Christian Prudhomme on a visit to the Ghisallo: ‘Would you believe me if I said I ran out of smiles for this museum? For the exhibition, for the sanctuary, for Magreglio? For this love of the history of cycling made first and foremost by great Italian champions.
The Tour director continues: ‘Here you can breathe the heart of cycling and understand that this is the fruit of a great team effort: friends, organisers, journalists, champions, families of champions, collectors and institutions: I found myself in front of a passionate audience that testifies to the value of all this, of history and of what we are doing. Also of our contemporary history: with the Tour de France starting in Italy, where my personal dream and also Davide Cassani’s dream come true’.
“I was impressed by the quality level of the world championship in Emilia Romagna in 2020, impressed by the success and the skill of the organisers who were able to stage a world championship of the highest level in the Pandemic era, the Imola world championship. And then, let’s face it, a Frenchman also won, a certain Julian Alaphilippe (he makes a smiling joke, ed). So, I said to myself, it’s not possible for the Tour to start anywhere but Italy. And so the dream was realised, an act due to a country as important for cycling and its history as this one. Wandering around the Sanctuary and then getting lost in the great Museum and the exhibition, dedicated to the Tour de France, I realised that it is so beautiful that you never stop lingering over an heirloom, a Merckx or Bartali bicycle or a yellow jersey of Coppi, of Magni, of Pantani. Bravo to everyone and thank you for having me here’.
Antonio Molteni, president of the Ghisallo Cycling Museum Foundation said: ‘It is a great honour for us to have the director of the Tour here today to thank everyone for this tribute, which testifies to the international value of our museum, which is the home of cyclists, of all cyclists in the world,’
THE DIRECTOR OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE AT THE GHISALLO CYCLING MUSEUM At the conference room of the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum in Magreglio (CO), a meeting was organised with Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, who came especially from France for this special visit, facilitated by journalist friend Beppe Conti. Prudhomme dedicated photos, interviews, handshakes, and smiles to all those present, an audience of 80 people who crowded the conference room, right in front of the Ghisallo In Giallo exhibition that tells the story and epic tale of the Tour de France, which opened on 20 April (open until September).
The director of the Grand Boucle climbed to Ghisallo just weeks before the big start of the Tour in Italy to trigger (almost a blessing from Our Lady of Ghisallo) the Tour that starts on June 29th in Italy, he chose a place that represents the history and future of cycling. At the meeting in the conference room with Tour director Christian Prudhomme, the president of APT Emilia Romagna, Davide Cassani, authorities, collectors, friends and journalists, to welcome the Tour by highlighting the history and the present of the Tour of France. The Home of the Cyclists, founded by Fiorenzo Magni on 14 October 2006, became even more international on this official day of Italy-France twinning where, in addition to the President of the Foundation Cycling Museum Madonna del Ghisallo, Antonio Molteni with the Director of the Museum Carola Gentilini, Alessandro Fermi, councillor for University Research and Innovation of the Lombardy Region who brought greetings from President Fontana, recalling how the Museum was founded with the Lombardy Region, Danilo Bianchi, mayor of Magreglio, and for the first time also François Bonet, Consul General of France, who praised the place and the special occasion of this Italy-France cycling twinning.
History and the present of Italian cycling characterised this meeting that opened the doors to the 111th edition of the Tour, from 29 June 2024, with its unprecedented start from Italy, with its three initial stages: the Florence-Rimini, the Cesenatico-Bologna, and the Piacenza-Turin in memory of Bartali, Pantani and Coppi. The meeting was attended by Elisabetta Nencini and Marina Coppi, daughters of the legendary champions Gastone and Fausto. Also arriving as a surprise was champion Gianni Motta, who posed with a ‘Molteni’ wool jersey in his hands. Representing the Cycling Museums and private collections were Roberto Livraghi, director of the Alessandria City of Bicycles Museum, Giancarlo Pietra and Giorgio Cimurri, Marc André Elsig, who moved everyone by wearing an original Fausto Coppi sponge hat, among the organisers Renzo Oldani, president of Tre Valli Varesine, Gianni Torriani son of patron Vincenzo, among the technicians Roberto Damiani and Gianluigi Stanga.
Beppe Conti, journalist, writer and historian from Raisport, thrilled everyone with his account of the epic of the Tour de France amidst the memorabilia, images, history, of the Ghisallo in Giallo exhibition: the whole story of the Tour of France in a successful display just over a month after its inauguration. Among the museum’s friends also present were many sponsors and supporters representing the BCC Bank and Trafil Spec ITS, then Astoria Vini, Pinarello, Santini (with Monica Santini) and Colnago, which today presented Pogacar’s special Colnago for the Tour de France at Pitti Immagine in Florence. Among the supporters present were the president of Ciclistica Erbese Gabriele Ceruti, the president of Pedale Lecchese Massimo Adobati, the president of CC Canturino 1902 Paolo Frigerio, Lino Basilico president of Gruppo Sportivo Ghisallo with Mirco Monti, and the president of the Fabio Casartelli Foundation Gianluigi Luisetti, for the ACCPI Gabriele Landoni, and for the FCI the provincial president of Lecco Carlo Redaelli.
