“I’ll take ‘Things I didn’t expect to write about in pro cycling’ for $500, Alex.”
The Giro d’Italia peloton has found itself talking about something decidedly less glamorous than pink jerseys and tiramisu this week: riders peeing into water bottles.
After stage 9, the organizers issued a pointed but odd reminder that taking a little wee into your bottle and tossing it aside is now considered non va bene. In the warning, it cited, well, optics.
“To respect the image of cycling and the Giro d’Italia, the organizer and the Commissaires’ Panel inform all riders that urinating into a bottle and subsequently discarding it is strictly prohibited.”
The warning immediately raised eyebrows because, while the practice clearly exists, several riders suggested it is hardly a peloton-wide epidemic. But it is still, was happening.
“I don’t think it’s really a thing in the peloton, but more something with a few riders,” Dries Van Gestel told Sporza.
Oliver Naesen told the Belgian broadcaster that the trick has been around for years, tracing it back to Peter Sagan. Naesen said he only really knew of two riders associated with it: Sagan and Victor Campenaerts.
Campenaerts, was, of course, very Campenaerts about it. “No idea what that is about,” the popular pro cyclist and amateur vlogger said.
Taking the piss, literally
The big issue is the what happens if a fan grabs one of these bidons jaunes. Water bottles are prized souvenirs at the Giro, or any pro race by spectators of all ages.
Riders acknowledged that nobody wants a fan enthusiastically grabbing the wrong bottle. Because that would be pretty damn gross to grab a warm one. You’ve heard of sticky bottles. Now we have icky bottles.
“I wouldn’t like to be the person who picks up that water bottle,” Arjen Livyns said in Sporza’s timely think piece on portable water bottle toilets.
But why are some lads creating these toxic tumblrs? Pros are constantly hydrating, and that means in the course of a five- or six-hour race, there’s gonna be multiple times to take a tinkle.
The problem is that increasingly packed roadside crowds make discreet bathroom breaks harder than ever.
“You try to look for places where there are no people, but in the stages with good weather people come out to watch the race. Then it is difficult to find a good place to pee,” Dries Van Gestel said.
There are still many questions, without going into too many details. Although the camera usually pans away from a rider when he’s having a…slow leak, on the go, you probably know how it works. The rider will either go to the front of the pack and gradually drift back to the end of peloton or in the caravan, as he tilts his body and moves things around, bibs-wise, or a teammate may push him as he…negotiates things.
One hand on the bars, one hand, you know. But throw a bottle in there and you have to wonder how the heck anyone would fill ’er up on the go.
Maybe that’s a follow-up story. Or maybe we can just move on. Like, forever.
Stage 11 of the Giro goes from Porcari to Chiavari, coming in at just under 200 km. There are several climbs, so expect an early break to try and get away as the GC guys mark each other. (Not literally.)