«I was very disappointed, they called me to speak in schools, to participate in the Tour initiatives. I always said yes, taking time away from my activity in the shop. And the mayor hasn’t found the time to talk to me for a few minutes in recent days.” The former cyclist Giancarlo Perini he is angry with the Tarasconi Administration. For the Municipality the bike ride in his honor on Sunday should not take place: it would coincide too much with the arrival of the Tour de France caravan.
Perini doesn’t agree and reconstructs the story of the event. «The event – he explains – was scheduled for Sunday 23rd but was postponed due to bad weather. So I asked to postpone it to the following Sunday, the 30th. I tried in every way to talk about it with the mayor Katia Tarasconi, but she didn’t want to discuss it with me. I had asked to find a solution to organize it. I was willing to involve the city as little as possible, going somewhere completely different. We left at 8.30 on Sunday morning, what problems did we create by going for a ride outside the city? I explained it to the sports councilor Mario Dadati, trying to find a solution. But they didn’t want to find her. I called him, but not even he wanted to give me the mayor’s mobile number to confront me.”
The Carpaneto corridor is a raging river. «I am a frank person, I would like things to be said to my face. Dadati promised me that the mayor would show up. I would have at least expected Tarasconi to call me. He doesn’t give a damn about our demonstration and what we did. I am very angry about this affair. I spent 5 thousand euros on t-shirts, after having already given away all the food last Sunday.”
Perini, Councilor Dadati says that the Municipality proposed to do it on Saturday 29th instead of Sunday 30th, so as not to be too close to the Tour. “But how can you do it on Saturday morning – Perini blurts out – when many people work anyway, including me? Some Piacenza clubs were helping me, like Aci, Pedale Castellano, Pedale biancorosso and they also agreed that Saturday was not the right time. Furthermore, we had moved to have the doctor and emergency vehicles on Sunday. Everything was ready, but no one wanted to listen to us. I had 250 registered members, which could have gone up to 300, but the Municipality doesn’t care”.
The former wingman claims that the Municipality never explained to him the safety reasons behind the decision. «They didn’t explain them to me. Don’t let them say that our pedaling hinders the Tour de France. We met at 7.30, left at 8.30 at the cycle track and cycled towards the hills of the province.” In fact, from the city we moved to San Nicolò, Castelsangiovanni, Borgonovo, Agazzano, Gazzola, Gossolengo and returned to the Piacenza cycle track. «By noon it was all over. The Tour caravan arrives at 5pm. I’m sorry to say but there wasn’t the will to listen.”
