Bingen Fernandez’s Giro d’italia Journal - Stage 5
The lost chronicles of Cofidis'
Bingen Fernandez - At one point I looked back and noticed that an Euskaltel
rider was not taking his turn pulling. It seems that ‘el jeta’ of him thinks he
can sit on the back of an escape without doing work. That is not the way things
work.
The Giro is called ‘La Corsa Rosa’ and is a huge event, and mostly because of
the people and the places that we pass through. It is incredible how cycling
lives and breathes in Italy. It is only something that you can see with your own
eyes—the crowds along the route are not there by chance waiting for the race to
pass so they can pass the road—they have been there waiting for hours for the
Giro to pass by.
As we got close to the town of the stage start the pink color begins to
appear everywhere—pink flags hang from the balconies, pink balloons, women, men
and children are all wearing pink. It is a race that the public wants to feel
apart of and in turn we feel apart of the towns we pass through.
Seeing such support can not help but to excite and comfort us riders. After
the stage depart and leaving kilometer 0 we prepared for the fire, or at least
tried to prepare for what was to come. Even before the tail end of the peloton
had passed under the kilometer 0 banner a Rabobank rider attacked and behind him
7 riders including myself went and immediately starting working together to gain
some distance knowing that it could be a good attack. We also knew that it was a
long stage that the sprinters wanted.
Without thinking too much we continued on full throttle. At one point I
looked back and noticed that an Euskaltel rider was not taking his turn pulling.
It seems that ‘el jeta’ of him thinks he can sit on the back of an escape
without doing work. That is not the way things work. When you put yourself in a
break you must give your all to make it work.
If you are going to play tricks you play tricks when it gets close to the
finish line but it doesn’t make much sense when it is kilometer 7 of a long
stage. Normally the good breaks happen with the equal collaboration of everyone
in the group but to put yourself in the break and then sit on the wheel hoping
that the others will do it all for you? And what was worse was that there was
another Euskaltel in the break working. Que Jeta! Well, having said that I must
admit that our break did not make it past kilometer 10.
Bingen's teammate Mickael Buffaz of Cofidis one of the serial attackers in this
years Giro d'Italia finished second to in the Trofeo's Fuga Gilera and Garibaldi
Sprints. Photo c. Tim De Waele
and CSC
The attacks continued until Buffaz, one of my teammates, got away with
Ignatiev, two riders out front is perfect for all the sprinter’s teams so they
let them get away. They let them take 4 minutes before pulling them back for a
very, very fast race in the final kilometers with a crazy decent. Luckily there
were no crashes like there was yesterday.
Editors note: Sorry for the delay of Bingen's Journals; due to a technical
difficulty during the Giro we lost contact with Bingen. But early or late
Bingen's journals read as well. So we are pleased to present the missing
chronicles.
Bingen Fernandez is a member of the Cofidis
Team recently finished the Giro d'Italia and in 29th position on the General
Classification.
Bingen Fernandez
Photo c. Bart Hazen
Co-owner & Guide of Gruppetto Tours
Bingen is co-owner and president of Gruppetto Tours. Bingen has been a
professional cyclist since 1996. Bingen guides and helps coordinate every trip
ensuring that each guest has the pro-like experience. He will be riding his 12th
season for the French team Cofidis.
Gruppetto Tours can boast the same care in their
tours and training camps that professional riders experience complete with
current and former professional riders as the guides; Jo Planckaert, Igor
Flores, and current pro rider Nikane Xuen Mallea - Co-owner, Coordinator &
Guide. The soigneur and mechanic have equal professional team backgrounds and
palmares.
More information: Gruppetto
Tours
| 
