What Next For the Giro?

So here's my question: what next for the 2011 Giro? The riders, and race organizers, I think, took a thoughtful, kind and respectful approach to the day. As David Millar rightly pointed out, the maglia rosa, in light of recent events, doesn't mean much right now. And by choosing to ride through today--without the fear and regret and pain it must have entailed--Leopard-Trek and his close friend Tyler Farrar showed grace and courage riding for their fallen teammate and, given the sudden and awful change that's suddenly befallen them, themselves. But the Giro itself *is* going on, and I think that, while each day will be tainted heavily with sadness, and surely the shrill and petty disputes of say stage 2 in which we can all delight in more frivolous times will be minimized out of respect for the gravity of Weylandt's passing and the unhappy awe that death inspires, it's the right thing to do. Will it be easy? Will it feel normal, or just even appropriate at all, celebrating and bussing the podium babaes or screaming in triumph as one crosses the line? Remembering what a hideous, trivial thing I felt like the first time I went shopping for some dopey item weeks after losing someone extremely dear to me, and understanding of course the difference between these situations nonetheless, I imagine it won't. But though Wouter Weylandt didn't die for the Giro, he did die in it, and I hope those members of the peloton who feel they can or must continue can finish it, for all their sakes, with the suffering and pride and excitement--even if just a shadow of the latter--that this magnificent, heartbroken race deserves. And I hope the rest of us insignificant sideshows--the fans, the journalists, hell, even us wiseacre bloggers--can do it too. Not to move past it, which always seems to me a fruitless and maddening exhortation, but just--to move. And I hope that in its own impotent way, that is its own small tribute.

R.I.P. Wouter Weylandt. This Giro, I'm sure, will be for you.