The countdown has already started for months, now the sprint towards the appointment with history begins. There are 10 days left until the long-awaited date of the arrival of the first stage of the Tour de France and Rimini is ready to welcome the most important cycling competition, the third most followed sporting event in the world, after the Olympics and the football World Championships.
For the first time in its more than one hundred year history, this year the Tour de France will start from Italy with three Emilia-Romagna stages: Florence-Rimini, Cesenatico-Bologna and Piacenza-Turin for over 600 kilometers of route.
In the name of Pantani
Rimini is preparing to welcome the Tour de France for its first historic stage abroad. With two “surprises” in the name of Marco Pantani: a five meter high statue which depicts him created by designer Aldo Drudi e the inauguration of the cycle path in via Montescudo colored pink and yellow.
The Grand Boucle, on Saturday 29 June, starts from Florence to reach the Romagna capital after 206 kilometers and over 3,000 meters of altitude difference. And 10 days after the passage of the yellow caravan, Mayor Jamil Sadegholvaad takes stock of the traffic this morning with the press. Between the closure of roads and also of the Rimini south toll booth of the A-14, and access to the emergency room for emergency vehicles always permitted.
“We are there after a long preparatory stage”, also marked by the totem in Piazza Cavour, underlines the mayor, recalling that the runners will arrive in the province of Rimini in Perticara, and then continue to the Republic of San Marino, following the consular road up at the roundabout with state road 16 and finally head towards the sea arriving at beach 72 around 5.30pm. It will be a “beautiful” stage and a “crazy showcase” that guarantees induced, at least 10 million euros with hotels already having over 90% room occupancy for a couple of days, and visibility. So the invitation to fellow citizens is to “go beyond controversy”. All with the mind going to the “Pirata” of Cesenatico. The statue, donated by a pool of entrepreneurs, will be placed temporarily in the Piazza dell’acqua and subsequently in the seaside area or in one of the most beautiful places in the city. Rimini is “ready – continues the mayor – it is an important challenge and there will be inconveniences, but we are interested in accrediting ourselves as a location linked to bike tourism” and making sport a protagonist of the deseasonalisation with major events such as the Tour, for which Sadegholvaad thanks among the others the president of ATP Davide Cassani, the European artistic gymnastics championships, the sports dance championships and in September the roller skating world championships.
To ensure the safety of runners and fans, starting from June 26th there will be the first changes to the road system, which will extend in the following days with temporary parking and circulation bans which will particularly concern the streets that will be traveled by the yellow caravan and the race, as well as the roads and car parks that will host the advertising caravan and the Tour village.
The changes also involve local public transport lines and Hera’s waste collection operations.
Without prejudice to the closure, starting from June 28th, of the last km of the route (on the Lungomare Di Vittorio) in order to set up the finish line, the remaining race route will be closed starting from 2.00 pm on Saturday 29th June, resulting in the suspension of circulation for all vehicles (with the exception of emergency vehicles).
The route in the city
After 206 km and 3,800 meters of altitude difference, the first stage of the Tour de France will arrive from Florence (12pm) to Rimini (around 5.30pm), traveling along the panoramic roads of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, until arriving on the Adriatic beach. The sporting competition will be preceded as usual by the advertising caravan, made up of around a hundred vehicles, which will depart from Florence at 10.10am and arrive in Rimini around 4pm.
The race will enter the province of Rimini, passing through the Republic of San Marino, from the Customs border where, traveling along the entire SS 72, it will reach the new roundabout between the Strada consulare di San Marino and the Statale 16. For the occasion, the The Rimini-South motorway toll booth will be closed on exits starting from 2pm on Saturday 29 June, while on entries it will remain open with the exception of the period of time between 3.30pm and the passage of the race, when the access roads will be closed. access and therefore the motorway toll booth will not be accessible.
The sports caravan will travel along the SS 16 in a southerly direction until the Befane roundabout where it will enter the town center of Rimini and will travel along Viale Settembrini towards the sea. The route will continue on via Chiabrera up to the roundabout with viale Regina Elena, and then continue on this last street up to piazzale Gondar where it will reach Lungomare Tintori in a northerly direction until crossing the finish line (located in correspondence with via Lagomaggio, at bathroom height 72). To guarantee complete use of access to the emergency room, via Settembrini (which, in the two lanes towards the sea, will be part of the race route) will remain passable on only one lane towards the emergency room, from which access will also be guaranteed exit, always on a single lane, towards the mountain.
