The launch event saw many VIPs from across sport, show business, local authorities, sponsors and media, including: Gimondi, Indurain, Baldini, Pambianco, Adorni, Motta, Moser, Savoldelli, Simoni, Cipollini (the record-holder with a staggering 42 stage victories at the Giro), Basso, Nibali, Aru, UCI President Brian Cookson, CONI President Giovanni Malagò, Italian Cycling Federation President Renato Di Rocco and the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala.
Milan, 25 October 2016 – In this press release are quotes, pictures and video from the Giro d'Italia 100th Edition Presentation, held today in Milan. Welcoming all the guests and opening the ceremony was RCS MediaGroup CEO and Chairman Urbano Cairo.
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Giro 100 stages video
QUOTES
Urbano Cairo, RCS MediaGroup CEO, said: "We are very proud to present today the 100th edition of Giro d’Italia: a special edition that, thanks to the great effort of the whole RCS Sport team, will be raced on an extraordinary route which will unify all the excellent features of Italy. It touches almost every Region including the two islands, and celebrates the iconic champions of Italian cycling, making a declaration of infinite love for this sport and for our country. The Giro has always been in our DNA and represents an inestimable capacity for sport, passion, beauty and culture. This edition is a milestone for a legendary event such as this and the start of a new process of growing and strengthening of the event itself to make it even more exciting and prestigious."
The UCI President Brian Cookson said: "The Giro d’Italia is without doubt one of the jewels of our sport; one of the most important races on the UCI WorldTour calendar, which features the principal events in international road cycling – it is a perfect example of a successful marriage between modernity and tradition. This major event, hotly contested and with international visibility, also draws its strength from its rich history and the Italian people’s love of cycling and of the Giro in particular. The 100th edition of the Giro will not only be a huge race with a great deal at stake form a sporting point of view, but also an occasion to remember that it owes its current identity to those who have written pages of its history, such as the great rivals Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, without forgetting the incredible Eddy Merckx, but also all the champions who have competed on its magnificent and demanding routes. The Giro is one of the races that made me fall in love with cycling, thanks to the exploits of Vittorio Adorni and Felice Gimondi, followed by those of the “Cannibal,” and more recently of riders such as Vincenzo Nibali, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana. Like all cycling fans, I look forward tremendously to the centenary edition, and I know that the organisers will make this a fantastic celebration of Italian and world cycling, from yesterday and today."
Giro 100 promotional video
The Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, said: "I'm very happy that the 2017 Giro d'Italia will end up in Milan. It's a sort of homecoming. This is the 76th time that our city has the honour to welcome the winner of the race and all the pros that participate in this beloved event. In the year in which the Giro celebrates its 100th edition I believe there's no better place than Piazza del Duomo to celebrate the arrival of the Maglia Rosa: the historic finish line in the shadows of the Madonnina is, in the collective imagination, one of the emblems of this race, symbol of Milan and Milanese passion for cycling and bicycles."
Italian cycling legend, Felice Gimondi, said: "In life, as in cycling, a person emerges because he does a job he likes. You have to fight although sometimes you lose, like I did with Merckx. I always tried to defend myself, and when I could, I attacked him. Every evening at the Giro, I used to study the next day's stage to see where to attack Eddy. He was a great athlete and still a friend, he has my respect. In the Bergamo stage in 1956, it was Eddy's action that made me win the stage. Eddy, who had not won a stages, really wanted the win and tried to anticipate the sprint to beat Moser. I was behind him and I won the sprint... I won when Merckx that piloted me in the sprint. The Giro is part of my life and of the life of Italian people, a great tradition that is becoming increasingly important. When I was doing my preparation it was also in the interest of my sponsors, it was very important for a company to win the Giro – although sure, maybe without Eddy, I would have won a couple of more Maglia Rosa."
Multiple Grand Tours winner, Miguel Indurain, said: "For me the Giro was always very important, because, in addition to Banesto, all my team's top sponsors were Italian. In my career I found that you can have friendships with your rivals, even when you compete on a Giro stage, at the end there is always respect – at least there was among the cyclists of my era. Among the cyclists with whom I raced in the Giro, I remember the young Pantani in 1994. Marco was very young but already strong on the climbs, I remember well when he attacked on the Mortirolo stage. Marco was a very shy person, very strong in the mountains from the beginning, but then he improved in the other specialties."
The winner of the last edition of Giro d'Italia, Vincenzo Nibali, said: "It's a very hard Giro with two very important time trial stages. In this respect it's very balanced and similar to the ones I've won in the past. This Giro will require a lot of energy and you'll need to be ready from the start."
The Sardinian champion, Fabio Aru, said: "The Big Start from Sardinia is really emotional for me, I still remember the last time when Giro started from the island, I was a kid and had just started racing MTB – I stopped alongside the road to watch the stage. It's a truly beautiful edition of the Giro that will be uncertain until the end, the fans will see a great show!"
The record-holder of stage victories at the Giro with 42, Mario Cipollini, said: "Based on my experience as professional cyclist I can say that Stage 4 will be very important. The Mount Etna finish will be a defining moment of the race: you'll need to be on top form from the first stage onwards, and you cannot wait until the second week to get in good shape. The first mountain finish will surely tell us who's going not to win the Giro."
