Tuscany is the cradle of cycling and at the top of the world in the organizational field. Polarizing the wait is the departure of the Tour de France from Florence on Saturday 29 June, but there are also many other events that have already taken place or are scheduled as part of “Toscana Tricolore 2024” which includes eight events with the awarding of 25 titles, including road, track and off-road, and the estimated presence of 2,500 male and female athletes. A program carried out in a short time with great commitment and which has already had considerable success thanks to the mayors of the eleven municipalities involved, and the managers of the organizing companies.
The “Toscana Tricolore 2024” program is dedicated to four great cycling champions and personalities, Gino Bartali, Alfredo Martini, Gastone Nencini and Franco Ballerini, while the time trials in Grosseto are dedicated to three amateur cyclists, Antonio Panico, Roberto Seripa and Nilo Nardini , who died in Braccagni on 14 July 2022 when hit by a car while traveling in a group of twenty cyclists.
The first event was the “Due Giorni” on the renovated Enzo Sacchi track of the Cascine Velodromo in Florence with the Italian junior championships (men and women) and among the Tuscans the Versilian Fabio Del Medico won the Italian champion’s jersey, as well as to a bronze medal, while the talented Elisa Ferri from Arezzo achieved two third places. In Grosseto, in two red-flag days due to the heat (35 degrees), all the Italian time trial championships from professionals to students took place, on an ideal route for this type of competition.
And here it is worth mentioning the conquest of the Italian elite women’s champion’s jersey by Vittoria Guazzini, multiple champion from Poggio a Caiano. Yesterday, starting from Viola Park in Bagno a Ripoli and arriving in Scarperia in Mugello, the elite women’s road race in memory of Gastone Nencini, an indomitable champion born in that land: for Elisa Longo Borghini it was a true triumph. Fifth tricolor jersey following a super solo of 26 kilometers.
Today, however, there is the Italian professional championship with the “Per Semper Alfredo” race starting from Piazzale Michelangelo to reach the streets of Mugello, and in the finale the tough climb of Via Baroncoli between Calenzano and Sesto five times. Among the major favorites and expected at the test, there is the Tuscan Alberto Bettiol (he is from Castelfiorentino), who returns to the races after a few days of rest after the fall in Switzerland. From professionals to young people with the Italian championships for women, beginners and students of the 6 July, followed 24 later in Marginone di Altopascio by the men’s championships for 1st and 2nd year beginners and students.
But the “Tuscany Tricolore 2024” is not over yet. On Sunday 22 September numerous titles will be up for grabs in the Pump Track specialty at the Alfredo Martini cycle track in Ponte Buggianese, and finally on 6 October on the Island of Elba in the Campo area, the enduro tricolor for all categories, men and women.
Tuscany therefore confirms itself as a point of reference in the world of cycling, not only for past exploits, but also for the organization of events, offering a unique opportunity for the promotion of its territory.