Areas subject to traffic changes
The parking and circulation bans will concern in particular the streets that will be traveled by the yellow caravan and the race, as well as the roads and car parks that will host the caravan’s vehicles and the Tour village. Changes are also expected for public transport. The general invitation is to move on foot or by bike on June 29th in the areas of the city most involved in the event, to get into the spirit of the Tour and not run the risk of being involved in the probable traffic slowdowns.
In the last 3 km of the route (i.e. from the Flaminia/Settembrini roundabout to the finish line), a continuous barrier will be installed on both sides of the route, outside of which fans will be able to see the international cycling champions speeding by.
Starting from 26 June, the car park in via Chiabrera will no longer be usable as it is reserved for the organisation’s technical vehicles. To allow the arrival and positioning of the trucks, on June 26th, from 7.00 pm to 1.00 am, Via Chiabrera will be closed, only in the mountain-sea direction.
From 26 to 29 June, Lungomare Di Vittorio will be closed, in the stretch from via La città delle donne to via Intervista, to allow the set-up of the structures dedicated to the arrival. The remaining part of Lungomare up to Piazzale Benedetto Croce will be closed from 8.00 pm on Friday 28 June to 10.00 pm on Saturday 29 June. Given the closure of Lungomare Di Vittorio, two-way traffic will be established on Viale Regina Elena, in the stretch between Piazzale Gondar and Piazzale Benedetto Croce.
Piazzale Fellini, the area dedicated to the parking of the vehicles of the advertising caravan, will be closed to traffic on Saturday 29 June, from 10.00 to 18.00.
The weekly market in Bellariva (currently moved to Lungomare Di Vittorio) on Thursday 27 June will not take place to allow for setups.
Road closures
Specifically, the closure of roads with the placement of parking bans and traffic bans (with the exception of emergency services) concerns:
-Wednesday 06/26/2024: closure to traffic of Via Gabriello Chiabrera (2 lanes on the Riccione side), from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am;
-from Wednesday 26/06 at 12:00 to Saturday 29/06 at 22:00 the Chiabrera car park will no longer be usable as it is reserved for the organisation’s technical vehicles
-from Wednesday 26/06 at 6.00 pm to Saturday 29/06 at 10.00 pm: closure of Lungomare Giuseppe Di Vittorio, stretch between Via La Città delle Donne and Via Intervista;
-from Friday 28 June at 8.00 pm until 10.00 pm on Saturday 29 June closed (entire avenue): Lungomare Giuseppe di Vittorio;
-Saturday 29/06: closure of viale Regina Elena (from via Firenze to piazzale Gondar), viale Firenze, via Chiabrera, from 04:00 am limited to the time necessary to position the barriers on the race route; the next definitive closure will be from 2.00 pm;
-from 29/06 at 05.00 to 30/06 at 12.00 closing via Block Notes of a Director;
-from 29/06 at 05.00 to 30/06 at 12.00 closing via Minguzzi (between via Porto Palos and via Caprara);
-from 29/06 05.00 to 30/06 12.00 closing of the first two blocks of the Medaglie d’Oro car park.
-Saturday 29/06: closing of the roundabout of the Grand Hotel Rimini, from 10:00 to 18:00
-Saturday 29/06: Viale Beccadelli closed, from 10:00 to 18:00
Team areas
The areas not available as they are reserved for the organization and teams are:
Piazzale Fellini
P.le Medagle D’Oro
Viale Minguzzi
Via Ginger and Fred
Via a Director’s Notebook
Route crossings
In the last 2 km of the route, being an inhabited area with a high tourist presence, 3 gates will be established in the barrier (in this last stretch, as mentioned, continuous) which will be manned by the organization’s staff to allow the transit of pedestrians. These gates will be closed 15 minutes before the passage of the Caravan, then subsequently reopened and subsequently closed again 15 minutes before the passage of the race. The gates are located:
– Viale Firenze, 10 m before Viale Regina Elena (i.e. 1.3 km before the arrival)
– Piazzale Gondar (850 m before the finish)
– Lungomare Giuseppe Di Vittorio, near Via La Voce della Luna. The organization will secure this crossing point approximately 315 m before arrival.
In order to allow the crossing of the San Marino highway which will be part of the race route, they have been provided two crossing points manned by police operators:
-intersection SS 72/via Amola/via Montevecchio;
-intersection SS 72/via La Pastora/SP 49.
