Rest day, as the riders travel to Italy for Tuesday's Stage 4. A harsh welcome, it will be, to finish on top of Mount Etna. Guillaume Martin, eighth at last year's Tour de France, the philosopher on wheels is ready. Last month, he made the southern side of Mount Etna his training base (1900m above sea level) for his Giro debut. The Frenchman has success. He won atop Mount Etna on the 2019 Giro di Sicilia with Wanty-Gobert team.
"There were lots of reasons. There were the obvious ones like the weather and the altitude, but there was also the idea of soaking up the Italian atmosphere before the Giro. I was also able to do a recon of the Etna stage, so it was a combination of things.
As ever in a Grand Tour, the last week will be really important. It's no different this year with mountain stages in the Alps in the last week. There are mountain stages early, too, which will be important, like Etna, which is the first uphill finish."
Martin has written two books on philosophy, a theatre piece on Plato and
Socrates on a Bike', published in 2019. What's next?
"My goal was to talk about philosophy in an easy way with humour and without stress; to link cycling and philosophy in a relaxed manner. For me it's not complicated to find time to write as it's part of my balance.
I need to write to feel relaxed; I need to have other things in my life than cycling. It's important not to be focused on just one thing.
For now, I don't have a third book planned but I'm still writing and it will come..."
-Guillaume Martin
Buongiorno Sicilia
Welcome to Italy! with a brutal finishing climb
Stage 3...
"What an amazing start to my first Grand Tour. I'm happy with 4th place against the best sprinters in the world."
Biniam Girmay
Look back...
Cafe Raiders, 1959 Giro d'ltalia
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