Ep. 592 Giro D'Italia Steges 20 & 21 | Between Wine & Food with Marc Millon

Italian wine podcast. Chinchin with Italian wine people. Swah. Snah. Snah. Snah. Snah. Snah. Sniff, sip, sniff. What do you think? Don't forget these testing tips. Welcome to this special edition where we talk wines and de Guiro D'italia. We held an exceptional clubhouse room dedicated to giro d italia, but it was not recorded. I know. I know bummer. But anyways, we thought about sharing some notes about the pages of the giro written and read by Mark Millen, a food wine and travel writer and the author of numerous books, as well as magazine articles published on both sides of the Atlantic. Stay tuned. Smith. What are you saying? Don't forget these testing tips. And so we reach the end. The final two stages of this year's Jiro D'italia. Here are my reports. Stage twenty, verbana, to Valis Pluga Alpe Motta, one hundred and sixty four kilometers and four thousand seven hundred meters of altitude. How incredibly exciting? The penultimate stage of this year's giro d'italia sees the competition to wear the Malia Rosa in Milan on Sunday, still very much alive and up for grabs. Today, an absolute brute of an alpine stage with a staggering four thousand seven hundred meters of climbing. May be decisive. Egon Bernal, the Colombian rider for team Ineos Grenadiers, who has worn the pink Jersey since his stage victory on the bare and high gravel track of Campbell Felice in Abruzzo is suffering. Unvulnerable. The back injury that has plagued him all season has apparently recurred and he seems unable to rediscover the scintillating form that he showed on the steepest slopes of the Karnak and Julian Alps. Just a few days ago in Frulivenezia Julia. Twice now, the British rider, Simon Yates, has attacked the Malia Rosa and been able to distance him. Yesterday, most notably, on the high slopes of Alpe di Mara to take a famous and popular stage win. Yates has finally found his form and mojo and sniff's blood. All of the other GC contenders sniff blood, T Minios grenadiers, until now seemed invincible, protecting Betanal, marshaling him through the difficult and challenging technical sections of the road, pacing the climbs at an uncomfortable tempo that has destroyed the legs and the minds. Of those unable to keep to its relentless beat. But yesterday, Bernal found himself alone on the alpi de Mera and having to defend the Malia Rosa himself. He dug deep, showed his heart, and he limited his losses. But will he be able to respond again when Yates and the others attack today as they must? I'm delighted to see Simon Yates riding again with such joy and confidence as will be all neutral Tifosi of the giro d'italia. Who can forget that only three years ago, on stage nineteen of the giro d'italia two thousand eighteen, having worn and bravely defended the pink jersey for the previous two weeks. Yates suffered a truly spectacular meltdown. On the barestrade Bianke of Coli Delefin Nestre, and then the climb to Bardanekyo, he cracked completely losing his legs and the will to live. Limping sadly in and astonishing thirty eight minutes behind the stage winner Chris Room of team sky. Now in your grenadiers. Yates learned from that dreadful disappointment and in since Wanna Grand Tour, the Welta Aspania. So he has the noose to know just when to attack, just when to turn the knife to try and destroy his opponent. He has the heart and the desire. But will he have the legs? All will be revealed on a stage with two monster climbs to over two thousand meters that will take the riders into and back from Switzerland with a brutal final climb up Alpe Mota, high above the ski resort of Medezimo. Stage twenty begins at lake level at Vervania, following the shores of beautiful Lager de Maggiore before the start of a twenty three kilometer long climb to the San Bernardino Pass into Switzerland. I'll need to keep my wits and my legs about me today. So I don't want a whine that will be heavy or too soporific. Viticulture has been present in these mountains for literally centuries, and there's an opportunity today to visit an old friend Eduardo Petrone in the heart of the Le pontine Alps in the Osala valley. Of Domodosola, a name familiar to any who have ever traveled into Italy by train from Northern Europe. Here, Eduardo and wife Stella, cultivate Prunet grapes, the local name for Nebula, trained on Pergale known as Tokpier supported by stone monolithists from the local quarries. It will be good to see Eduardo, who used to work with my great friend Mario Fontana of Casino Fontana in Barolo. And it's an opportunity to taste his wines, which have been winning a claim at awards. I'm going to pick up a bottle of Vigna Vanya, traditionally aged in Slovakia Oke Botte to enjoy with a mountain top picnic, with a selection of good, Piedmont cheeses, maybe some Castel Manuel, and perhaps a tranche of Swiss gruyere. It will be a pleasure to enjoy this by Cool Alpine Lake at the Paso San Bernardino for from that lofty mountain top, we should be able to see who has the best legs, and perhaps more importantly, who is suffering the most. It's a long way from Topsham Devon to Domodossola so I'd better get going. See you later in the high mountains. Stage twenty one, Sanago to Milan thirty