Giro Stage 10 Preview

The Giro swings north. Today has a short mountain stage in the Matese hills with a summit finish. A chance for the breakaway or does Pogačar eat their lunch again?

The Route: flat as the race skirts around the menacing Mount Vesuvius with 50km on the plains. It’s awkward terrain for the climbers who want to win, they’ll have a roll a big gear to get in the breakaway, ideally they have a team mate to help. The first sprint at Arpaia looks like an unmarked climb and it is a mountain pass – the Forche Caudine – but it’s just a gentle drag up the valley for the race today.

The Camposauro climb is harder, first a gentle slope through some villages and then steeper once on the flanks of Monte Taburno. The descent is longer and riskier, a small road that is not used very often. The Intergiro sprint comes after a long drag up through the olive groves.

The Finish: a 20km long climb? This includes the descent out of Cusano. It goes up in three parts, separated by small descents and recovery sections. 14%? The inside line on a long bend perhaps but the road is regular and wide. Some 8% sections towards the top make it harder though.

The Contenders: a breakaway? Every team except UAE has an interest in one going clear because if there’s a summit finish sprint among the contenders Pogačar is very likely to take the spoils. So all the other squads will want a rider up front for two reasons: to get an option on the stage and to make life harder for UAE. Will UAE chase today? Possibly because the course suits and there’s no nailed-on Pogačar day until Sunday’s mountain road to Livigno but at the same time keeping a maxi breakaway at two minutes is asking a lot of the team. Would letting a move stay away help the politics and tactics? Possibly too but there will only be one stage winner, everyone else will try just as hard in the mountain stages to come; the benefit comes from saving riders.

The Bocca della Selva isn’t a pure climber’s first choice, a little bit of punch can help here too, someone who can take time early on the climb might find the flat sections allow them to defend it. Michael Storer (Tudor) seems in good form but he’s 11th overall which means if he gets time he’ll worry others after a high GC finish, likewise Filippo Zana (Jayco) who is 13th and the same for Romain Bardet (DSM Firmenich-PostNL) at 14th. Georg Steinhauser (EF) was a neo-pro to watch here after he won a stage of the U23 Giro Valle d’Aosta up a long climb that was never too steep but a Giro win would be a breakthrough, team mate Esteban Chaves is going well too. Einer Rubio (Movistar) is a pure climber who has been in the breakaways already.

–
Pogačar, Storer, Rubio, Bardet
Vansevenant, Zana, Steinhauser, Chaves, Rubio

Weather: sunshine and 23°C.

TV: KM0 is at 1.15pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in from 4.20 to see the final climb from Cusano Mutri.

Postcard from Pompeii
Famous for its archaeology, Pompeii is the southernmost point of this year’s Giro d’Italia. While no grand tour can ever visit the whole country in one edition and some areas are visited more often than others, the Giro’s course is arguably a mirror of Italy’s economy with its skew to the north. This is also true for Italian cycling as whole. The further south you go the fewer races there are. Likewise with the distribution of pro cyclists.

The map above shows the birthplaces of the Italian riders who started the 2024 Giro. It’s an illustration of the distribution of Italian cycling. Why is this so? The south today is poorer than the north which is still a factor: a racing bike is expensive, a local club is not as well-funded, a bike race can’t attract sponsors so easily. But there are wider factors like the greater mechanisation and industrialisation of the North which saw workers pedal to their workplaces a century ago and once they got a bike and a taste of commuting, some went riding more at the weekends and in turn cycling’s popularity grew, try Pedalare! Pedalare! for more. However what is true for cycling is also the case for other sports: football, basketball and more all have more presence in the north.

It’s a self-reinforcing problem. Vincenzo Nibali (Messina) tells how he would travel with his father for hours in the car on the eve of an amateur race and sometimes they’d even sleep overnight in the car. Domenico Pozzovivo (Policoro) has similar stories. If they made it, others did not, perhaps they were too tired on race day or just unable to justify the fuel and autostrada tolls for long journeys. Both Nibali and Pozzovivo would migrate north to amateur teams as a stepping stone to turning pro.

Ideally the Giro could step in here with some more stages to the south. The terrain is suitable but easier said than done. The accommodation options more sparse and host towns ready to bid harder to find. And if the Giro shows up for a day it’s nice but this can’t resolve a structural problem. However as you will probably see today there are plenty of glorious roads to enjoy.

