‘We’re just clowns in the circus’ – Geraint Thomas questions safety of Giro d’Italia’s Naples finale

Naples has been attracting visitors for 2,500 years, and nobody ever leaves the place unmoved by what they see. For most, the eye is drawn upwards to the dramatic vista of the bay, Vesuvius shimmering off in the distance. For Geraint Thomas on stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia, the gaze was directed downwards to the bumps in the road beneath his wheels.

The Giro’s visit meant that the southwestern corner of the city was free of the notorious excesses of its traffic for the afternoon, but that only meant the substitution of one form of rolling chaos with another. On the rugged old carriageway that rises and dips through Pozzuoli, 162 cyclists were now scrambling for position instead of the usual flotilla of scooters and taxis.