So yesterday tens of thousands of sports fans were closely following events taking place here in the middle of the Alps. The 2018 UCI World Tour was taking place here the whole week and yesterday was the grand finale - men's Elite! And it was nuts! Take a seat and watch the "behind the scenes" of such event as you can't see everything on your screens.
The whole week
It wasn't just one day. The races were taking place the whole weeks, all the various brackets and divisions were racing on different days. I'm all about sports and quite enjoyed it. Just the feeling that I'm riding my bike to work/university and in couple of hours, the professionals from around the world will be doing the same was just too cool to not enjoy. Also, all the barricades were permanent the whole week, so you really felt like a professional.And the big final - Sunday men Elite race came
And the day was it awesome. Remember - we're in the middle of Alps here. It's mountains all around. And end of September. There was a snow here a week ago - no joke, I wanted to post about it but HF20 came :D Will probably post it tomorrow. But this Sunday, it was 23 degrees. Plain CRAZINESS!
Just a suupercalm chill day..who would say couple of streets next to this, guys are pushing on the limit of what's humanly possible
But streets indeed felt somewhat different....they were..emptier. One would actually think it's a ghost town if he couldn't hear screams over the buildings.
Ok, I admit, at this point I'm just promoting Innsbruck as a travel destination. But hey, it actually is a travel destination and one of the most beautiful towns in the world. So don't think about it twice and come over to visit me till I'm here :) I feel I won't be staying here longer than one more year :)
Tram rails - student enemy n. 1 here in Innbruck
Yepp, we hate them more than teachers :D Why? Well, 90% of students living in Innsbruck ride a bike. It's cheap, it's fast and the scenery while riding a bike is just too awesome to take a bus. But there are these trams and their rails..And once your front wheel gets stuck into the rail as you're crossing it, you know what's gonna happen...
I've learned it hard way in 2016 :/..
So I was wondering whether 50% of riders will die here this year :D Nope, they covered the rails for them! I secretly hoped they'll keep them on even after the race but I was (of course) wrong :D
Shops
Another interesting point I've noticed was that the whole week, some foods were all out in every shop. It was mostly salmon a pizza. I guess now we know what cyclists eat post-race :D
Cut the BS and let's get to the race
Ok ok...so I've decided to head the direction where the race was. That means..everywhere :D I mean..not literally but almost :D
But of course, the city centre and the square were where the magic was happening. The sight of this was jut unbelievable. Not only those beautiful old buildings with amazing mountains in the background...but suddenly, the barrage of screaming people everywhere.
And languages...I could here sooo many languages! I'd never say so many foreigners would come over just because of cycling :D
Peloton arrived
This was soooo crazy. They go so fast!! I was almost praying so that none of them falls.
And then, 2nd "peloton" full of service cars came :D At that moment I was sure someone's gonna die as the cars were racing just couple of meters from all those spectators. They really go much faster than it appears on TV.
Then I changed my place to less crowded one so I could take some pictures of cyclists. Here are some of them, but it was more difficult that I've thought.
Slovak hope aka Peter Sagan
Well, as some of you might know, I'm actually from Slovakia. And as some of you might know, last 3 years the winner was a fellow slovakian - Peter Sagan. He's become a fan favorite and no wonder that the town was full of his fans and Slovak flags! It felt as if we conquered the town for a while :D
And then, the man himself showed up. Sadly, he later dropped from the race as there was no chance to win for him, but he's already made the history in the previous 3 years. Here's my picture of him passing by, but I think that kid with a school calculator could make better picture than I did :/ :D
Fans and behind the scenes
Well, the fight for the best places was tough. Some people were lucky enough to get into buildings and have better view than most of the others.
And some were even more clever and paid a ticket to the city tower right above the square and probably had the best view ever :D Maybe some people up in the mountains with binoculars had better tho :D
As there were quite long breaks between peloton and different groups passing, there were many standup bufets, selling totally overpriced prosecco and probably having business of their life :D But as long as customers are happy, everything's fine I guess. And they did look happy.
There were also many many "fan zones" around the town with the big screens showing what's going on. These were also the places where lot of beer was being served and drunk. But I have to honestly I haven't seen single one drunk person the whole day. It's kinda interesting, compared to what e.g. football world championships look like.
