The war jeopardizes the start of the Giro from Hungary

The conflict is raging in Ukraine, the first three stages shake from 6 to 8 May. In days it will be decided, hypothesis starting from Sicily. The Friulian fraction unchanged

UDINE. A decision will be made in early April. But the concern is growing day by day: the war in Ukraine, which is upsetting the world and from hour to hour proposes scenarios that were unthinkable until a few months ago, strongly risks also to blow up the great departure of the Giro d’Italia from Hungary. .

We recall that there are three fractions planned on Hungarian soil, already chosen by RCS for the 2020 edition before the breakthrough of Covid caused everything to blow up, forcing the organizers to recover the pink race in the autumn and on an entirely Italian track.

Friday 6 May, stage from Budapest to Visegrad, north of the capital. The next day a short time trial in Budapest and then the third and final stage from Kaposvar to Balatonfured, a city in the extreme north of Lake Balaton and south of the capital. Then from there the caravan with the charters made available by Hungary, which for the operation corsa rosa guarantees the organizers over ten million euros in revenues, flight to Catania from where the race will restart after the rest day on Monday 9 May.

True, Budapest and the cities affected by the hamlets are far from the small portion of the border between Hungary and the southern part of Ukraine, but who can be said to be far from a huge tragedy? Only yesterday NATO decided to send fighting groups to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Hungary. In short, the Giro in terra Magiara operation is at least at risk.

The organizers are in constant contact with the Hungarians and already have two solutions in hand. The first and more complicated: cancel Hungary and leave, as happened in 2017, from Sardinia with three stops and then move the caravan to Sicily. Hypothesis two, the most probable: starting from Sicily on Saturday 7 May and climbing up the boot, adding the three stages cut to the south, perhaps already one on the island. What the organizers did two years ago by redesigning the route of the Giro 2020 without Hungary due to Covid.

At the moment RCS continues to foresee the departure from Budapest hoping for peace. Is it really realistic?

In any case, for the Friulian parenthesis of the Giro, the third to last stage from Marano Lagunare to Castelmonte scheduled for Friday 27 May, nothing will change, with the patron of the fraction Enzo Cainero busy in defining the two evenings of presentation of the event in Cividale and Marano. For the alpine gathering on May 27 at Passo Solarie the unknown war returns. We’ll see.