- Sep 20, 2017
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Stage 10: Lucca – Pisa
A time trial, in Lucca of all places? They should probably send out a storm warning, I hear low-flying helicopters can generate a lot of wind.Map and profile
Start
Lucca is another one of those cities where the site was first settled by the Etruscans, but the development into a town probably occurred in Roman times. It was just outside of what was regarded as Italy during the Republican era, instead being incorporated into the province of Cisalpine Gaul. As the town closest to Italia proper, it made for a useful base for Julius Caesar during his period as the governor of Gaul whenever he needed to be close to Rome. As such, it was here that he, Pompey and Crassus convened to renew the First Triumvirate in 55 BC. This alliance between the three men, originally formed in either 60 or 59 BC, quickly became the most powerful political force in Rome, but they had slowly grown at odds with each other to an extent. At the Luca Conference, they renewed the alliance, with Caesar retaining his governorship and Pompey and Crassus standing for the consulship before heading off to governorships of their own. Of course, the alliance would not hold a second time: Crassus was killed in battle two years later and as we all know, Caesar and Pompey would face off in a civil war, just six years after Luca. As it sat at the main northern entrance into Tuscany (and with it, the Italian peninsula), it remained a strategically key city throughout Roman times.
Lucca would survive as a decent-sized town into the Middle Ages. Its strategic location combined with the turmoil of the era meant that peace was usually fleeting. On the plus side, it gained a political foothold under the Lombards in the late 6th century, who made it the capital of the Duchy of Tuscia (the predecessor of modern Tuscany). The region was remade into the March of Tuscia after being conquered by Charlemagne in the late 8th century, but Lucca remained its capital until being superseded by Firenze in 1057. By this time, the old feudal structures were fraying and Lucca became an independent city-state a century later. In the next centuries, it became famous for its production of luxury textiles, especially silk, and later also (although not to the same extent) for its paper industry, which has endured into the present day. Aside from a few decades in the 14th century, the city-state was one of very few to survive all the way until Napoleon conquered Italy at the end of the 18th century. This was in no small part because of its advanced fortifications, designed to let the nearby river flood the area around the city. After the fall of Napoleon, Lucca was made into a duchy (mainly because the Congress of Vienna had a lesser Bourbon branch it needed to resettle somewhere). It then finally lost its independence in 1847, when the ruling duke decided he did not want to deal with the burgeoning liberal revolution that would soon engulf most of Europe and sold his territories to Tuscany.
Modern-day Lucca is one of the many cities that contribute to Tuscany’s enduring popularity with tourists, with both the aforementioned fortifications and the centre itself being well-preserved. It is also the birthplace of many composers, most notably one of the titans of Italian opera in Giacomo Puccini, and of course Mario Cipollini, who needs no introduction on here. Cipo never got the chance to ride the Giro in his home city, as there were no stages here after that notorious 1985 TT until last year (when Benjamin Thomas won from the break).
(picture by Gianni Careddu at Wikimedia Commons)
Route
The stage starts by following the aforementioned walls half the way around the city centre, before taking some back roads to get past the motorway and on the road to Pisa. This takes so long that there are less than three kilometres as the crow flies between the start and the first time check in Pontetetto, which might be a record for a full-length (ahem) Giro TT. After this, the road starts to nudge uphill, however as they never paved the pass on this route we are limited to the tunnel. The ‘climby’ part is 3.6 kilometres at an average of 1.9%, which should account for the lack of a profile.
Once out of the tunnel, there is a descent to deal with. On the map, the hairpins look intimidating for being in a TT, but in practice they are as wide and sweeping as it gets – nothing to worry about for the riders here. At the bottom, the route detours a little into the village of Asciano, the location of the second and final time check. From there, the road is arrow-straight until the outskirts of Pisa. Once in town, we travel into the city centre for a short riverside section before heading to the most obvious finish location of them all.
Finish
Pisa is one of the oldest cities in Tuscany, dating back to at least the 6th century BC. Although probably located slightly inland already in Etruscan times, it was the most important port on the 500-kilometre stretch of coastline between Genova and Roma by the time of the Roman conquest in 180 BC and remained as such until the end of the Middle Ages. This was mainly due to its location on the Arno, the main river in Tuscany (this is the river that runs through Firenze). Much like Lucca, it survived comparatively intact into the Middle Ages because the river made it more easily defensible. As a part of Tuscia, it was ruled from Lucca for centuries, but after its fleet really started to develop in the 9th century, Pisa slowly started to eclipse its neighbour. By the time it became an independent republic in 1063, Pisa was the dominant power in the Tyrrhenian, ahead even of Genova, and thus historians have dubbed it one of the four great maritime republics (together with Amalfi, Genova itself, and of course Venezia). By the 12th century, the Republic controlled the Balearic Islands and Corsica and established trading colonies in most of the major Mediterranean ports. Having sacked Amalfi twice in the first half of the century, there were now three main players left and at the apex of its power, Pisa was the most powerful of them all. In the 13th century, it lost its leading status, but remained highly wealthy and powerful until the Genoese destroyed its fleet in a naval battle and destroyed its port (by then already relocated to the west of the current city boundaries) in 1284. Pisa never recovered from this blow, losing its overseas possessions in the next decades and suffering from the silting up of even this new port.
Pisan independence lasted until 1406, when Firenze conquered what remained of the Republic. This only led to further decline, as the Florentines exacted punitive measures against its former rival (even relocating its university for a few decades) and solved the issue of the silted-up port by founding the new port city of Livorno. Eventually, the university was allowed to reopen and the city recovered somewhat, although its glory days were of course over. It was heavily bombarded by the Allies in 1943, with 952 confirmed casualties (estimates run up to 2500) and almost half the city being destroyed. However, its historic centre suffered little damage and this was crucial to its redevelopment, as tourism soon became the main driver of the Pisan economy. In 1987, the area around its cathedral and leaning tower became UNESCO World Heritage.
Pisa’s cultural influence is also defined by its many famous sons. Of particular note are the 12th-century mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, for whom the Fibonacci sequence is named, and even more so the 15th/16th-century physician and astronomer Galileo Galilei, who I really can’t do justice without writing at least another two pages but suffice it to say that the likes of Einstein have dubbed him ‘the father of modern science’. As for more recent times, I am obliged to mention legendary Juventus defender Giorgio ‘The History of the Tottenham’ Chiellini, and of course five-time monument winner Michele Bartoli. Just like Cipollini, Bartoli never got a chance to ride the Giro in his birthplace, as the last stage here was back in 1980.
And in spite of all that history, all the world chooses to remember Pisa for is a poorly-constructed tower. Sigh.
(picture by Luca Aless at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
Very few technical sections, no actual climbing, this is all about who can generate the most watts for a shade over half an hour.
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