It was pretty fantastic IMO.
We wandered on the Saturday afternoon around Cagliari with no trace of them setting anything up, bit weird I thought. Went back down to the Marina in the evening and still nothing, asked a policeman where the finish was to be and he pretty much pointed to where we were stood, so thought that he must know what he's talking about.
What didn't occur to me is that of course, they set up straight after the finish from the previous stage.
In the interest of getting a decent spot, we went down to the Marina at midday on the Sunday and I was amazed at how much 'stuff' they had erected - fencing, VIP areas etc - it's a really slick operation.
It was a very warm and (given what the weather had done previously and then subsequently) surprisingly wind-free...for the time being...the riders would later be met with 40kmph cross winds.
I noticed that people were already getting the good spots by the finish, but I thought it wise to get a space about 10 metres before, so I could see the spring go by at the critical point, as opposed to the chance that someone might have won the sprint by the time they crossed the finish.
There were clearly some seasoned spectators; an Italian family resplendent in the matching Giro merchandise - all in pink tshirts and baseball caps. They'd brought their own fold-up chairs and snacks. They were in for the long haul and were prepared. I wasn't. I had a bottle of water and that was it.
I picked our spot and the gf went off to get us a couple of beers and a sandwich.
Time passed before the race started and the Giro 'girls' all started to go to the respective VIP areas - they were all incredibly beautiful and once they'd got changed all looked lovely in their nice pink dresses. The gf noticed that I noticed
The race started, as did the loud radio 'event' taking place to entertain the crowd. This went on for a while, until the Caravana arrived - more beautiful women (very few men) handing out free tat and dancing.
Time actually went quite quickly, and by now, the area where we were had got very busy - our spots were prime, but there was some scaffolding behind us, upon which some idiots thought they'd climb up to watch. Plain clothes police told them to get down and eventually they did. A while later, a new group decided that this was a good idea, lifting kids up there, alongside hefty adults - it didn't look good. Again, the plain clothes police told them to get down, but these spectators were not for moving...until...a member of the Carabinieri walked over, glared at them, and suddenly, like monkeys they climbed down in record time. Clearly there's a hierarchy in Italy in terms of police!
Before I knew it they were down to the last 10km and the excitement really kicked in. We watched on the big screen as they came down the costal rodes and began to get into Cagliari. As it entered the final 1km, the noise was unreal - whistles seem to be provided with every merchandise pack and Italians really seemed to enjoy using them. There was loudspeaker commentary that I couldn't understand, but it really added to the tension as he ran through the list of riders who were near the front - I could pick out '....Jungels....Gaviria'. As the tension built we waited and waited to see them...then the police motorbikes screech past, the official cars too...and then, you saw the bunch in the distance, crowds packed as far as you could see down the Marina road.
Closer and closer the sprint bunch got, the commentary becoming even more incessant, and there they were, about 20 yards away and then BOOM, past me in a milisecond and over the line, Gaviria sprinting superbly to victory.
I took a video and looking back I can hear myself above the cheers and whistles shout 'QUICK STEP' after he had crossed the line, followed shortly after by 'Wow, what a rush' as the rest of the main group thundered past.
5 hours to watch about 15 seconds of cycling - madness, but my God, it was worth it.