Sweetest part of the whole day
My personal highlight happened towards the end of the race. As the policemen approached the barricades because the leading group was about to pass us, one young boy just fell in love with this policewoman. She was trying to work and pay attention to the surroundings but he had none of it :D He was constantly talking to her. I didn't want to interrupt their moments, but somehow managed to squeeze in one picture of this cute forming new relationship :)
Love on the first sight it was :)
It's not just fun & games
Obviously, an event of such magnitute causes a lot of hustle as well. Commuting and in general, the transport across the town was literally dead :D What usually takes me 5 minutes was like 20 minutes, trying to get across the barricades etc.
People were waiting in lines on their turn to cross the street. In the city centre, it took me 13 minutes to get on the other side :D
If you don't believe these pictures, I'll let you into my private messages real quick. This is a friend of mine who couldn't care less about the race. She was in the centre to get her coffee and on her way back, this is what she sent me :DD
Also, usually empty Sunday streets were full of cars, waiting in almost jams or in general the slow traffic. Oh, you're looking for a free parking space? Hah, good luck!
Sooo...and that was the 2018 USI World Championship by eyes of an insider :) I hope that I provided you with kinda cool and different insight into such big event. It truly was a spectacular day and I'm pretty happy I was here to witness all this. Hopefully my poor photography skills are enough to pass at least some of this experience to you as well! :)
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:)) thank u peoplee
You are welcome :)
That was really interesting insider look, it is still looking like summer up in Innbsruck, everyone must enjoyed it very well, seeing the tourists in short sleeved clothes and shorts. I can imagine what you mean with bicycles and tram rails, it is very well known problem and it is a truth that this is very dangerous, especially being a student people do not pay much attention, busy or late to their classes and of course such things happen more often in rainy days, winter when the metal covered with ice too.
I bet the hotels were fully occupied and the restaurants had a good amount of guests. You are right Pizza is one of the most favorable food, easy just warm it up and ready to eat. I love pizza and when on holiday that is the one what we buy or order.
Thank you for such beautiful pictures and your comments and I love the story about that little boy and a policewoman, very sweet :)
Haha I've broken my wriste exactly as you said - being late to class. Funny enough it was actually exam :D
And weather is NUUUUUTS here! Today it was just 10 degrees here and mountains are full of snow :D It really is crazy here hahaha :D
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Thx :)) I guess I should use your tag much more often, I discovered it just today. I've just posted like 3 posts about my bike lately :/ what a pity I can't edit them anymore and add your tag.
Hoooraay @matkodurko, you'll be more than welcome with your upcoming posts.
Leeeet's pedal!
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Your story attracted our attention and we would like to introduce our tag #archisteem that could provide you with some extra support. For your information, we are currently running the project – 1001 Places to Remember. Your content is a fit for the project and could be qualified for the 10 Steem reward biweekly contest.
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Hey, haven't heard from us in a while.
Surely you know the "Area 47" in the Ötztal? Will be there from 4.october and enjoy 4 days of a little action holiday with the family. Be only 50km away from you :P
I will definitely be more active on SteemIt in the near future ;-)
(Got lost for half a year, lel)
Hah I actually checked ur profile several times during that time to see if u powered down or what...Why were u inactive? Yepp I know it, when will u be there?
I had some priorities I focused on, the main thing was to finish my Mechanical-Engineering degree much faster than planned. That was the main thing I did together with some sport and in that time I did not want to get distracted and decided to stop everything about steemit.
But I will make a post about it tomorrow or on wednesday with a small summary about the last half year.
I will be at the Area47 from 04.10 - 08.10 ;-)
I am sorry you learned the hard way! the main enemy as a biker here is motorbike and cars. I had my accident too which was quite devastating. I still love cyling regardless.
Pizza post race is awesome :-D it fulfills the hunger! It happens in Indonesia too but usually race conducted after the school time.
Hahahah u mean all the hungry students? :D
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WHAAAT 18??? I really hoped to crack top 10 with this one :D Is there some list of posts which have beaten me? :D
I was about to ask you if you would go to see the race, I found out it would be in your city and I instantly thought of you. My dad is a total cycling fan, he saw all the competition on television, so I'll show him your posts to get even more excited 😄
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Haha so indeed :) I thought u have cancelled the project or something :D
It is some setting for a race. Those photos really make it look beautiful. I'm not into cycling as a sport but i have done those football championships and know the feeling of enjoyment that comes from a full crowd and a great occasion.
When you have a large crowd intent on enjoying the occasion and creating an atmosphere its hard not to get caught up in it.
Yepp yepp, I got totally caught up