With the inauguration of the Cicloevento fair today we enter the cycling weekend, which will culminate on Sunday 19 May with the 2024 edition of the Nove Colli, with departure and arrival on the Cesenatico seafront near the Agip colony.
For the 53rd edition of the Gran Fondo, the Fausto Coppi cycling group is fielding an organizational machine with more than a thousand people. At the start at dawn on May 19th there will be 6,350 starters. These numbers are lower than the 10,000 and even 12,000 registered in the past, however it must be taken into consideration that the world of granfondo has radically changed in the last four years, with races that no longer exist.
The start of the meeting is at 5 with the opening of the grills; at 6 the red grid will start and all the others will follow. At 6.45 there will be the start of the grid dedicated to the Gravel routes and at 7 that of ‘L’altro Percorso’. From the seafront the runners will reach Viale Trento, the Statale Adriatica and Via Cesenatico to reach Cesena and then begin climbing the hills. On the long route of 194 kilometers to be completed within 12 hours, you cycle in the hamlets of Martorano and Diegaro in Cesena; in Forlimpopoli, Bertinoro, the first climb of Polenta (305 metres), Fratta Terme, Meldola, Pieve di Rivoschio, and subsequently in San Romano, Ciola, Mercato Saraceno, the legendary Barbotto hill at 5015 meters above sea level, Montetiffi, Perticara, Talamello , Novafeltria, Maioletto, in Mount Maiolo, Mount Pugliano (the highest peak at 787 meters above sea level), a part of San Leo, Secchiano, Passo delle Siepi, Ginestreto, Ponte Uso, Sogliano, Savignano, Gatteo, Fiumicino, Sala and of course in the final part of Cesenatico.
Upon arrival, a large village was set up capable of welcoming, assisting, rescuing if necessary and above all feeding the cyclists. The great pasta party will be followed by a very famous chef, Omar Casali of the Maré restaurant.
On the medium route, which must be completed within 7 and a half hours, after touching the Barbotto, you cut towards Sogliano, Borghi, Savignano and Cesenatico. The other route is 60 kilometers long and is designed for cycle tourists who wish to enjoy the landscape and have fun without ambitions of ranking. Of the 6,350 members, 5,904 are men and 446 women. There are 44 nations represented, with 5,397 Italians and 953 foreigners. As an appetizer on Saturday the Mini Nove Colli ‘Gobik’ will be held at 3.30pm at the “Marco Pantani” cycle track in Villamarina. At 5pm there will be an awards ceremony for the faithful who have competed in multiple editions of the Nove Colli and at 6.30pm the presentation of the Dream Team NoveColli4Children .
