The strong bond is referenced right from the name: the Enel Giro d’Italia Giovani Under 23. For the third consecutive year, our Group is sponsoring the Maglia Rosa (“Pink Jersey”), which is the emblem of the most prestigious international stage road race for talented young cyclists. The event, which was presented on Monday, March 25, at Bologna’s Fico Eataly World, takes place between June 13 and 23, and will cross 5 Italian regions, one more than last time out: Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Lombardy, Trentino and Veneto.
The race kicks off at Riccione (in Emilia-Romagna), with a 3.6-kilometre individual time trial or prologue before finishing up 10 days later at the top of the Passo Fedaia (Fedaia Pass) on the Marmolada (on the Veneto-Trentino border), the real “peak” of this Giro at over 2,000 metres that comes at the end of a short but entirely uphill 35.8-kilometre stage.
This Giro Under 23 will be the most international yet: of the total 29 teams taking part, 13 are foreign, coming from 10 different countries. The Italian teams are selected from a merit-based classification drawn up by the Italian Cycling Federation. It takes into consideration points clocked up between January 1 and May 12 2019. Four other jerseys will be awarded in addition to the Pink: Red (“Rossa”) for the points leader, White (“Bianca”) for Best Young Rider, Blue (“Azzurra”) for the Intergiro finishes, and Black (“Nera”) for the last rider to finish.
A caravan of 600 people and 20 villages
The first edition of the Giro Under 23 was held in 1970 and, over the course of its history, it has launched the careers of champions of the calibre of Moser, Battaglin, Baronchelli, Simoni and Pantani. It didn’t run between 2013 and 2016, but made a welcome return in 2017, thanks to the good offices of the Italian Cycling Federation president Renato Di Rocco and the Professional Road Team Manager and National Team Coordinator Davide Cassani. The aim was to grow the Italian cycling movement by allowing our talented youngsters to pit themselves against their strongest competitors of a similar age from all around the world.
The race has gone from strength to strength over the years: today the organisational machine manages 600 people, 20 villages set up the start and finish areas of each stage, a community of over 1 million contacts and the securing of the 1,200 kilometres of road the race traverses. The start villages also offer tasting areas for locally produced foods and wines and initiatives designed to promote sport to youngsters and families. As was the case with the Giro d’Italia, Enel will also be organising stands and events along the race route.
In acknowledgment of its central importance to the Italian sports world as a whole, the Under 23 race also enjoys the support of the Ministry for Sport, the UCI (International Cycling Union), CONI (Italian National Olympics Committee) and the FCI (Italian Cycling Federation).
Enel and cycling
Enel has been flanking the Giro Under 23 since its relaunch in 2017 as part of a longstanding partnership with high-level Italian competitive cycling which spans everything from sponsorship of the Giro d’Italia’s Maglia rosa (Pink Jersey) to classics of the likes of the Milano-Sanremo and the Giro di Lombardia (Lombardy Tour), which closes the season in October.
Energy, sustainability, team spirit and passion for local areas and people are the values that our Group shares with a sport that combines the beauty of sport in action with that of the Italian countryside, which the Giro d’Italia “exports” all over the world.
“We are proud to be continuing the partnership that has linked the Giro d’Italia Giovani Under 23 to Enel for the last three years,” declared Marco Selleri and Marco Pavarini, respectively the Giro d’Italia Under 23’s General Manager and Head of Organisation. “It is important for us to be able to count on companies that believe in the values that we organisers are promoting. Indeed we are pouring all our energy into driving forward a project that combines a focus on young people, innovation, sustainability and promoting Italy’s local areas.”
