Paolo Botti (photo), an ultra-cyclist from Modena who has been undertaking the most disparate randonneries around the world for a decade now, doesn’t need too many introductions and almost always achieves noteworthy stopwatches in completing his adventures. However, his latest feat was accomplished close to home, or at least in Italy, in Sicily. The lawyer from Modena completed a very important and traditional race of its kind, the ‘Sicily No Stop’ with the best overall time, i.e. 49 hours and 20 minutes in total at a crazy average of 28.2 kilometers per hour on the ‘pedaled ‘, without considering the physiological stops in a tour of more than two days. The race, which took place starting from May 20th and which like all self-respecting randonnées has only marginal data in the general classification, the important thing is to reach the finish line, involved an overall difference in altitude of over 10 thousand metres.
‘Sicilia No Stop’ is the most historic Italian ‘1000’, i.e. the route with more than 1000 kilometers in total with the longest length of service. The start and finish were in Syracuse, on a map that mainly unfolded along the coastal roads of the island, but the main feature of the 2024 edition was the climb up Mount Etna, up to Rifugio Sapienza, a real Giro climb of Italy. The route touched seven of the nine regional provinces, namely in order of transit Syracuse, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento and Ragusa, with an unparalleled charm from a panoramic point of view, touching places such as Taormina, Capo d’Orlando, Cefalù , San Vito Lo Capo, Sciacca or Capo Passero, without forgetting the Valley of the Temples. Botti thus completed another of his feats, having completed the Transamerica in 2019, the Race Across Italy in 2020 and the Race Across France in 2021, as well as routes in the United Kingdom and many other parts of the globe. What will be the next adventure?