61 thoughts on “Giro Stage 10 Preview”

    • It’s a sophisticated reference to the less known second family name of Esteban Chaves, whose full name is Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio. Now, who’s got two rings and who just one between him and Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes (great full name, very apt for a finish in Rome).
      ^____^

      • Speaking of Jhoan, does anyone know the origin of the spelling of Jhonatan (Narvaez, Restrepo etc.), and by extension, Jhoan, among South/Latin Americans? Presumably something to do with pronunciation or dialect.

      • Luckily most of the time most of those governments, albeit generally lacking common sense, had just enough to avoid even trying something so absurd. Not even the most crazy gangs Berlusconi had put together arrived even close. But, as they say, records are there to be broken.

  4. I guess for anyone hoping for a tight race on GC (grasping at straws a bit, admittedly) it is worth remembering that the last rider who tore up the first two weeks of the Giro, winning stages for fun and seemingly invincible whenever the road went uphill, ended up losing well over an hour in the last three days … It’s not over until it is over.

    • Its a good point. But Simon Yates, as I’m sure he would admit, is an ordinary mortal professional cyclist. I’m not sure you can say the same for Pogacar. Plus Yates was up against Froome (and Dumoulin) and was constantly on the run from the threat of them in time trials. Pogacar is only really up against himself. I would maybe have tiny question marks over Pogacar in proper alpine mountain stages with multiple passes and genuine high altitude, but I don’t think there’s anyone to take advantage of it. If those question marks even exist.

      • Indeed, you may be right. But there has been lots of commentary that has more or less gone on the lines that the race was over before it even started: the lesson from history is that riders can look dominant right up to the point when suddenly they don’t. Collapses can be sudden and dramatic. (Look at Evenepoel in the Vuelta last year on the Tourmalet).

        Tom

        • What Richard S was pointing out (I think, and stand to be corrected) is that Pogačar is the sort of rider who actually even collapsed quite dramatically at last TDF towards Courchevel, losing dunno if 7 or 8 minutes, and still ended up best of the rest like 4-5 mins above the closest GC rivals.
          But, yes, ask Evans who lost a quarter of hour in the last mountain stage in 2002 when in the lead and with an ITT to look forward at, or Kruijswijk who started stage 19 with 3′ over Chaves and nearly 5′ over Nibali in 2016.
          Plus, there are also other issues, as seen in 2005 (health) or 1999 (“health”) when the lead was even more neat than Pogačar’s now.

    • Blew up like a good un. But Simon Yates is no Pogacar (although still very high class). Maybe there’s something to be said for Pog and UAE letting a suitable break go to battle it out for the win for peloton harmony/politics if nothing else.

    • Not so “wishful”, either, at least in my personal case, and not as much as a Pogačar’s “fan” (which I surely am, in a sense), but as at present it’s hard to see a different deserving winner.
      I’m not sure I’d appreciate more a lesser version of 2023 if Pogi was to retire, leaving us with the compelling duel between granpa G, baby Cian, Dani Felipe, Tiberi and O’Connor (all riders which I appreciate despite many “despites”).

      Of course, even if I am a fan, on the spot I’d be cruelly happy to see Pogačar more challenged, be it only by a fuga bidone, and I’ve not lost all hope about that. They began well, at least, and maybe that was an antipasto of things to come when stages become longer. This is quite much wishful thinking, ok.

      That said, I think that we should widen our scope and take into account that “the sporting event” we’re watching in this case is not just “the Giro d’Italia” but rather “Pogačar trying to do the double”.

      • Thinking only of this race, I’d rather see the ‘compelling duel between granpa G, baby Cian, Dani Felipe, Tiberi and O’Connor’, although it’s not that thrilling a prospect, I’ll agree.
        A fuga bidone? Not the way UAE control things.

        As for the double, come the TdF, if Pog has won the Giro, I’ll be all-out supporting him. Usually, I don’t care who wins, but I want to see his bravery in going for this rewarded. The Tour could be much more exciting than the Giro, especially as Vin’s preparation has been hampered.

        • Not at all a general rule, or quite the contrary even, but in the case of these specific riders, I suspect that it might be more interesting to see them fight for the podium rather than for the win. Wild guess, of course (and even the podium might be too much, perhaps they’d give the best show going for a stage). Other athletes are different, of course. Anyway, if Pogačar rides as on Saturday, it’s not their fault, either. He’s playing breakaway killer. Well, what’s their fault is that things as they are they should maybe go on with their moves although there’s Pogačar on their wheel, that is, stop reasoning as under common circumstances.

