The sight, when he went on stage to award Romain Bardet, was “splendid”. All around “an immense crowd of Rimini residents and tourists”. With those images of the yellow Rimini seafront broadcast on TV in 190 countries. A dream that came true: hosting the arrival of the first stage of this historic edition of the Tour de France, the first match from Italy. “Something exceptional for our city. The Tour is one of the biggest sporting events in the world: today (yesterday for the reader, ed.) we experienced it first-hand”, says mayor Jamil Sadegholvaad. He defines yesterday as “a long day of yellow passion”. A day of passion also for the traffic inconveniences that the bans imposed by the race have caused. The major critical issues for those who had to take alternative routes to State Road 16 or go to hospital. Tolerable sacrifices for a day that will remain in history. And after the Tour, the course is set. “Our city and the entire Riviera – says Sadegholvaad – increasingly demonstrate that they are capable of hosting major sporting events, precious for tourism and the economy. For the future that I imagine in the relationship between sport and tourism there is first of all the maintenance of the MotoGP: we have to hold on to it.” But Rimini “must take advantage, when they come again, of unique opportunities like this one offered by the Tour. We must be ready”. In the future “the new Ieg dome with 20 thousand seats will allow us to host major concerts and major international indoor sporting events, in periods outside the bathing season. This year we have already hosted the European Gymnastics Championships, let’s prepare to welcome the World Championships in September of skating”. Clear: the Tour is the Tour. And so “merci, Tour de France – concludes the mayor – But let’s not say goodbye, but a sweet au revoir”. Who knows, maybe in a few years…
ma.spa.
