Music

You are listening to Kilometer Zero by the cycling podcast

Powered by Super Sapiens

Energy Management for committed athletes and coaches

Among the many trisms and clichés routinely uttered about the Giro d'Italia,

one that none of us would dispute, even in this relatively barren age for home riders,

holds that the race is and always has been an Italian national institution.

In Italy there is no equivalent of UK legislation dictating that sporting events

of such status must be broadcast on tourist or networks,

but the Giro's home has nevertheless long been the state broadcaster Rai,

safe for a brief residency on Sylvia Bela Skone's media set in the mid-1990s.

Every May the voices of Rai's commentators and pundits therefore flood through Italian living rooms.

They become familiar, one of the sounds of the springtime.

Until now they have also been almost exclusively male,

like the power structure and focus of this entire sport.

The 2021 Giro though represents the dawn of a new age, certainly in those Italian homes.

For Rai's frontline commentary team features a woman for the first time.

Born in Palava in the northeast Veneto region,

Jadda Borgato is 31 years old, a retired former Italian national champion herself,

and the co-commentator whose observations on this year's race,

delivered alongside Francesco Bancani,

who is providing an institute on male-fluest Jesus Guide to the Corsa Rosa.

...