        • Perhaps if UAE continue chasing breaks then their capacity to do so will be greatly diminished by week 3, allowing a fuga bidone in one of the latter stages (17? 19 or 20?). To me it would make sense for UAE to keep their powder dry (or at least drier) until then, if only to avoid this scenario.

          But it’ll be a lot more fun if they smash themselves for a few more Pog victories this week, leaving the race more open (at least for crazy breakaways) in the later stages. Let’s see…

          • I’m with Gabriele here.

            Would prefer to see a winner who felt like the strongest rider rather than a crash now give us a different race or Pogacar flailing himself to oblivion and screwing his own race through boneheadedness (which I do not think he’s doing currently and as a cycling fan I’m taking a lot of joy from his racing style to this point).

            Although GC riding can be as much about surviving crashes and illness as much as riding well… it’s just that (for me) occasionally some riders are so superior it can’t help but lessen the winner by default if they crash out as would be the case here (although I’d happy still celebrate any other winner with that caveat as every winner should always be celebrated, likewise runners up in this brutal sport).

            I did smile reading your reply Gabriele though because I’ve seen you regularly argue the point the opposite way on the classic Froome/Nibali debate in 2014! But I would **highlight** I agree with you on **both**, as Nibali fully deserved that win and that was a case of Froome’s favourite status or actions in the Tour to the point of his retirement not being sufficient to diminish Nibali’s achievement. It’s very much a case by case basis and in this case I’d be disappointed to see a change at the top that wasn’t down to a rider out performing or out thinking Pogacar – although if they did I expect they’d be a long debate afterwards here as to the true reasons!

            Even given all that I’m definitely tiring of the Pogacar winning debate now – we know he’ll likely win, we know our opinions if his does or doesn’t, we know what we’d like to see, we know what we’ll likely see… how much more is there to say? I’m in full agreement with both Richard S and KevinR’s comments above reTom J’s last throw of the dice, which feels like the last thing there really is to say on the matter till something else changes or the end?

            When thinking over the debate as a whole, I kind of think most of the negativity around the route, Pogacar, this Giro is more about the overall issues with road cycling as a sport and it’s current offering to fans than it is with Pogacar, this Giro or the route… but I would say that being evangelical for a big shake up, that will never happen, as I’ve written here ad nauseam and look forward to boring everyone with more with in future!

        • (Replying to OldDAVE)
          I’m fairly agnostic about who wins a GT, provided the victory hasn’t been the result of a terrible crash or other misfortune (mechanical etc) suffered by a stronger rider and/or team. But I really don’t mind if the strongest individual rider doesn’t win, especially if this is a result of superior team tactics from the victorious rider. In fact, I’d argue that this is an even more interesting (and possibly more satisfying?) outcome as it showcases the wonderful complexities of road cycling (if you speak with non-fans they just assume that the strongest rider always wins. So, to me, it’s particularly interesting in situations when individual strength is overcome by tactics).

          That said, I’m trying to think of GTs in which the GC has gone to not-the-strongest rider purely by virtue of their team’s superior tactics (combined with poor decisions by the strongest rider’s team), rather than as a result of crashing or other technical misfortunes suffered by the “strongest” rider.

          Good examples of this?

          • @oldDAVE, re your fairly constant point on how road cycling could be improved… maybe oil/Saudi money could be spent on appearance money. The big riders used to ride all (or a lot of) the big races back in the day because thats how they got paid. ‘Here you go MvdP/WVA/Remco/Jonas/Pog, heres €5,000,000. But in return you have to ride all 5 monuments, the Giro, the Tour and the Worlds’. Make it happen!

          • SINCE 2000.

            Heras Vuelta 2005, Vinokourov Vuelta 2006, Contador Vuelta 2012, Aru Vuelta 2015 [Kuss Vuelta 2023 (within same team)]

            Garzelli Giro 2000, [Cunego Giro 2004 (within same team)], Savoldelli Giro 2005 (help from ahem not exactly teammates), Dumoulin Giro 2017 (help from other teams, but it’s also dubious he wasn’t the strongest, very tight competition), Carapaz Giro 2019 (rather rivals’ fault), Tao Giro 2020 (the two main rivals were very close anyway)

            Way harder at the TDF.
            Armstrong TDF 2003 (maybe, help by others), Sastre TDF 2008 (internal issues in his team, not exactly tactics), Froome TDF 2015 (essentially rivals’ fault and some illegal feeding).

