On a shiny, sunny day, ‘buonasera’ was the native greeting from the primary stage at Piazza Michelangelo in Florence, Italy for the Tour de France crew presentation. A procession of athletes from every taking part crew rode bikes previous an enormous Michelangelo statue of David and had been launched in Italian and English from a yellow stage with the Apennine Mountains offering a dramatic backdrop.
Eight Italian riders obtained loud ovations from the house crowd as they had been a part of processions for seven groups, Astana Qazaqstan that includes Davide Ballerini and Michele Gazzoli. Six different groups had been comprised of 1 Italian rider every – Lidl-Trek with Giulio Ciccone, mountain classification jersey winner from 2023, Alberto Bettiol with EF Schooling-EasyPost, Luca Mozzato of Arkéa-B&B Accommodations, Davide Formolo with Movistar, Gianni Moscon with Soudal-QuickStep and Matteo Sobrero of Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
The 111th version of the Tour de France begins in Florence, Italy, on Saturday, June 29 and ends three weeks later in Good on Sunday, July 21. It’s the first time the Tour has began in Italy.
Christian Prudhomme, race director of the Tour de France, addressed the audiences, in individual alongside the banks of the Arno river and watching on an internet forged, and thanked the three areas who would host the trio of phases to open the French Grand Tour – Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte. Every of the primary three phases had been featured in a video presentation on an enormous display within the piazza, and a full-length video of all 21 phases was broadcast, depicting the terrain for all 3497.3km with some 52,320 metres of elevation achieve throughout Italy and France within the subsequent three weeks.
From EF Schooling-EasyPost within the first slot to Visma-Lease a Bike, all 22 groups had been launched on the stage, with the setting solar casting shadows on defending champion Jonas Vingegaard as he spoke to the group along with his crew alongside.
“I’m very completely satisfied to be right here in Florence. It’s superb to be right here. Being at first line is in itself a victory for me,” the two-time Tour champion mentioned in reference to creating the Tour his first race again since struggling surprising accidents from a crash at Itzulia Basque Nation in April.
A number of squads used the stage as a kind of catwalk to point out off new kits for this 12 months’s Tour de France. Clad in gentle blue jerseys fairly than the normal purple was Arkéa-B&B Accommodations. Cofids additionally took the stage in the identical purple and white signature colors however with a vertical bar on the chest for the title sponsor.
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Cyclingnews’ Josh Croxton was in attendance on the presentation and noticed new front-only tyres on the Van Rysel bikes of Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, noting there have been no demarcation apart from the phrases ‘Continental Aero 111’ and ‘Aerodynamics by SwissSide’.
Astana, Mark Cavendish spoke Italian to the native crowd, which generated roars from the group as he famous he had only one extra victory to go to safe a file thirty fifth stage victory and set the brand new Tour de France file.
The brand new branding for Pink Bull on kits and Specialised bikes had been a part of the proceedings for Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Tour contender Primož Roglič made brief remarks which the group appeared to understand realizing he was the 2023 Giro d’Italia champion.
The colors of nationwide champions had been a part of the parade, together with Spain’s Alex Aranburu Movistar), Belgium’s Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), France’s Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), South Africa’s Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) of Luxembourg, Netherlands’ Dylan Groenewege (Jayco-AlUla) and three riders from EF Schooling-EasyPost – Italy’s Alberto Bettiol, Portugal’s Rui Costa and USA’s Sean Quinn.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Staff Emirates) was recognised because the four-time winner of the younger rider classification, noting he had captured the white jersey 72 consecutive instances over a number of years. He obtained a framed white jersey with “72” emblazoned on the chest and an artist’s rendering of him taking a bow on the end line, and known as it “a pleasing shock”.
Alpecin-Deceuninck riders Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen had been additionally given brief stints on the microphone, Philipsen recognised as final 12 months’s factors winner and Van der Poel because the reigning World Champion.
“I understand how arduous racing is right here in Italy, however I’ll strive,” mentioned Van der Poel, who has just one stage win on the Tour from 2021 and rides this 12 months sporting the rainbow stripes for the primary time.
Tour de France débutant Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was recognised because the reigning time trial world champion and addressed the group about whether or not he would search for a stage win throughout the opening days in Italy.
“We’re prepared for the Tour with this sturdy squad. We are going to go all-in for positive over the three weeks to get the perfect consequence as potential. It doesn’t matter [where we win], a stage within the Tour is a stage within the Tour, if it’s the primary one or the final one, I don’t suppose it issues which one we wish to win so we’ll strive our greatest.”
All through the formalities of rider introductions through the crew presentation, music and dance artists appeared on stage, together with singer and songwriter Paola Vallesi, a local of Florence, performing his hit “La Forza de la Vita”.
As soon as the lads departed the highlight, organisers acknowledged the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift with a fast-moving video presentation that featured clips of the highest feminine professionals. The ladies’s Tour de France will happen August 12-18, with 946km from a Grand Depart in Rotterdam to the general end atop Alpe d’Huez.
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