Tour de France 2024, the departure from Florence is a tribute to Italy
The 111th edition will be unique: it starts from Piazzale Michelangelo and ends on July 21st, but not in Paris
Never happened since 1903. It is incredible that a cradle of cycling like Italy, mother of the Giro, has never shared the joy of the Grand Start of the Tour de France. But according to the Gazzetta, in 2024 this fast will end. A unique edition: starting from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence on Saturday 29 June and ending in Nice on Sunday 21 July. Yes, the Tour 2024, 111th edition, will be the party of the first times. Italy and then the “first” of the final arrival not in Paris, which has always hosted the most iconic finish line since the first edition. The reason is the proximity to the Olympics, in Paris from 26 July to 11 August. The Tour will end five days earlier: there is therefore the need not to bring two such popular and gigantic events too close, also for safety reasons.
Project
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Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont: these are the regions involved in a project that for two years has been pursuing with determination the former coach Davide Cassani, ambassador of the Governor of Emilia-Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, who with the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, created the political and economic network necessary to bring the event to Italy. A commitment of no less than 10 million euros, between public and private investors. We reveal the details of the plan that will unite some of the Italian symbols of the Tour, beloved in France. Ottavio Bottecchia, first of all, the first Italian winner of the Tour in 1924: 2024 is his centenary. Florence means Gino Bartali and Gastone Nencini; Cesenatico the Pirate Marco Pantani; Pinerolo Fausto Coppi. There will be four stages in the Italian territory, all in line and not discounted by the altitude profile: three completely tricolor and the fourth from Piedmont towards France. Without a day off.
The cities
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The Tour 2024 will start from Florence, this has been a request from the organizer Aso since the first day. Florence, the winning symbol of Renaissance Italy, a city that needs no introduction in the world. And Florence means Gino Bartali, winner of two tours in 1938 and 1948, Righteous among the Nations for his commitment to the Jews. But also Gastone Nencini, the Lion of Mugello, yellow jersey in 1960: let’s not forget the words addressed to him by the President of the French Republic, De Gaulle, when the race stopped in front of his residence. Then the stages will touch Rimini, Cesenatico, Bologna, Modena, Piacenza and Pinerolo.
First step
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Saturday 29 June 2024, Florence-Rimini, 180-190 km: the Passatore road, the passage through the spectacular Piazza del Comune in Faenza before the great festival on the Romagna Riviera along the sea. A crazy tourist spot: in the agreement with the Tour, a key role is played by the Apt (tourism promotion company) of the region, managed by Cassani.
Second stage
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Sunday 30 June, 2nd stage, the start from Cesenatico, the city of Marco Pantani, the Pirate who in 1998 was the last to make the Giro-Tour combination, with destination Bologna, arriving along the avenues after about 200 km. Nervous stage, we will pass from the hills south of the capital, with climbs of 4-5 kilometers. The start could be on the seafront in front of the Pirate monument.
Third stage
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Monday 1 July, 3rd stage, Modena-Piacenza through the Apennines: a day of pitfalls on the roads, covered in reverse, by the Giro d’Italia 2021 in the stage with an uphill finish in Sestola.
Fourth stage
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On Tuesday 2 July, the start of the 4th stage will be from Pinerolo towards France. Pinerolo means Fausto Coppi: the Cuneo-Pinerolo of the 1949 Giro, the “stage of the stages”. The Champion was the first to hit the Giro-Tour double in the same year: 1949 and 1952. And in the city of Cuneo the Tour has already arrived in 2011, thanks to Elvio Chiatellino, entrepreneur and great bike enthusiast.
The last stage
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Tour 2024 will end in Nice, not Paris, on Sunday 21 July. It is the city from which the 1998 Giro started, that of Pantani, but also the place that welcomed another legend such as Alfredo Binda at the age of 17: the Varese-born from Cittiglio moved to Nice immediately after the Great War with his brother Piero to work as a plasterer by a maternal uncle. And here his cycling career begins.
June 8, 2022 (change June 8, 2022 | 07:56 am)
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