point three kilometers. In the end, yesterday's showdown in the high mountains didn't quite happen, snuffed out by the bravery and audacity of Damiano Caruso and by the persistent and unrelenting power of the Ineos Grenadiers train. When, just before the summit of the monster second climb of the day, the spluegin Pass Curuso, teammate, Pelo, Bill Bao, and French writer, Roman Bardet, attacked They managed to build a slender lead that increased down an audacious twenty kilometer descent before the final climb up endless switchbacks to the summit finish of Alpe Mota. The Ineos team was forced to chase Caruso, who had started the day in third place on GC, and they worked tirelessly. First, Marshall, down the mountain safely, then to pace him up that final climb. The real hero of the day was Danny Martinez, who set such a ferocious pace at the front of the chasing group, which included Simon Yates, the British pretender who threatened to upset the Ineos Applecart, that one by one, all of Bernal's rivals were dropped, including Yates, Caruso maintained his vital lead and gained precious seconds on Bernal riding himself into second position above Yates. More importantly, though, for Caruso, a workhorse domestic who had been expected to support team leader, Micalanda. It was his chance to show the world what a great rider he is and to claim his first stage win in a grand tour. At last, It is the final day of this year's Jiro D'Talia. The chronometro time trial is a completely different discipline to road racing. It involves each rider individually setting off at separate intervals, to ride a set course in their skin suits and with their aerodynamic helmets and on specially designed time trial bikes on which they will lock themselves into position trying to generate as much power as they can while keeping efficiently to the course. It will be quite a spectacle of raw power and determination. The route today runs from Sanago to Milan thirty point three kilometers on dead flat roads. A time trial is called The Race of Truth, for it is man and machine against the clock, nowhere to hide, no teammates to help or protect you. Unusually, there will have been only two time trials on this year's Jiro. The first took place on stage one, an eternity ago. Then Felipo Ghana won that short explosive prologue on the streets of Turin. Today, he is favored to bookend his Jiro with another victory on the streets of Milan. Again, Bernal will start last. He now leads Caruso by just under two minutes. Though the Italian may be the slightly stronger rider when racing against the clock, that time advantage will surely be more than enough to see the Colombian on the top podium this afternoon as winner of the Chiro D' Italian two thousand and twenty one. At the finish, there will be great relief and celebration by everyone, riders, their team, supporters, the public, In this strange year of COVID, it is something of a miracle that this year's giro d'italia even managed to take place. And so far without incident or apparent increased risk to public health. Ineos Granadiers, formally team sky may not be the most popular team, but they are definitely once again the strongest. And true Tifosi of the sport will hail egon Bernal, a brave and worthy winner, who through it all, somehow manages to remain humble. Peter Sagan will be crowned the best points writer and can add the Malia Chiclamino to his already extensive collection of champions jerseys. Jeffrey Bushard has been somewhat forgotten. For his aggression and combativity in the mountains, he has toiled hard to earn the coveted Malia Azuro as king of the mountains. And Bernal, don't forget, also wins Emalia Bianca. At just twenty four years old, he is set to be winning races for many more years to come. And so let's raise a glass to the victors of the giro d'italia and to all the riders who have suffered and endured this three week ordeal. Their bravery skill strengthens stamina has been simply astounding. They have taken us to beautiful places, the length and breadth of Italy. And it has been a real pleasure to travel even if only virtually with them day by day, sharing their joys and suffering along the way and toasting them each evening with such a varied and fantastic selection of Italian wines, all produced from grapes grown near or along the roots they followed. Today in Milan, it has to be Franca Corta, Italy's premier sparkling wine produced by the methodo classi co secondary fermentation in the bottle. In wine, as in cycling, there may be many pretenders and upstarts. Those who appear on the scene and sometimes upend the established order. But with sparkling wine more than with many others where consistency and quality are the hallmarks of greatness than class matters. So I'm going to pop open today with the greatest pleasure, a bottle of Cadel Bosco Cuve prestige, a chardonnay lead wine skillfully blended with reserve wines from the finest vintages to result in a true classic. Always fresh richly exhilarating, a wine that makes everyone feel special every time you drink it. Here's to a special Jiro d Italian, and to all of you who have followed it with me. A salute. Swaddle. Sniff. Sniff. And what's again? Here we go. Swirl, sniff. ZIP, sniff. What are you doing? Don't forget this