          • WillC – Yes, you’re totally right and I 75% agree – it’s why I noted –

            ‘I’d be disappointed to see a change at the top that wasn’t down to a rider out performing or out thinking Pogacar’ (apologies to quote myself, I’m aware how incredibly daft that is…)

            But, and as you point out, I should’ve inserted ‘a rider *or team* out thinking’. You’re completely correct.

            To answer the other question and explain what might be a 25% divergence in opinion I’m going to go round the houses, so totally understand if it’s too boring to read!

            …so the 25% is likely just down to personal taste, as you are completely right in everything you say – but my taste in great races is probs just tiny bit different best illustrated by the eternal stage vs one day races debate, because really I’m more of a stage race fan as I find myself occasionally deflated after one day races where a slightly weaker rider has won (usually) through smart tactics coupled with a brilliant one off ride – but if that comes from either a big favourite being marked out (CancellaraPR’11) or a rider slipping off during a down moment where everyone just looks at each other (StuyvenMSR’21) – I can end feeling a tiny bit deprived of the MVDP2023MSR-esq heroic race winning moment that I live for… but well aware others love this so would **never** look to impose my taste on anyone! I’d also highlight there are many scenario’s where this type of win can be by the rider who is actually the strongest on the day (TerpstraPR’14) or that the tactics and performance are so exceptional that the win transcends most others to mythical status (HaymanPR’16).

            So I am not arguing for any change just outlining what I generally find enjoyable: often stage races (which to answer the question ‘has a GC ever gone to not-the-strongest-rider’) in a sense almost cannot have that scenario (ie the one outlined above and those you write), or at least very rarely, by design simply because they’re over multiple days and any rider has to be extremely close to being the strongest over a prolonged period/varying terrain to even to be in a position for tactics/a team to make the difference. (there some obvs anomalies + contradictions in this though including… part of my reason for loving stage races also being the added bonus of breakaway stages where I actually enjoy all types of wins including those which I might be less keen on in one day races! #facepalmemoji)

            So will just reiterate to avoiding inciting tension – most of the above is just my stupid taste and would never look to impose on anyone or argue against people who finds enjoyment elsewhere as there is and should be space for everyone’s favourite types of racing in the sport. Apologies this was the second long post.

          • Not quite the same, but Pogacar’s first TdF win in 2020 is an analogous example – not that he beat Jumbo due to his team’s tactical superiority, but moreso that Jumbo didn’t press home their advantage of being by far the strongest team in order to distance their rivals sufficiently by the end, and so they lost despite being the strongest collective force.

  7. Re: the map, what I find interesting is also the reduced presence of cyclists from two historical hotbeds like Piemonte and Toscana… Coppi & Bartali ^___^

    Piemonte has been struggling for a good while now. Imagine that when Fabio Felline turned pro everybody expected him to be the long awaited new Piemonte champion. On a lesser note, even Diego Rosa had sometimes that sort of ideas around him, precisely because the region of the two Campionissimi, Girardengo and Coppi, had a lasting tradition of solid riders to bring on the early legacy of other great names like Brunero or Aimo. In the 50s they had Nino Defilippis or Conterno, in the 60s obviously Balmamion, Zilioli in the 70s… Saronni, too, was born in Piemonte, if we want, but always felt Lombard, just as Visconti is Sicilian.
    Not that they can really complain today with Ganna or Longo Borghini, and Balsamo, too, but the impression is that the greengrass movement isn’t as broad as in the past, plus, of course, the peaks achieved “back in the days” aren’t even close.

    What’s impressive about Toscana is that not only they had the likes of Bartoli, Magni or Nencini (Chioccioli, if you want) in past decades, they still were the premium destination for rising cycling stars from all over the world in much more recent years (including Sicilian Nibali and Visconti), a mere handful of years ago I’d say, besides of course having riders like Bettini, Bartoli, Cipollini, Luperini, absolute top stars, plus Tafi, Ballerini, Casagrande, Nocentini, Bennati… Now I’d name just Bettiol and Ulissi as the current premium athletes, none of them at the Giro.

