Focus Giro d’Italia: Stefano Diciatteo, RCS Sport media relations manager “The pandemic has complicated our work but thanks to technology we gave excellent answers”

In a few days the 28th Giro d’Italia is going to begin for Stefano Diciatteo, head of media relations for Rcs Sport, the group that organizes the Italian GT. We contacted Stefano to learn more about the world behind the scenes of the competitions organized by the Gazzetta dello Sport family, which is also involved in all the major Italian races, from Milan Sanremo till Strade Bianche, through Tirreno Adriatico until the Giro di Lombardia without forgetting the Giro del Piemonte and the Milano Torino, the most ancient of the classics.

“Ciao Stefano, of course we start asking you the implications of the pandemic on the organization of races”
The pandemic has brought complications in daily life with restrictions of various kinds. We at RCS Sport and the whole world of cycling have been able to adapt quickly thanks to strict protocols, thus managing in a short time to move the calendar of last season to ensure the  of the main competitions. Obviously it was not possible to make the departure from Budapest but we hope to be able to repeat the departure from abroad as soon as possible, and I hope next year. Sterting abroad brings various logistical problems, but this guarantee greater visibility to the race and a great return of image and tourism to the foreign cities which host us.

“Talking about media what has changed?”
In addition to the various national regulations, the UCI rules and protocols overlapped for us. On a practical and immediate level, the distancing involved a rationing of the presence of the press and photographers and a series of measures aimed at ensuring compliance with the riders bubble. In this situation technology has given us a great help, for example with online press conferences made from a location close to the finish line and broadcasted on a screen in the press room. This solution proved to be optimal also for the cyclists who were interviewed immediately after the award ceremony, without having to wait for the doping controls and without having to move to the press rooms which, for example, in the mountain stages are also 10 kilometers far from the finish line for logistic reasons and allowed the protagonists to optimize timing and guarantee the Maglia Rosa at least an hour more to recover after the stage.

“Your experience at the Giro”
I started in 1994 with Berzin victory as a press collaborator and then I held various roles up to the current one. The Giro has always played a very important role in the world of cycling and over the years we have always tried to adopt all possible innovations. In our sector what has made the difference is technology: I started to manage only the traditional press and television, now I deal with many specialized internet websites. Today in our official pages dedicated to the various races that we organize, you can find all the information and on the application you can follow the race in real time. Today in over 200 countries around the world you can watch the race on TV thanks to the collaboration with IMG Media, our partner who deals the rights of the race abroad. About the media on the field, there are some newspapers always present such as L’Equipe then the participation of champions of different nationalities conditions the presence of journalists: if Evenepoel runs, many correspondents from Belgium arrive, with Egan Bernal at the Giro there will be many Colombians. Traditionally there are countries such as Belgium and Holland which show more interest in the Spring Classics while the Giro is more requested by Spain and Colombia.

“Thinking about the races you organize, which one do you prefer”
It is difficult to choose, but undoubtedly the Tirreno Adriatico is the one that fascinates me the most: in recent years we had a cast of riders of the highest level, perhaps even better than the Tour de France, thanks to a mixed route, where every type of runner can find his own target and then we cross the center of Italy and these areas are really very  beautiful.