Flags in sports - Cycling

Last modified: 2003-08-09 by juan manuel gabino villascán
Keywords: cycling | sports | giro d'italia | tour de france |
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During the TV broadcast of the Giro d'Italia (cycling), the cyclers arrived in Gran Sasso d'Italia, in a mountainous and desert landscape covered with snow and drown in fog. The gloomy ambiance was accentuated by pirate flags (black field with scull and bones) waved by the few fiery supporters who survived the cold (3°C). These flags were not intended to threaten the cyclers but to encourage Marco Pantani a.k.a."Il Pirato" (I suppose because of the headband he uses to protect his bald head and his way to attack the slopes). There was also a vertical divided yellow-green flag (approximatively, because the light intensity was very very low) and an Italian tricolor flanked with two vertical pink stripes (the leader of the Giro wears a pink shirt).

Of course, "Il Pirato" won and received the pink shirt. He had already won the controversial Tour de France last year, but I cannot remember of pirate flags.
Ivan Sache, 24 May 1999