      • And, at least, they’ve got a decent number of riders at the Giro. They look like their specialty is the “next (not so much) big thing”, as it happened with Fortunato, but also Aleotti. Or maybe they just need some more years to develop, as it was more common in the recent past.
        Covili had looked for a while “the young Italian athlete prevailing over the rest, although on a modest level”, but is now 27 and looks like he’s not growing much more. Same for current Italian champion Velasco, who looked very promising… a lustre ago. Not a bad athlete at all, and worth the WT which he looked like he might lose, yet not as brilliant as one could expect back then.
        Tarozzi and Maestri are also from the region, two honest break men.
        I don’t know if I’m forgetting anyone. Not a lot and maybe not very visible, but it’s still 6 out of 42 Italians on the startlist, not that bad.

        • Fun fact, precisely today three of those riders from Emilia Romagna were among the best 15 athletes in the favourites’ group: Fortunato, despite riding most of the time on the back of that group, eventually kept contact with any successive selection and came in with Tiberi only 4″ behind the final rush by O’Connor, Dani Felipe, Thomas and Pogi, while Covili lost the wheels a little before and still was only 4 further seconds back. Aleotti , too, lost less than 30″ to the best, despite having worked quite much to cover his captain Dani Felipe on the windy slopes.

      • What’s strange in Toscana’s case is the drought in the simple number of athletes.
        Not having a top dog is pretty normal… statistics of extreme phenomena are “normally crazy”.
        But a hotbed should be “producing” a fine steady number of pros, although not on the top end of performance, as we can see in Emilia Romagna. Bergamo’s province hasn’t had a champion for long, even if many were raised there in Palazzago, like Sardinian Aru.
        And some locals got “burnt” by the hurry to find the next big thing , very typical.
        But, at the end of the day, even if it’s a small province (a tenth part of the whole Lombardia) they got at least 3 athletes at the Giro, Consonni, Milesi and Colleoni.

  8. This stage looks very nice, but it’s short enough to be controlled. Even if UAE are alone in the business. 75kms more of flat (or non-flat) before the climbing would make it much more challenging and suited to a real fondista. My guess is Pogi will swallow the breakaway over the last climb, with only Martínez-Poveda at his wheel.

  9. Sprint teams will want the points at the first sprint so a very fast start and then the GC/breakaway tussle starts. UAE have said they want to control the race, so if the breakaway gets it, it wont be by a big margin, barring accidents.

  10. Pedalare! Pedalare! is a great book. The only thing I hate about it is that in it John Foot promises a follow up to cover the later years, and he hasn’t (yet) written it!

    We need to kidnap John and lock him in a room for a year or two. Who’s with me?! 🙂

  11. On the route being northern-biased…

    The UK Eurosport commentators were discussing on Sunday how the roads south of Rome tend to be extremely slippery with even the slightest rain. (Although Robbie McEwen said the spectacular example of “20 riders crossing the finish line on their backsides” happened in Pinerolo, not down south.) I wonder whether this could play into RCS’s thinking: if unreliable May weather led to massed crashes, it wouldn’t be a good look for the race.

    The more we see of Italy, the better, as far as I’m concerned.

    • It’s essentially many local municipalities not being willing or able to pay, and sometimes not having paid what was due. RCS was even offering some bargain fee, but more often than not you really need the Region being involved or some specific very motivated private local sponsor.

  12. I’m not at all surprised to see no cyclists being born in Naples.

    Riding from Naples to Mount Vesuvius and back in the rain rates as one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. And I’ve done some very risky shit over the years. The nightmarish traffic, the garbage roads with the weird slippery cobbles, it was pure insanity.

  13. @oldDAVE Are you seriously comparing the relative difference between Froome / Pogačar vs. Nibali with, ahem, equalled to whom exactly?

    • Ha – no, just the similarities of the underlying argument.

      But let’s not go too deep into it, it just made me smile and I ***heavily highlighted*** that I agree with you on both including, because of the exact reason you’re noting above – these are just my silly ramblings so I would never insist you reread but I think if you do you’ll realise I completely agree with you and made the same argument you’re making – I’m very much a Nibali fan.

      • Without going any deeper, let’s just say that Pogi has already shown one thing or two at this Giro and is leading with a 3-mins or so advantage.
        Froome was not in such a situation when he fell, far from.

