A Redemption For the Ages

Father’s Day is a few weeks off in the U.S. but you wouldn’t have known it yesterday in Rome, where the celebrations at the conclusion of the 2023 Giro d’Italia featured kids and their dad seemingly all day long. Levom Roglič, the scion of overall winner Primož, hammed it up on the podium like the weight of past disappointments had been lifted from his shoulders, not Dad’s. More subdued was the reaction of Macsen Thomas, whose dad Geraint had finished second impressively, if also in disappointing fashion. Macs read the room, just like Levom did, and found the right note to strike. Given that we were in Italy and long-time resident Mark Cavendish won the final sprint, there were undoubtedly some Cavendishes running around, and as many other dads rolled home in time to embark on vacation, it was no doubt a family affair.

Wait, hang on… did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food but no atmosphere!

Ahem. Anyway, something sorta interesting did just happen at the Giro d’Italia. What was billed as a potential coronation of youth pivoted rather decisively, and excessively if you’re a Tao Geoghegan Hart or Alexander Vlasov fan, toward an Old Guy procession. Those two left on consecutive days — Vlasov turning up ill after the first rest day and TGH crashing hard the next day — in the immediate wake of Remco Evenepoel’s withdrawal, and a few other young riders like Pavel Sivakov didn’t make it to the Dolomites phase either. João Almeida, the guy on the podium with no kid to show off, was left alone to represent the young guys/not-Dads, and he did a perfectly acceptable job of keeping Damiano Caruso (35 — another dad) and Thibaut Pinot (33) at bay.

Hey, why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts!!!

I don’t need to recap the basic facts wherein the maybe-past-prime Roglič narrowly denied Thomas the distinction of becoming the oldest rider (37) to win the Giro d’Italia. But I do want to point out that this entire Giro was more than just a redemption for the Slovenian’s recent disappointments. It was a table-flipping of the sport’s entire narrative! Suddenly, it wasn’t all about the Kids Taking Over. Suddenly it was about the old guys persevering through crashes, terrible conditions, and long, exhausting stages by sheer force of will and/or dad strength. This is a thing! And Cycling needs to respect it! Or else.

Did I tell you about how I used to work at a calendar factory but I got…