We dressed the bar in pink. Pink balloons, pink T-shirts, a pink awning, pink cushions on the chairs, and a pink Pony bike in the center. Most know that the Giro d’Italia race has begun. Some don't. “Are you celebrating anything? Does any girl have a birthday? Is this a gay bar now? ”(Hahaha).
These are questions asked by our customers. Despite the fact that the race started at a time when people are still at work, a good number of cycling fans gathered here and it was a lot of fun. Regular customers who are in the bar at such an hour also joined. My boss and I follow all the world cycling races. Of course, some are more interesting, others less so. We are not professionals, but we are big fans of cycling. I will not analyze the individual stages in terms of technique but in my own way (hehe).
First days of the race...
The Hungarians totally surprised me. Lots of spectators, lots of flags, and amazing cheering. Every place and every village was full of fans! Phenomenal! As boring as it sounded to start in flat Hungary, it was very exciting. The organizer chose a fairly beautiful landscape. A friend who was a professional cyclist scared me that the first three days in Hungary would be boring. But, I believe that it’s boring when you race and drive on long straight roads. Such roads are also a menu for me to vomit. But yesterday it all looked beautiful together. But it would be interesting to hear what the likable Mathieu van der Poel would say about this. Unfortunately, Jan Tratnik fell badly and after that, I have a hard time believing that he will endure to the end. Too bad.
Special prizes for our customers!
Our customers are excited about our prize draw, which will take place throughout the race. It goes like this. You come to us to watch the broadcast on TV and during this time you get a coupon for each drink. At the end of the stage, we draw a daily prize. The remaining coupons will be transferred to the big draw, which will take place after the last stage of the Gira, May 29, 2022. That’s when we draw a gorgeous pink Pony that was painted especially for us. Customers are thrilled. Everyone is touching it, watching it, and above all, the fight for him has already begun. After the first stage, Rade was very enthusiastic about the award, he received a sexy Approved sweater. But now everyone wants sweaters like that. (hahaha) Anže put them up for sale as soon as possible! (hihihi).
A beautiful sight to see!
At the chronometer, I "liked" the route. In quotation marks because it was interesting only because it took place in the very center of Budapest, which is a beautiful city. I have already seen it myself and the route was along with the most beautiful parts of both banks of the Danube. Again full of fans, flags, and no shocking ending. Tratnik was driving with one hand! This one is crazy. A chronometer with one hand? (Oh my mother!) In our country, it was mostly women who cheered that day. Interesting. And that older lady. Their comments are that you fall down: "Hey, how dry it is!" "This one is really beautiful." "This one is similar to my Jožko." (Hahaha) And so Jelena received the daily prize.
On Sunday, a few more of us gathered, including cyclists. Along with beer and snacks, we admired the beautiful landscape around Lake Balaton. That was a surprise too! Wonderful! Lots of green space, beautiful roads, castles, monuments, and again phenomenal fans. A group of boys who watched the stage with us is going cycling around Lake Balaton next month. And they just dropped notes during the stage. I was cheering for Mark, who is my favorite sprinter on the Giro. Mark Cavendish is incredibly sympathetic, always greets fans, and has a beautiful smile. (hihihi) He also waved at us last year at the Tour de France when he crawled to Mont Ventoux.
Getting to know the competition...
On Monday, the contestants moved to Sicily. But we have already debated who will win the ascent to Ethno. The names lined up. We mentioned all the already known favorites of the final ranking and expected the victory of one of them. And then where does he win? Stone? Well, we've heard of him, but Lòpez obviously hasn't. However, the biggest surprise was not that Lòpez lost in the slope after all this torture, but that the favorites fell behind by a long way. So it seemed to us who follow this as recreationists could perish on every slope. Again, a friend, a former professional, explained everything nicely and quite clearly: “This stage was to make us sniff a little. Who's where. Who can do it? Who could take the initiative and so on? Ineos goes for the overall win. But I was surprised by the Australians. Together, they were brought to the top, led by Yates, more than the Ineos. We got a new one in a pink T-shirt, angry Lòpez.
Tomorrow, in the fifth stage, we do not expect any changes. We have a Velo round!
We are waiting for you!
You are invited to join us all who love cycling or just love to watch different sports. You are invited to comment on the race with us or just quietly observe how smart we are. You can cheer, you can yell and I hope you don’t run away. (hahaha) Our prize game continues and with it really nice and rich prizes.
»VSE JE ROZA!«
Lokal smo oblekli v roza barvo. Roza baloni, roza majčke, roza tenda, roza blazine na stolih in seveda v središču roza kolo Pony. Večina ve, da se je začela dirka Giro d'Italia. Nekateri pa ne. »Ali kaj praznujete? Ali ima kakšna punčka rojstni dan? Ali je to zdaj gejevski lokal?« (hahaha) To so vprašanja, ki jih postavljajo nevedne stranke. Kljub temu, da se je dirka začela v času, ko so ljudje še v službah, se je pri nas zbralo kar lepo število ljubiteljev kolesarstva in bilo je prav zabavno. Pridružile so se tudi stalne stranke, ki so ob taki uri v lokalu.
