WEAPON (Pavia)
For the first time the Tour de France will touch the Oltrepò Pavese, bringing the “bagarre“ to the Padana inferiore, the state road 10 which for the first time in its history will be dressed in yellow flags. A unique event due to the decision of the organizers to start the Grand Boucle from Italy, the passage in Pavia comes on the third day of the race, after the stages of Florence-Rimini and Cesenatico-Bologna. The longest stage of the entire tour is dedicated to the memory of the great Fausto Coppi, it will start from Piacenza, cross Arena Po, Bosnasco, Stradella, Broni, Cigognola, Redavalle, Torricella Verzate, Corvino San Quirico, Casteggio, Montebello della Battaglia and Voghera, to then continue towards Alessandra and reach Turin. The yellow caravan, arriving from Castel San Giovanni, will enter our province in the locality of Cardazzo di Bosnasco. The first larger centre that will be affected, however, is Stradella, at the “delle colline” roundabout, near the public gardens, it will take via Cesare Battisti, corso XXVI Aprile, north lane piazza Vittorio Veneto, via Cavour, via Gay, piazza Meriggi, via Depretis (in the wrong direction), viale Libertà, via Ozzola.
Finally at the Esselunga roundabout to return to the Ss10 and continue towards Broni, where it will enter the center from the roundabout located at the intersection that leads to Pavia: via Emilia, piazza Garibaldi, via Emilia again, via Marconi, then return to the state road towards Casteggio. In Casteggio the tour will travel via Emilia, piazza Cavour, via Torino; and finally it will go to Voghera and then towards Tortona. The race will arrive around midday, but the Strada Statale 10 Padana Inferiore-via Emilia will be closed between 9 and 13, a longer period than a normal cycling event, because the passage of the riders will be preceded, a couple of hours before, by the advertising caravan that has been part of the spectacle of the French stage race since 1930. An exceptional showcase for the small towns of the Oltrepò that are already dreaming, in the coming weeks, of the arrival of tourists from all over the world.
