The competitive turmoil that made the Montreal World Championships unique is matched only by yet another Rai self-inflicted wound. With 30 km to go until the finish line, Rai Due switches to a news broadcast that hardly qualifies as breaking news, but so be it—some optimists think the coverage should move to channel 58, which instead is occupied by a rather thrilling Serie C football match, heaven forbid we interfere with the right to report on such pedestrian spectacle.

There's Pescara-Spezia in the mix, and if McNulty weren't busy racing, he'd be glued to the TV for such a gripping display of football. The refuge of Rai Play 3 failed due to technical issues, a makeshift solution that becomes standard practice for the state broadcaster, whose penalizing decision to black out the World Championships infuriates viewers. Cameras cut off with Van der Poel still in front, turned back on twenty minutes later with McNulty already in flight just 11 kilometers from the finish and a handful of survivors chasing him down. Not to mention that the race duration was known for years (there was no delay whatsoever; in fact, it was a very fast race averaging 43.504 km/h), just as the "mandatory" programming commitments from contracts—like the Serie C match—were known: the question is rhetorical but inevitable: was it really impossible to foresee an effective alternative solution?

As Nanni Moretti would say: let's hurt ourselves. Many, however, prefer the classic Zalone meme: are these people professionals?

IT'S THE SAME ALL OVER THE WORLD. A small note on the sidelines that certainly doesn't console us, but helps us understand that... we're not alone in the world with these problems. In Spain, the public television network Teledeporte interrupted the World Cycling Championships to broadcast an Under 20 football match.

Saturday, Dutch public television moved the women's World Championship race from the main channel to a secondary one mid-race, instead broadcasting cartoons and Zappsport on the main channel. All while Demi Vollering was going on to win the world title...

THE USIGRAI STATEMENT. This morning the union Usigrai issued a statement condemning what happened: "It's the usual self-destructive and self-harming Rai that buys the rights to major sporting events and then, like yesterday on RaiDue, interrupts them at the most crucial moment. It's not the first time this has happened, with the dual negative result of infuriating sports enthusiasts while simultaneously losing the audience interested in the event.

What happened yesterday during the World Cycling Championships—an exciting and uncertain race with an Italian in the top positions—is a clear representation of a company lacking even the minimum editorial coordination. 38 km from the finish, Rai Due abruptly interrupted the live broadcast of the race to air the 8:30 PM TG2 news, diverting enthusiasts not even to another channel, but to RaiPlay, viewable only through smart TVs or via PC and smartphone. Moreover, on RaiPlay the Raisport3 channel was blocked for several minutes, preventing viewing altogether. The broadcast on Rai Due resumed only around 9 PM, denying enthusiasts the chance to see some of the most exciting phases of the race.