“The Tour de France in the Cesena and Romagna areas is not only a great sporting event, but also a tourist, social, economic and cultural one. It will be a great involvement of the people”. This was highlighted by the president of Confcommercio Cesena Augusto Patrignani, the director Giorgio Piastra and the deputy director Alberto Pesci. “The fact that the great transalpine stage race, with the load of history and suggestions it contains, crosses our territory and winds through our streets starting from Cesenatico for one stage and arriving in Rimini in another – puts light – is an event that challenges the entire territorial system and increases the appeal and identity of Romagna, where cycling not only has many practitioners today but has always been followed with passion and enthusiasm since the times of Coppi and Bartali and the epic Tour, the most prestigious stage race in the world, has always exercised an irresistible charm that generations of Romagna have not escaped, a trait d’union that links grandparents to grandchildren. Bartali’s victory at the Tour de France was even capable of bringing back unity in 1948 thanks to the enthusiasm of the fans in a country on the brink of civil war.”
“The historic passage of the Tour – continue Patrignani, Piastra and Pesci – is therefore also an opportunity to affirm the Romagna identity and the ancient and renewed bond with cycling. The stage arriving in Rimini will cross the roads of Romagna on which Marco Pantani trained. The Italian start of the tour is in fact a tribute to Pirata and the other Italian champions who marked the history of the tour: Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi and Vincenzo Nibali. Confcommercio, together with Cesenatico and the whole of Romagna, is also ready to welcome this great sporting event, a land of cycling and tradition that looks towards the future, and so do the businesses, shops and public establishments that will symbolically dress in yellow in honor of the tour. Romagna needs great events and what we are about to experience is of a very high level, capable of bringing the territory into orbit also due to the beneficial effects it will bring”.
