In Ancient Roman triumphal parades, so the idea goes, victorious generals had been adopted by a slave repeatedly whispering the phrases ‘memento mori’ to remind the feted commander of his personal mortality and to warn him in opposition to slipping into complacency.
In the Rome of 2024, the same service might be supplied by disinterested locals who occur to search out their common routine impeded by the aftermath of the Giro d’Italia.
As Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates companions huddled to rejoice victory in the midst of Via di San Gregorio on Sunday night, an aged lady reached out throughout the barrier and nudged a reporter who was observing the scrum of photographers forming them.
“Is that the winner?” she demanded.
“It is,” got here the response.
“And what’s his title?” she continued.
“Tadej Pogačar.”
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“Who?” she requested, straining to catch the unfamiliar syllables.
“Tadej Pogačar,” the reporter stated, just a little louder this time.
“Who?” she continued.
After that reporter finally edged away, she tried her luck with one other, and the identical dialog repeated itself with the identical insistence. In three weeks, no one at this Giro got here remotely near reducing Pogačar all the way down to dimension like this. It took a Romana DOC all of 10 seconds to handle it.
Not that Pogačar heard it, after all. The winner of the Giro is at all times dragged by way of a private Via Crucis of official protocols on crossing the road. After exchanging congratulations together with his teammates, he was shortly ushered alongside the Via Triumphalis in the direction of the Arch of Constantine, the place the rostrum had been erected within the shadow of the Colosseum.
The triumphal arch served because the end line of the marathon on the Rome Olympic Games, when Abebe Bikila ran barefoot to say the gold medal. After catching a second together with his accomplice, the Liv-Jayco-AlUla rider Urška Žigart, Pogačar started a marathon of his personal, on condition that the ultimate day’s podium ceremony on the Giro options no fewer than 14 shows, and his presence was required till the very finish.
Indeed, Pogačar’s ordeal was prolonged by having to attend for the arrival of Italy’s far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni, readily available to make use of the Giro’s primetime tv slot as a part of her campaigning for subsequent month’s European elections. RCS Sport, it appears, was solely pleased to oblige. She and RCS CEO Urbano Cairo introduced Pogačar with the Trofeo Senza Fine of race winner.
During his repeated visits to the rostrum, Pogačar was additionally introduced with the blue jersey of king of the mountains and the Trofeo Bonacossa, a type of particular benefit prize. Earlier, he had climbed onto the rostrum bearing the flags of each his native Slovenia and that of his major sponsor, the United Arab Emirates, and there was a sizeable delegation from Abu Dhabi current in Rome to look at him full the primary leg of his deliberate Giro-Tour double.
The solar had already begun to set by the point Pogačar had run the complete gauntlet of podium shows. His subsequent job was to beat a path to the blended zone by way of the tifosi and vacationers swarming Via di San Gregorio, now that the Giro’s highway crew had already begun to dismantle the obstacles.
“It’s attending to be an extended day now,” Pogačar protested politely when he started his sequence of tv interviews. “I believe I don’t realise but what it means to win the Giro. Let’s get by way of today, all of the media and the whole lot, after which we are going to slowly realise what I obtain now. It’s a bit loopy.”
Pogačar’s has been a victory foretold, after all, and he has had ample time to digest the approaching triumph, having led the race since Oropa on stage 2 and successfully ended the competition within the Perugia time trial 5 days later. Indeed, lengthy earlier than he was feted in Rome on Sunday night, the dialog had lengthy since moved on to his subsequent marketing campaign north of the Alps in July, when he seeks to reconquer the Tour de France from Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
“Let’s swap off for a number of days, after which swap on 100% focus and go for the Tour,” Pogačar stated when requested in regards to the subsequent instalment. “I’m on the appropriate highway to the Tour de France.
“In the previous couple of days, I had superb legs. For the third week, it was actually good, and I can recuperate actually good from these efforts, so the legs might be the identical – and even higher.”
The subsequent cease of Pogačar’s itinerary was Piazza del Campidoglio, the place the press room was housed within the Capitoline Museums. In latest years, the pink jersey of the Giro has spoken with the written press every day by way of video hyperlink moderately than making the trek to the sala stampa.
The custom of showing in particular person earlier than the fourth property on the ultimate evening of the race has been maintained, and a small platoon of Slovenian journalists adopted Pogačar on his journey previous the Colosseum and past the Victor Emmanuel Monument. He paused for one more photograph alternative above the Forum, earlier than climbing the steps into the press room.
By the earlier requirements of this event, the press convention was perfunctory, however then Pogačar had already stated kind of all he needed to say on this Giro, having worn the pink jersey for 20 days, annexed six phases and received the entire race by slightly below ten minutes. After three weeks of effervescent performances on the bike, there was an indication of psychological fatigue right here.
“Oh, this one’s tough. I don’t know. I’m drained,” Pogačar smiled apologetically when requested how his Giro debut had modified him as a person, although he politely tried to summon up some type of a solution all the identical.
Asked in regards to the significance of successful the Giro, Pogačar smiled once more. “I might be tremendous pleased when the whole lot is over,” he stated. “Now is the final push with the whole lot. Let’s assume in two or three days, when the whole lot goes to be excellent.”
With that, Pogačar was lastly freed of his official obligations, at the very least till Monday morning, when his presence is required at Giro sponsor Eataly’s retailer in Ostiense for one more spherical of interviews.
It’s laborious to shake off the sense that the aftermath of the Giro was extra taxing for him than the successful of it.