Stop in Piacenza, on the morning of Saturday 28 April, for the “Press Trip” on two wheels organized by Apt Servizi Emilia Romagna as part of the project to promote cycle tourism linked to the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Italy. Guests of the initiative were five journalists specialized in cycling from the Netherlands, Slovenia, Belgium and the Czech Republic: Sander Kooslot from Amsterdam, for the online publications Cycling Destination and Zijwielrent, the editor of the Belgian magazine “Grinta” Erwin De Clercq, the correspondent of the bike magazine “53×11” Premsyl Novak from Prague, Miroslav Cvetjcanin of the Slovenske Novice website and, again from Ljubljana, one of the most well-known names in the sector, Miha Hocevar, who writes about cycling in the national newspaper Delo. A total base of hundreds of thousands of readers (with peaks of 800,000 per month for Slovenske Novice and 70 thousand followers on the social networks of “Grinta”), who through the press reports in advance of the Tour’s locations will now also be able to discover the face of Piacenza.
Welcoming the delegation, accompanied by Andrea Manusia of Apt Servizi Emilia Romagna, were the mayor Katia Tarasconi wearing the official Grande Boucle shirt, the councilors Simone Fornasari and Mario Dadati. «The countdown towards July 1st has started – underline the municipal administrators – and we see it not only in the city which is dressing up in theme with banners and yellow flags, but in the wait for us to start breathing: from the next arrival, to Piacenza, of the official trophy of the race which will be displayed in all the cities hosting the stage, of the growing interest that we are seeing among sports enthusiasts, cycle tourists and, as happened this morning thanks to the precious collaboration with Apt Servizi Emilia Romagna and with the Region, in the first concrete signs of attention from the international press”.
The meeting was an opportunity to illustrate the itinerary that the 3rd stage of the Tour de France – Piacenza-Turin (the longest with its 231 km), dedicated to the memory of Fausto Coppi – will cross as it parades through the heart of the city, but also for a discussion on the issues of sustainable mobility (the possibility of comfortably transporting the bike by train in Emilia Romagna was particularly appreciated by international guests), as well as to renew the invitation to return and visit our valleys too. After having admired the main monuments of the historic centre, the foreign journalists set off again, riding their racing bikes, towards the Lungo Po, and then continued along an itinerary in the heart of the Emilian Food Valley and the Terre Verdiane: a training session of approximately 70 km before the Granfondo which will see them competing tomorrow, in Parma, together with 2000 cyclists.
