Nat Bromhead
With the Tour de France starting from Italy for the first time on Saturday, June 29, the historic city of Florence is hosting a major cycling event that showcases the best of Tuscan and wider Italy.
BECYCLE is being held over the three days leading up to the much-anticipated Grande Depart in Florence, with the expo featuring a dream array of all things Italian cycling.
Bicycling Australia are at the event, we’ve enjoyed learning more about cyclotourism though various regions, plus seeing the latest bikes and gear from iconic brands including Colnago, Passoni, 3T, Northwave, Cervelo, Q36.5.
One of the most impressive displays is UK fashion designer Paul Smith’s incredible cycling collection – this simply has to be seen to be believed and even captured the awe of Tour De France Director Christian Prudhomme when he visited BECYCLE on Wednesday. You can see more images plus videos of this on the BA socials.
Italian regions featured at the major cycling expo include –
Tuscany, a cradle of cyclotourism both nationally and internationally: from road cycling to mountain biking and gravel riding, art cities, islands, and the world’s most famous hills, cycling has long been central to the region’s vision and strategies.
Following its Tuscan start, the Tour will pass through Emilia-Romagna. This region offers a wide range of routes such as short excursions to cycle paths, from Piacenza to Rimini, through the roads of Pantani, the Nove Colli, and the Imola World Championships, Plus the mythical Colle di San Luca in Bologna, which will test the legs of the yellow jersey contenders during the opening stage of the 2024 Tour.
The third region of the Italian Grand Depart is Piedmont, represented at BECYCLE by Langhe, Monferrato, and Roero. Names and regions that ignite the imagination of food and wine enthusiasts, one of the trends most closely linked to cyclotourism in recent years.
In the Lombardy region, there’s information about 45 separate cycling itineraries covering nearly 2,500 kilometers.
The ancient region of Basilicata has piqued our interest with a future destination feature high on the ‘To Do’ list. The region features Matera, one of the world’s oldest cities, along with a vast natural and cultural heritage.
Gran Canaria, one of the eight Canary Islands, is also represented in Florence. Gran Canaria was awarded the best foreign destination for cyclotourism at the 2023 Green Road Awards.
Finally, Valtellina is also at the expo, a region known as a ‘paradise for two wheels,’ with hundreds of kilometres of routes from the Valtellina Path to the Valchiavenna Cycle Path and the great alpine passes of Stelvio, Gavia, and Mortirolo.
In Florence for the Tour de France? BECYLE is open daily at Stazione Leopolda from June 26 to 28, 2024. More at http://www.becycle.comune.fi.it/slide.html
Gallery: Images From BECYCLE & Florence
