Several international media outlets are reporting today, on the Giro's rest day, that Dublin narrowly escaped disaster yesterday. According to the Irish Independent, anti-terrorist units found a 50-pound time-detonator bomb in a car at the finish of the third stage on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of Irish people in infectious celebration cheered the riders on the three stages on the Emerald Isle. Such an attack would have had devastating consequences for the freedom of cycling, for which it is so loved by the general public. In no other sport can spectators get so close and so freely to the stars – and for free too.
The car with the explosive device was supposed to be driven even closer to the track, but was discovered in time. “It was an absolutely deadly bomb, big and ready to go. An explosion would have been catastrophic," the Independent quoted a spokesman as saying. A suspect close to the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) has already been arrested. The RIRA is the successor to the IRA organization, which has been known for decades for terrorist attacks.