Midva s šefom spremljava vse svetovne kolesarske dirke. So pa seveda nekatere bolj zanimive, druge manj. Nisva profesionalca, sva pa velika ljubitelja kolesarstva. Ne bom analizirala posameznih etap v smislu tehnike, temveč po svoje. (hehehe)
Madžari so me totalno presenetili. Ogromno gledalcev, ogromno zastav in neverjetno navijanje. V vsakem kraju in vsaki vasi je bilo polno navijačev! Fenomenalno! Kakor se je slišalo dolgočasno, da bo start v ravninski Madžarski, je bilo zelo razburljivo. Organizator je izbral dokaj lepo pokrajino. Prijatelj, ki je bil profesionalni kolesar me je prestrašil, da bojo prvi trije dnevi na Madžarskem dolgočasni. Ampak, verjamem, da ko dirkaš in se voziš po dolgih ravnih cestah, je dolgočasno. Takšne ceste so tudi meni za bruhat. Ampak včeraj je bilo vse skupaj videti lepo. Bi pa bilo zanimivo slišati kaj bi rekel o temu simpatični Mathieu van der Poel. Na žalost je grdo padel Jan Tratnik in po tem padce težko verjamem, da bo zdržal do konca. Škoda.
Naše stranke so navdušene nad našo nagradno igro, ki bo potekala ves čas dirke. Gre pa tako. Prideš k na nam gledati prenos na TV in v tem času za vsako pijačko dobiš kuponček. Po koncu etape žrebamo dnevno nagrado. Ostali kupončki se prenesejo v veliko žrebanje, ki bo po zadnji etapi Gira, 29.5.2022. Takrat žrebamo krasnega roza Pony-ja, ki so ga pobarvali posebej za nas. Stranke so navdušene. Vsi ga šlatajo, gledajo, predvsem pa se je borba zanj že začela. Po prvi etapi je bil nad nagrado zelo navdušen Rade, ki je prejel sexy pulover Approved. Zdaj pa vsi želijo takšne puloverje. (hahaha) Anže, čim prej jih daj v prodajo! (hihihi).
Pri kronometru mi je bila »všeč« trasa. V narekovajih zato, ker je bila zanimiva samo zato, ker je potekala v samem središču Budimpešte, ki je čudovito mesto. Tudi sama sem si jo že ogledala in trasa je bila speljana po najlepših delih obeh bregov Donave. Zopet polno navijačev, zastav in brez pretresljivega zaključka. Tratnik pa je vozil kar z eno roko! Ta je nor. Kronometrco z eno roko? (o mati moja!)
Pri nas pa so ta dan navijale v glavnem ženske. Zanimivo. In to starejše gospe. Njihovi komentarji pa da dol padeš: »Lej tega kok je suh!« »Ta je pa prav lep.« »Ta je pa podoben mojemu Jožkotu.« (hahaha) In tako je dnevno nagrado dobila Jelena.
V nedeljo pa se nas je zopet zbralo nekoliko več, tudi kolesarji. Ob pivu in prigrizkih smo občudovali lepo pokrajino v okolici Blatnega jezera. Tudi to je bilo presenečenje! Čudovito! Veliko zelenih površin, krasna cesta, gradovi, spomeniki in ponovno fenomenalni navijači. Skupina fantov, ki je etapo gledala pri nas, se prihodnji mesec odpravlja na kolesarjenje po okolici Blatnega jezera. In so med etapo čisto padli not. Jaz sem navijala za Marka, ki mi je najljubši sprinter na Giru. Mark Cavendish je neverjetno simpatičen, vedno pozdravi navijače in ima lep nasmeh. (hihihi) Tudi lani na Tour de France nama je pomahal, ko se plazil na Mont Ventoux.
V ponedeljek so se tekmovalci selili na Sicilijo. Mi pa smo že debatirali kdo bo zmagal vzpon na Etno. Imena so se vrstila. Omenili smo vse že znane favorite končne razvrstitve in pričakovali zmago enega od njih. In kod potem zmaga? Kämna? No saj smo že slišali zanj, ampak Lòpez pa očitno še ne. Vendar največje presenečenje ni bilo to, da je Lòpez po vsem tem mučenju v klanc zgubil, ampak da so favoriti zaostali z velikim zaostankom. Tako se je zdelo nam, ki to spremljamo kot rekreativci, ki bi na vsak klanec lahko crknili. Pa nam je zopet prijatelj, bivši profesionalec, vse lepo in dokaj jasno razložil: »Ta etapa je bila zato, da so se malo povohali. Kdo je kje. Kdo koliko zmore. Kdo bi lahko prevzel pobudo in tako dalje. Ineos gre na skupno zmago. So me pa presenetili Avstralci. Skupaj se jih je na vrh pripeljalo, na čelu z Yates-om, več kot Ineos-ovih. Dobili smo novega v roza majčki, jezni Lòpez.
Jutri, na peti etapi ne pričakujemo sprememb. Mi imamo Velo rundo!
Vabljeni, da se nam pridružite vsi, ki imate radi kolesarstvo, ali pa samo radi spremljate različne športe. Vabljeni, da z nami pokomentirate dirko ali pa samo tiho opazujete kako pametujemo. Lahko navijate, lahko se derete in upam, da ne pobegnete. (hahaha) Naša nagradna igra se nadaljuje in z njo res lepe in bogate nagrade.
