Darth PhotographerI flew out to Milan's Linate airport from Gatwick on the Friday afternoon. Once at the hotel, I met up with Pro Cycling's representatives Pierre Carrey, Shane Stokes, Steve Farrand and fellow photographer Jesse Wild, who was out to shoot some cover portraits for the next issue. Much fun was had chasing down the Liquigas team hotel, then, after a rather nice dinner at a posh golf club/hotel, it was time for bed with an early start in the morning.
I shot the team at breakfast, then getting ready for the race and heading out for the race. Cervelo were good enough to grant me total, unfettered acces for the whole day, so I travelled on the team bus to the race, taking candid behind the scenes reportage shots. I was even allowed to sit in on their last team briefing, something of a privelege.
After a brief detour to the Madonna Del Ghisallo, we headed to the finish line. This was where I found out that the vast majority of the team had already quit the race. They were not alone. Conditions were so appalling (wet, windy, and very very cold) that just over 30 of the 180 riders actually finished. Xavier Tondo, the team's protected rider was one of them, and looked particularly bedraggled when he found his way back to the bus. After this, it was time for everyone to say their goodbyes.
It was weird to be in this situation, some of the conversations that were had in front of me would have been golddust for cycling journos. But when it came down to it, these guys had been through an awful lot. Luckily, 90% of the guys have new jobs for next season, but there's still that 10%. Good luck, lads.
Look out for the full, uncensored (and therefore far more interesting) story in next month's Pro Cycling, along with a load of photos I'm particularly proud of. Big thanks go out to Geert Broekhuizen, Cervelo's press officer.
