palermo, the evening of friday, may 20, 1949: the night before . . .
". . . the tires, so narrow, are as smooth and taut as young snakes."
"the solderiers are ready: ...each one has reaady his little secret weapons... with less imaginations, one racer has slipped a little tube of amphetamine sulphate into the pocket of his jersey, another has an invigorating infusion specially created for him by the town pharmacist."
"food bags? the director of each team has already prepared them... and then, the pep pilss, the dynamic concoctions capable of making a corpse jump out of the casket like an acrobat."
tomorrow, the 32d giro d'italia begins with...a mountain stage! a new twist for this edition of the giro: intermediate sprints, and time bonuses for mountain tops. and the time bonuses for the top three stage places? 2:00, 0:45, and 0:15. tune in tomorrow.