For Gianni Savio, director of Androni Giocattoli Cidermec, the Giro d'Italia is both a bicycle race and a social event. He cannot go more than a few meters without running into an old friend at the start. On Friday morning in Matera, he made four trips up and down Via Lucana and must have met no one. Such is the reality of even the greatest human celebrations in times of physical distance.

The atmosphere of the Giro in the fall, in the midst of a pandemic, is rather different, but some aspects of the Corsa Rosa have not changed. The Giro stages still have the same breakaway, and there is always an Androni Cidermec rider in the Giro breakaway.

"There have been five road stages so far, and I've been in the breakaway five times," Savio said proudly. But it is not as simple as just telling them to "get in the breakaway." But it's not as simple as just telling them to "get in the break."

Simon Peraud is making his Giro debut in his first season with Androni Giocattoli Cidermec, but the Swiss rider already has a keen understanding of the rhythm and demands of both team and race. After being touted as the last survivor of the breakaway on the road to Villa Franca Tirrena on stage 4, he spoke the same words as his coach when he turned up at the start in Matera on Friday.

"We've had five out of five escapees, and today we want to have six out of six," Perrault told Cycling News. 'Personally, I want to get in there because I want to avoid the wind and the stress of the echelon.'

As if to confirm this, Perrault entered the breakaway not once, but twice on Friday. On his first attack, he cleared almost before Gruppo departed Matera, but the attack was foiled shortly thereafter when Jumbo Visma and Deceuninck-Quickstep split the field with a crosswind. When the peloton regrouped midway through the race, they went on the attack again for about 12 km with Marco Fraporti (Vini Zabou - KTM).

There was, of course, little room for a breakaway on this stage, which took place at a record average speed of 51.234 km/h, but facing the odds is part of Androni Giocattoli Cidermec's philosophy: at the end of 2016, IAM Cycling disappeared The team's romantic, almost outlandish view of the world probably coincides with Perrault's own three-year adventure at the continental level following the disappearance of IAM Cycling.

During his first winter away from the World Tour, Perrault traveled to Colombia to train with his friend Edwin Avila. He eventually met his girlfriend in Colombia, bought land and built a house near Medellín.

His life between Europe and South America was a perfect fit for the Italian-Colombian team led by Savio.

"My personal equilibrium is also the team's equilibrium. When I joined, I signed a two-year contract so I could focus on racing here and have a little more freedom of spirit."

After racing with his new team at the Vuelta a San Juan and Tour Colombia in January and February, Perrault returned to Europe in March, only to have his season interrupted by a coronavirus pandemic. His first instinct was to return to Colombia, which at the time was relatively unaffected by the COVID-19 crisis.

"When I learned that Strade Bianche and Tirreno Adriatico had been canceled, I immediately boarded a plane to Colombia, thinking that Colombia would be calmer. In Colombia I was in total lockdown." There were 70 days when I could only ride the turbo trainer. 0]

By May, Colombia had closed its borders and banned all commercial flights for the time being as part of an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Colombian professional riders were able to fly to Europe on special charter flights in mid-July, but Perrault returned to Switzerland on a humanitarian flight the month before. Perrault said, "It was also important for me to spend some time with my family before resuming the season."

World citizens also have families, and at that point Perrault was still dreaming of the chance to compete in the World Championships in his native Martigny. Although the August event was cancelled due to Swiss COVID-19 regulations, the 27-year-old Perrault had the consolation of running in Imola in support of bronze medalist Marc Hirsch, his first selection for the World Championships.

"It was an unexpected result because I didn't reach the level I wanted to this year. I really enjoy working for a rider like Marc Hirsch. I really enjoyed working for a rider like Marc Hirsch.

Even before 2020, riding a Grand Tour felt like a social distancing. When Perrault first competed in the Vuelta a Colombia, he couldn't help but compare it to his solitary experiences in the 2015 and 2016 Vuelta a España.

"In the Vuelta a España, you can spend three weeks in the peloton and not talk to anyone," he told Cycling News in January.

"In Colombia, in the first five days I already talked to half of the peloton.

This year's Giro offers a rare Grand Tour experience, with riders and teams operating in a "bubble" as far away from tifosi and race followers as possible. When the flags fall, the race will be as frenetic as ever, but the atmosphere will be more serene.

Perrault says. 'When you're on the bike and racing, of course it's the same, but when you get off the bike everything surrounding the race is different. We also see the news around us. Today we saw that Paris-Roubaix has been cancelled. It's a complicated situation. I just hope we can continue to race here in Italy."

Even if the Giro continues through Christmas, the Androni Giocattoli Cidermec riders will probably be out on the attack every day, not only to show their jerseys, but to grab a stage win, just as Fausto Masnada did last year in their colors. I'm sure they'll be out there attacking every day," Peraud said.

"We're going to be on the attack every day," Perrault said.

That daily mission is his focus for now. The difficult question of whether to spend the off-season in Colombia or Switzerland will have to wait until after the Giro.

"That's the big question," Perrault smiled. 'It's complicated because at the moment everything is shut down. One day at a time."

.