IVREA
Everything is ready for Obiettivo Tricolore, the para-cycling relay conceived by Alex Zanardi, who in the course of this event last year was the victim of the accident that still keeps him nailed to a hospital bed. Next week the departures of the three routes are scheduled that will converge on Bologna (Zanardi’s hometown), where the traciato will become common to all the participants, until the final finish line in Catania, where the relay will end on Sunday 25 July. The first stage of the Green Route, that of the Northwest, will start from Verres and end in Ivrea. The relay race will see athletes on the road who will ride it on hand bikes, bicycles and Olympic wheelchairs to spread a strong message of promotion of the social values of Paralympic sport; the protagonists will be the athletes of Obiettivo3, both those recruited a few months ago and the best known in the Paralympic world. There will be exceptional testimonials, personalities from the world of sport and entertainment who have accepted the invitation to join the relay. One of these is the Paralympic champion Giusy Versace, present in four villages with the Disabili No Limits, the association she founded in 2011 that raises funds to donate ultra-light chairs and carbon fiber prostheses. Some champions such as Simone Moro, Daniele Bennati, Vittorio Podestà and the Enervit world will ride alongside the Paralympic athletes with Federico Pellegrino, Greta Laurent, Daniel Fontana, Stefano Baldini, Davide Cassani and the actor and comedian Paolo Kessisoglu. The inaugural stage, from Verres to Ivrea, will see the Eporediese Alessia Refolo as the protagonist, who in the spring graduated Italian champion of para-cycling in the tandem category and will ride in tandem with her “pilot” Giorgia Bonetti. «When Piero Dainese, the Obiettivo 3 team manager, asked me to open the second edition of the relay from the north-west – Refolo says – he simply left me speechless. For me it is an honor to take part in this Paralympic project conceived last year by Zanardi and to climb in tandem with Giorgia, it will be a crazy emotion. Professional cyclists and amateurs will be welcome to leave with us at 10 from the historic center of Verres to reach piazza Ottinetti in Ivrea at noon ».
There the athletes will be welcomed by the city authorities, led by the mayor Stefano Sertoli. «Here – Refolo explains – I will pass the baton to the Paralympic athletes Cristian Cucco and Antony Leonardi who will continue to Catania. I look forward to this event which once more confirms my motto “If you want, you can”, because during Obiettivo Tricolore, each of us with their great disabilities, will contribute to the achievement of a crazy joint venture based on willpower and on teamwork. Personally, this stage also represents for me the end of a whirlwind of intense training that has been going on for months, aimed at preparing the Italian Paragliding Championship in the Time Trial specialty which will be held on 11 July in Prato ». –
Federico Bona