‘Light is a mystery; it is like a prayer to God. We have to take light and make a gift of it in our finite time. This is our gospel of nature, a mass celebrated in the landscape, because pedalling in the Dolomites is like being in the Bible. Cycling is like purification.’
As speeches at pre-race press conferences go, Michil Costa’s broadcast to a 100-strong room of local dignitaries and journalists is a corker. The race committee president, hotelier and self-styled philosopher is mid-flow on the cosmic importance of cycling, how the Maratona dles Dolomites is pivotal within that, and hence why this year’s theme had to be ‘light’ (previous themes include humanity, metamorphosis and plants). He eventually closes with the words, ‘So let’s go beyond being a human. Let light live inside,’ before pushing up his spectacles to dab at his eyes with a handkerchief.