This morning's distraction: cycling mascots!

They're not super common, but I recently learned that the Giro d'Italia used to have a mountain goat mascot, complete with Italian-flag-colored horns (naturally). Not bad as far as mascots go! ...

The mascot version is not half bad either, though I wish he'd been given more of a cyclist's physique (and a more proportional head)...

Which leads me to the source of this thread: @esherjackal's tweet showcasing a use-your-own-eyes version of this character.

Not gonna lie - it's not the best execution of this mask technique & is kinda freaky! But I'll give them some kudos for effort...

https://twitter.com/esherjackal/status/1287934777639591936

But the character did result in a board game with nicely rendered player pieces!

(Too bad the game sounds too simplistic to be worth playing.)
http://www.cyclingboardgames.net/g_giroditappa.htm

Before that, the Giro had a mascot "Ghiro", which is apparently a play on the common name for the "edible doormouse" in Italian.

Given that he already looks pretty baked, the name feels appropriate.

http://www.cyclocosm.com/2014/12/say-hello-to-lupo-wolfie/

After Ghiro & Girbecco (the mountain goat, whose name is apparently a more convoluted pun) came Lupo Wolfie, who seems to have gotten his eyes from Ghiro's side of the family.

Sadly, Lupo was retired when anti-wolf farmers threatened to disrupt the Giro.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/20/giro-d-italia-mascot-wolf-banned-farmers

Sad that Lupo was retired, but on the positive side, it did lead to pro-wolf activists wearing fursuits at the Giro in a campaign to bring Lupo back!

This concludes my thread of cycling mascots (for now). I'll leave you all with a few images I encountered during this morning's search.