A record toast on 1 October in Valdobbiadene. Association president Gianpaolo Breda: ‘Tribute to the event and the territory’. Registration over 1800
A record-breaking toast for Prosecco Cycling: one hundred sommeliers from Ais Veneto, dressed in parade attire, will welcome the thousands of enthusiasts from all over the world who will participate in the 20th edition of the Valdobbiadene event on 1 October.
Thanks to the collaboration with the Veneto section of the Ais (Italian Sommelier Association), Prosecco Cycling is preparing to renew the fascination of a toast that already in the past, some ten years ago, thrilled lovers of two seemingly distant worlds – cycling and wine – and that instead in Valdobbiadene, on the first weekend of October, find a spectacular synthesis.
‘With our presence we will pay homage to Prosecco Cycling and to the territory,’ comments Gianpaolo Breda, president of Ais Veneto. ‘The hundred sommeliers will come from all the provinces of Veneto. In this way, we too will contribute to the celebration of an event that, every year, besides representing an unmissable appointment for many cycling enthusiasts, has the merit of developing a strong movement of interest in the world of wine’.
Prosecco Cycling, in 19 editions, has involved over 50 thousand enthusiasts from all over the world (35 countries in total represented). And again this year, for an edition that promises to be unmissable, the number of participants has already exceeded 1,800.
The success of Prosecco Cycling is also the success of an unparalleled organisational format, in which agonism is never an end in itself and team spirit prevails over individual performance.
A special classification, the Maglia Nera (Black Jersey), will reward the teams that achieve the worst average distance on three timed climbs: Ca’ del Poggio (1.1 km with an average gradient of 13.4%), Via dei Colli (650 metres – 11.4%) and Collalto (1.5 km – 6.3%). The timing of the three climbs will also determine the individual classification.
Three further team classifications are also planned. One, called Fun Team, will crown the team with the best time over the entire route. With a special feature: the group must consist of at least five cyclists who must cross the finish line within 30″. And, as last year, the team that does not present at least one woman will be penalised by 15 minutes.
Another classification will reward the teams capable of placing the highest number of cyclists (minimum ten) at the finish line within 30 seconds, a way of maximising team spirit. The same mechanism will be applied to the mixed group classification, which differs from the previous one in that it is open to cyclists registered for different teams or not registered at all.
There is also a special prize, the ‘We2gether Team’ classification. It will go to the team that will present itself at the finish line by creating the best scenography in homage to the 20th anniversary of Prosecco Cycling, with particular reference to the concept of environmental sustainability, a theme particularly dear to the event in Valdobbiadene, to Prosecco and to the landscape of the Unesco hills.
The record-breaking toast with the sommelier centre of Ais Veneto will be a spectacle within a spectacle.
‘It will be a unique sight,’ comments the mayor of Valdobbiadene, Luciano Fregonese. ‘Prosecco Cycling has always paid great attention to the territory and its protagonists, just think of the many activities and initiatives put in place, such as, recently, the Insieme project, a true artistic representation of the territory to highlight its characteristics and peculiarities. Prosecco Cycling is a now historical event for the Denomination, which has contributed to the development of the territory and of our Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG at an international level’.
