty cool.

It was really an interesting experience, flying through the course, hearing the race radio, and really getting a feel for what it must be like to be in a team car during a race. I'm just glad it was a course without many tight turns. My brake foot really got a workout on that imaginary pedal.

After we passed thousands of fans who lined the course, we were delivered right to the finish line (we didn't even have to turn off before the arch, like the team cars did). We were met by a Club Giro rep, who ushered us to the VIP area, gave us the scoop, and headed off to meet the next VIP, I suppose.

Oooh -- is that something resembling actual food? Yes, I'd love a tiny plate of pasta, thankyouverymuch. We really hadn't eaten much since breakfast, aside from the 2" square sandwich.
Sadly, Sangemini fizzy bathwater was still our only beverage option, so we reluctantly took a bottle, and inhaled the pasta.

Across from the Milano lounge where the food and comfy (but already occupied) armchairs were, there was a 2-story trailer, which had a balcony, and a top level, from which one could watch the race. We popped over, to check it out. Inside was a little cool, but too crowded to allow a decent view of the line. And the balcony was just too warm and crowded.

We made our way to the fence, found a good spot pretty near the finish line, and settled in.

It was a really close race (not all grand tours are, by the end -- the final stage is often purely ceremonial), so it was great to have a good viewing spot.

We crossed back to the Milano lounge, and watched the podium presentation on the jumbotron. Being the final stage of the race, they were giving out all sorts of awards: Best Italian Rider. Most Aggressive Rider. Best Fair Play Team. Dogs of the British Isles. And so on. (that last one isn't real, but my pipe band friends will get my point). SO we made our way across the plaza, to elbow our way closer to the stage. Man, did they give out a lot of awards.

We were pretty glad that our air-conditioned hotel was so close to the plaza. There's a minibar in there with *cold* Cokes.I don't care if it costs €3 a bottle, we're cracking those suckers open.

It had been a pretty exciting day, so we went against the typical advice, which is to seek out places not right near major attractions.
But the Bottega Ghiotta, halfway between our hotel and the piazza, seemed pretty decent, and we were tired and hungry.
Turns out, it was really good!.

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