The 85th edition of the Giro dell’Appennino has been officially presented which, on Sunday 14 July 2024, will feature the arrival in via XX Settembre for the eleventh time, 25 years after the first. A path that wins cannot be changed and, therefore, the move to the Guardia was confirmed, which in the last four editions has attracted a large audience. We will start again from Arquata Scrivia, a location that last year ‘adopted’ the Us Pontedecimo Ciclismo race with great enthusiasm.
200 km of race and 2,800 meters of altitude difference
The race runs for 200 km (141 in the metropolitan city of Genoa), with 2,800 meters of altitude difference and five mountain Grand Prix, the highest peak at Guardia at 733 metres. Transfer in front of the Elah Dufour Novi factory in Novi Ligure after the meeting in Arquata, for the actual departure, with a km 0 dedicated to the cavalier Flavio Repetto who for many years believed in the sporting and social value of the Tour of the Apennines.
Tour of the Apennines 2024: the route
After passing in front of the Campionissimi Museum in Novi and Pasturana we will enter the heart of the race. The Castagnola Pass after 55 km will be the first difficulty of the day. After Giovi and Crocetta d’Orero comes the decisive part of the race: first the hairpin bends along the Bocchetta with gradients of up to 18%. Then at Pietralavezzara you will turn left to go, after the descent towards Isoverde, to face the Guardia: slopes of 7 and 8% to reach the 500 meter wall with slopes of 21% in the Lencisa area. Swooping descent towards Genoa with passage under the Ponte San Giorgio, flyover and then grand finale in via XX Settembre. Obviously there will be changes and traffic blocks.
Flying finish lines: prizes will be distributed to the top five but by virtue of the overall finish line ranking. The best overall placing at the 85th Tour of the Apennines added to the 61st Laigueglia Trophy will award the Challenge Liguria to its seventh edition.
The teams
Among the teams at the start, participation in the UCI Worldteams is guaranteed by the UAE Team Emirates (which will have the number 1 number, having won in 2023 with Marc Hirschi), the Astana Qazaqstan Team, the Arkea B&B Hotels and the Italian professionals among the UCI Proteams Polti Kometa, VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè and Corratec-Vini Fanini.
The Giro dell’Appennino celebrates 90 years this year as part of the flagship events of Genoa European Capital of Sport 2024. The first edition took place on 16 September 1934 on a 140 km route with start and finish in Pontedecimo. It was won by the Italian Augusto Como, who completed the route in 4h21’00” ahead of his compatriots Giulio Campastro and Luigi Cafferata. 20 of the 32 cyclists at the start finished the race.
Enrico Costa: “Always committed to road safety”
“It was a tough race in 1934, and the one on 14 July will be tough too – comments Enrico Costa, president of Us Pontedecimo Ciclismo -. But also this year, in addition to the organization of this great sporting event, we have made further commitments on the safety front for cyclists: the inauguration of the Corso Italia cycle path in Genoa named after Michele Scarponi and Rocco Rinaldi and the request of US Pontedecimo Ciclismo to name the Val Polcevera cycle path after Davide Rebellin and his partner Valerio Parodi are a warning that such tragedies direct the institutions to take measures to stop the massacre of cyclists, athletes or boaters on Italian roads. A massacre that has no excuse. We must guarantee amateurs and children the possibility of moving and training safely.”
The timetable: what time do cyclists pass
The race for amateurs in memory of Luigi Ghiglione
It is no coincidence that two collateral events will be dedicated to these categories. The Pontedecimo-Bocchetta/GP Municipality of Campomorone race for amateurs will take place on Saturday 6 July, a re-enactment of the Pontedecimo-Bocchetta organized by Luigi Ghiglione in the 1930s: the 1933 edition was the dress rehearsal for organizing the first in 1934 edition of the Tour of the Apennines. Three months after the inauguration of via Luigi Ghiglione in Pontedecimo, the route will unite this new street dedicated to
historic patron, with the ‘Cippo’ of Ghiglione sulla Bocchetta, erected next to that of Coppi. Meeting at 2pm at the L’Aquilone Shopping Center, official departure in Campomorone.
The children’s initiative for the last kilometre
On the day of the race, ‘The kilometer of the Apennines-Memorial Giulio Enante’ will then take place, with children and teenagers pedaling from the last kilometer to the finish line in via XX Settembre, with any type of bicycle, just before the finish line of professionals, in memory of Giulio Enante, former superior commissioner of the Municipal Police of Genoa and board of directors of US Pontedecimo Ciclismo. The great celebration in Piazza De Ferrari will be completed with the third edition of the Apennines Expo at the Palazzo della Borsa, for the promotion of sporting, tourist, gastronomic, agricultural, artisanal activities and the tradition of the territory crossed by the Tour of the Apennines, thanks to the Genoa Chamber of Commerce.
A party that will already have an important preview on the eve, Saturday 13 July at the Cabannun in Campomorone, when Domenico Pozzovivo will be awarded the Appennino d’Oro.
