High ambitions at the Giro di Sicilia, four days of intense cycling on the Mediterranean island
Giro di Sicilia
From 28 September to 1 October
There are many things to tell about the upcoming Giro di Sicilia. On the sporting side, the return of a race that after a long absence from the calendar returned in 2019 and was forced to stop again in 2020 due to the COVID-19 health emergency and all the restrictions on mobility that this entailed. On the more sentimental side, the penultimate step of an imminent farewell, the last in a stage race, like that of Manuel Belletti. On the competitive side, Vincenzo Albanese’s incredible desire to achieve a long-sought victory this season. Or the good moment of Samuele Rivi. Or the always invisible but nevertheless fundamental work of Mattia Frapporti. Or the growing form of Lorenzo Fortunato and Edward Ravasi. Yes, they are multiple approaches.
Belletti’s is the most emotional. The rider from Gatteo won one stage, was second in another and held the lead for a day in the last edition of the race. “I have good recent memories and I would like to get a good result. It will be the last stage race of my professional career, the penultimate of my season. I hope to find good sensations, to enjoy a lot these last races and to be able to do it here in this family that is the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team”, he says. In that Giro of Sicily was also Vincenzo Albanese, eighth in a stage, to this edition he goes with desire to be able to release his locker. “In Sicily I want to win”, says Albanese, who this season has twelve top-ten finishes, five of them top-five, and two recent second places, in Limousin and at the Pantani Memorial.
Apart from the dates of his return, between the last days of March and the first days of April, the Giro di Sicilia returns between 28 September and 1 October with a route of four stages on a line with no shortage of orographic difficulties. Etna will not be tackled, as in the edition held two years ago, but there will be climbs on the Mediterranean island. And above all, there will be broken and winding routes where the peloton could break into a thousand pieces. The EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team will ride with a team formed by the British Mark Christian and the Italians Vincenzo Albanese, Manuel Belletti, Mattia Frapporti, Lorenzo Fortunato, Edward Ravasi and Samuele Rivi.
Stages.
28 September: Avola – Licata (179 km).
29th September: Selinunte (Castelvetrano) – Mondello (Palermo) (173 km).
30 September: Termini Imerese – Caronia (180 km).
1 October: Sant’Agata di Militello – Mascali (180 km).