        (Plus, but these are just further details, that 2014 season Froome hadn’t really looked as convincing as we might think with hindsight, and indeed his team didn’t look convinced, either, during those first TDF stages. At the Vuelta rematch, by the way, Contador would beat him fair and square. I might even add that being prone to breaking bones is a consequence of corticosteroid regular use, however “legal”, so it’s part of the bundle of your physical characteristics in Froome’s case, not just bad luck)

        However, of course I agree about the disappointing effect when some big fav is out which takes away in a sense from the final winner, but it also depend on who the final winner is – and what’s the DNF-rider’s pedigree.

        A recent example? Not many have considered that Rogla’s Giro win is diminished because Remco was out. And we’re speaking of Remco. But he’s got a lot to show in GTs, still, while Rogla is proven value and convincingly beat G.

        • Absolutely – and I very clearly said the exact point you say in paragraph one:

          Froome’s favourite status or ***actions in the Tour to the point of his retirement*** not being sufficient to diminish Nibali’s achievement.

          We are in total agreement – I love talking with you but apologies if my phrasing every leads to misinterpreting – all that made me smile is how same argument or similar situations differs on a case by case basis. Very small point, not re-litigating the event!

          And let’s def not get into the Froome/Sky drug debate again ^__^

          It’s not fair on other commenters, and I say this in the nicest possible way as you slightly misunderstood me a few weeks back so I’ll briefly reiterate: I am ignorant on the finer details of all drug use and as every drug accusation seems to be soaked in detail and unbelievable nuance I prefer to just leave it to our host to say the who/what/where of everything and remove myself from all drug debates in these comment sections, that was the only time I’ve ever commented on drugs here outside of asking for a clarification from INRNG because I do not have the knowledge to comment.

          (if I use a word like nuance or casually say story, it does not mean I’m questioning your view, opinion or the facts of anything ^___^).

          Very much all friends here, not looking to stoke fires. Let the good times roll.

  14. I know next to nothing about Valentin Paret-Peintre but what a year Decathlon are having?
    4th in Alps and takes a stage here?
    Great result.
    I’d love Ben O’Connor to continue the trend with a solid top 5 or podium.

  15. I enjoyed today’s postcard. Of course it’s not just riders but many of the iconic companies in the sport are clustered in the Lombardy/Veneto/Alto Adige: Columbus, Bianchi, Cinelli, Colnago, Campagnolo, Legnano, Pinarello, Wilier … too many to list. Not just bikes: in motor vehicles, there are FIAT, Lancia, and ALFA, Pirelli, Moto Guzzi, Gilera, and if we include adjoining Emilia Romagna Ferrari, Maserati, Ducati. In aircraft there are Agusta, Macchi and Savoia Marchetti; Piaggio and Ansaldo are also in the North. But I can’t think of a single industrial major from the South. Finmeccanica maybe.

    • Marche (not South, rather Centre) has a solid production of shoes, it’s sort of a distributed thing but, as an example, one well known name is Della Valle (Tod’s, which had a 10% participation of LVMH). The town of Fabriano has the famous paper industry by the same name. Indesit which was a big domestic appliance producer was also from Fabriano. I’m familiar with that area, but other readers might know better about different ones.

      Then you have lots of industrial facilities through the whole South but they were built mainly with public money for Northern companies, which often actually destroyed the local productive system.

      The Southern regions of Italy suffered from the prevalent influence on national politics by Northern capitals, which had a negative impact in two specific periods, just after the unification of the country at the end of 19th century, when Southern industries seen as “competitors” by the Northern ones for example in railways, textile industry etc. were directly or indirectly penalised due to strong Northern lobbying; then from 1951 on with post war industrial strategies (interesting analysis on the latter here:
      https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/distretti-industriali-e-imprese-nel-mezzogiorno_(L'Italia-e-le-sue-Regioni)/ )

      It’s a story well worth studying because Italy as a country paid and is paying a very high price for the lack of an authentic, organic collective vision which sacrificed *existing* resources and structures in the South, now Europe is going through a very similar process.

      • I do remember the Alfasud, though IIRC Alfa Romeo were effectively nationalized at the time. I don’t know how much of that was about industrializing the South and how much trying to make it more like the North. Seems a bit like and opposite to Spain, with politically less favored regions which, in this case, developed faster.

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