Giro d’Italia — Behind the Ribbon
An immersive glimpse into one of the world’s most iconic cycling races, this gallery captures the raw spirit of Giro d’Italia — from the lightning pace of Chris Froome to the charisma of Sylvan Adams and the legendary race director Mauro Vegni.
Shot with a live, responsive camera style, this visual chronicle moves through the peloton and beyond — featuring moments with Ron Huldai, mayor of Tel Aviv, Bar Refaeli, and a pulse of Mediterranean energy that fused politics, pop, and pure athleticism.
These are the highlights. The faces. The seconds before the breakaway. Welcome to the race before the race.
Dmitri Bluglass followed the Giro d’Italia with a camera tuned to the human moments behind the spectacle. This gallery is his personal record.
Seven Years in the Drawer
These images were made in May 2018, at the Grand Départ of the Giro d’Italia in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
But they’ve waited — quietly, patiently — for seven years.
Why?
Because in 2018 the world moved too fast. Too loud. These pictures were not ready to speak — and maybe I wasn’t ready to let them.
I made them without commission, without a press pass to the peloton, without a team.
Just with a camera, and the impulse to observe.
To me, it wasn’t reportage. It was painting.
A still look at movement.
And some moments need time before they come forward.
Now they do.— Dmitri Bluglass
CHRIS FROOME
Chris Froome arrived in Israel carrying the weight of expectation — a Grand Tour titan chasing history. His presence electrified the start of the Giro, drawing crowds and cameras with every pedal stroke.
Elia Viviani, Tel Aviv, Giro d’Italia 2018.
Elia Viviani tore through the final meters to snatch victory in the Giro d’Italia stage from Haifa to Tel Aviv — a searing sprint along the Mediterranean coast.
Not the Race. The Echo.
This is not a full record of the Giro. It is not the sprint, the peloton, or the pass.
These are fragments — before, after, and around.
A collection, not a chronology.
Like stamps in an old album, each frame holds a detail the race didn’t intend to show — but couldn’t hide.
And Jerusalem —
not just a backdrop, but a mirror.
A city that opens layer by layer, like a truth that resists headlines.
This project looks at the Giro not as an event,
but as a presence passing through a place that cannot be passed quickly.
Tom Dumoulin, Tel Aviv, Giro d’Italia 2018.
Calm, calculating, and dressed for battle. The pink jersey never looked so composed — or so ready to attack when it mattered.
Some still hold air in their lungs.
Others are already giving it to the microphone.
Somewhere between a step and a start —
a smile that’s not from protocol or plan,
just something that slipped into the frame like a pebble in a shoe.
The pink light moves across shoulders —
not as a color of fabric,
but as a promise of something yet to happen.
Fingers hold a velvet flag,
lips test its edge — as if tasting the salt of the street.
Words go out to the airwaves,
while someone else leans back in a chair
and for a moment becomes a person again, not a machine.
Against a faded wall —
a blur like a scratch of light,
and an entire city holds its breath.
Then only chain-noise remains,
a second before countdown,
and a pink shadow tearing through the noise.
— Dmitri Bluglass
Gianni Savio, Tel Aviv, Giro d’Italia 2018.
A legendary directeur sportif, known as much for his theatrical flair as for his deep tactical mind. For decades, he brought color, instinct, and defiance to the peloton. He stepped away from the sport in 2024, leaving behind a legacy woven into the very fabric of professional cycling.
SYLVAN ADAMS
Sylvan Adams, Tel Aviv, Giro d’Italia 2018.
A handshake for every hand, a smile for every face. The man who brought the Giro to Israel — and made sure everyone felt part of it.
Mauro Vegni, Tel Aviv, Giro d’Italia 2018.
Stage director in every sense — crossing the finish line before the riders, with the whole race watching.
A man who doesn’t just organize the Giro, but walks it, lives it, owns it.
BAR REFAELI
Supermodel, cultural icon, and the official face of the Giro’s historic Grand Départ in Israel. Her presence on the start line wasn’t just for show — it marked a moment where sport met style, and global eyes turned to Tel Aviv. In the pink jersey, she carried more than color — she carried a message: that cycling, like culture, can cross borders and speak to everyone.
