And I pay, as the prince of wit Antonio De Curtis, known as Totò, would have said, even though in this case there's little to laugh about, but much to pay.

Hefty bills to race the Giro d'Italia Next Gen, the race for young riders. A steep bill, a fee of approximately ten thousand euros to be paid just for participation (for 12 people, 6 riders and 6 staff members with hotels, meals and accommodation covered; for additional guests or staff, costs are borne by the teams). The Giro Next Gen under 23 by Rcs Sport & Events scheduled for June 14-21 aligns with the Tour de l'Avenir which until last year hosted the best 15 teams in the ranking for free, but from this year even our cousins across the Alps have decided to introduce the fee of €10,620 per team. The Italian race has chosen to follow the same path, asking for a contribution of €10,260 per team. For the "Devo" teams, clearly, there's no problem, given that they are part of million-dollar groups, but for our small Continental teams this is a real blow.

"Pay to race" is no longer just a figure of speech, but a way of doing business. The price list has been officially sanctioned, with an official communication sent to teams in recent days, who, in addition to rising energy and fuel costs, now find themselves having to face a "race surcharge". It's clear that times are difficult for everyone, including organizers, but it's equally true that our sport is kept alive artificially by machines assisting a patient. In this case not imaginary, but chronic. And if they decide to stay home, organizers will probably have achieved what they secretly wanted: at the start only top-tier "Devo" teams, those from the World Tour, the struggling Italian squads can stay home with their patched-up equipment. There was a time when we talked about sport for all. Today everyone is asked to pay, so, for sport.