SINCE MAY 9, THE TOUR THAT ISN'T THERE: A STAGE-BY-STAGE STORY OF JOURNALISTS, WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS
A May without a Giro is something unthinkable for cycling fans. For this reason, in homage to a tradition that has accompanied the Pink Race since 1909, we have thought to give ourselves as a gift to those who have the desire, and the goodness, to follow the stories of a Giro that does not exist.
An initiative in support of fundraising to support the activities of Namasté, an association that operates in the territory of Bergamo assisting thousands of fragile people, in a land particularly affected by the new Coronavirus.
Starting from next May 9 a team of writers and illustrators will tell the story of the pink race every day, putting in the field fantasy and passion for cycling.
Each stage will have a different narrator and illustrator: the invention of the race and the ranking that will result from it will form a jigsaw puzzle of different looks, in an overview that is sport, geography, landscape, history and stories along the roads and the spring of the Giro.
We don't know, at the start, how the race and the story will go. We don't know who will win and who will lose. It's gonna happen all day long, like in a real race.
SenzaGiro will therefore be a game that will try to fill the remaining days of May... without Giro. But playing today is not enough, you have to put yourself on the line. Thousands of people are doing so, every day, sacrificing health and affection in a gamble far more risky than a cycle-literary pastime. We want our game to serve them.
We have therefore decided to direct the fundraising that we will activate from the site where Covid hit hardest, in Bergamo. We will allocate the donations of sponsors and private individuals to Namasté, a social cooperative that has been meeting and assisting 3000 fragile people a day in the Bergamo area for twenty years: the disabled, the elderly, the sick, children and adolescents in difficulty. During these weeks, Namasté, even among a thousand difficulties, has intensified its services doing everything possible so that this emergency does not cause a further and even more serious marginalization. For us, giving a hand to a small reality like the Namasté cooperative means being able to support them on the road. A bit like a cycling race, a bit like the Giro, which remains our favourite game.
Between now and 9 May it would be nice to swell the group of SenzaGiro. Among the first to run at our side is Touring Club Italiano who, day by day, will provide the geo-touristic content to accompany the story of the stage. But we are still waiting for many other fellow travellers.
Follow us and play with us: we'll be the SenzaGiro.
THE WRITERS IN A GROUP: Aldo Ballerini, journalist; Marco Ballestracci, writer and performer; Giovanni Battistuzzi, writer and journalist (Il Foglio); Paolo Bozzuto, university lecturer (Politecnico di Milano); Francesco Calvetti, university lecturer (Politecnico di Milano); Filip J Cauz, blogger and writer (Bidon - cycling in a liquid state); Gino Cervi, editor and writer; Andrea Costa, architect of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism; Daniele Danijl D'Aquila, president of Comitato Velodromo Vigorelli ASD; Emanuele Esaia, blogger (I Love Amatori); Lorenzo Franzetti, journalist and cyclist (La Bottega del Romeo); Guido Foddis, musician and journalist (La Repubblica delle Biciclette); Alessandra Giardini, writer and journalist (Corriere dello Sport - Stadio); Albano Marcarini, town planner, author of tourist guides, cyclist (Sentieri d'Autore); Silvio Martinello, Olympic champion and sports commentator; Stefano Munarin, university lecturer (IUAV Venice); Marco Pastonesi, journalist and writer; Giacomo Pellizzari, writer and copywriter (Ciclista Pericoloso); Marco Pinotti, former rider, writer and CCC Team technician; Stefano Rizzato, journalist RAISport; Guido P. Rubino, writer and photographer (Cyclinside); Antonio Ruzzo, journalist (Il Giornale); Andrea Schiavon, writer and journalist (Tuttosport).
THE ILLUSTRATORS IN THE GROUP: Osvaldo Casanova, Giulio Castagnaro, Francesco Chiacchio, David Diehl, Oscar Diodoro, Gianluca Folì, Ale Giorgini, Riccardo Guasco, Nadia Guidi, Tiziana Longo, Daniele Margara, Marija Markovic, Massimiliano Marzucco, Umberto Massa, Giulia Pastorino, Francesco Poroli, Marcus, Jacopo Rosati, Lucio Schiavon, Federico Tram Tramonte, 2BROS Creative (2broscreative.com)
Webmaster: Alessandro Galli.
FOLLOW THE GROUP HERE ON FB
