Publicity caravan unlikely at the Giro d’Italia
While the Tour de France may cut its caravan by half, the Italian vehicle parade is smaller by nature and it would simply be easier to abandon media vehicles entirely this year.
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Giro d’Italia race director Mauro Vegni is still finalizing the new race route for the October version of the Giro d’Italia. And while he has yet to officially finalize the stages that will replace the original stages in and around Budapest, he announced one very significant measure—the potential cancellation of the publicity caravan.
“We are considering rules that respect protocols. There will hardly be the advertising (media) caravan but, I hope that the data will improve and that for October things will change,” he said on cyclingpro.net. “It (i.e., the caravan) is more no than yes because it becomes an audience aggregator. Also, for companies, it is another additional cost. We are also seeing with companies what their orientation is.”
The Tour de France has already suggested that it could nearly cut in half its own caravan to around 100 vehicles maximum. But the Italian caravan is smaller by nature and it would simply be easier to abandon entirely this year.
Speaking on Rete 8, news channel for the Abruzzo region, Vegni said, “Abruzzo has always been held in high regard and we have decided to come up with a second stage that will arrive at the Aremogna. It will be demanding, let’s say a four-star stage.”He added that the aim is to modify the original race route as little as possible, and simply to recover the three stages lost with the original big start in Hungary.
In addition, he added that they are coming up with B plans for some of the high mountain stages like the Gavia, that could be hit with snow late in October.