Coppa San Geo Cycling Race Returns to Salò with New Route and International Participants
Gianni Pozzani, Roberto Ballerini, and Gino Zaya officially presented the 76th edition of the Coppa San Geo at Trattoria Trote in Soprazocco. The most notable novelty concerns the route, which has been completely changed; it will mostly traverse the shores of Lake Garda, with a brief inland detour to warm up the participants’ muscles.
The race will take place on Saturday, February 26, involving three municipalities of Benaco, all highly attentive to cycling: in strict alphabetical order, Manerba sul Garda, San Felice del Benaco, and Salò. Preliminary operations will be held in Piazza San Bernardo in Manerba sul Garda around 10:30 a.m.
The caravan will depart at 12:15 p.m. from Pieve Vecchia to head to Cannine in San Felice del Benaco, where the official start will be given.
Subsequently, racers will proceed to Salò via Poitese, Gas, and Campoverde, reaching Portese, where two intermediate laps will begin, involving San Felice del Benaco, Manerba sul Garda, Rafia, Zette, and again Salò.
The route and the finish
At this point, the race will take place entirely within the territory of Salò, where a circuit has been designed to be repeated seven times, passing through Gas, Zette, Campoverde, and Barbarano.
The finish will occur in via Brunati after 159 kilometers, around 4:30 p.m.
History and significance of the competition
The Coppa San Geo returns to conclude in Salò after eight years: the last time it landed in this splendid gulf was in 1992, when the German Fabian Hannich outpaced Fausto Oppici with a burst of speed, who had already raised his hand in victory only to regret the haste of his gesture.
San Geo in Salò experienced important moments from 1986 to 1992, seven consecutive editions marked by victories of Bario Rando, Ettore Badolato, Giovanni Fidanza, Alberto Destro, Gianvito Martinelli, Rosario Fina, and Fabia Hannich.
After five years of collaboration between organizers and public administration, misunderstandings arose, leading to a split. Now the partnership has been restored to the satisfaction of both parties.
Salò, together with San Felice and Manerba, are the locations that over the last decade have played key roles in this sporting event, which for two years was moved to Vestane due to the interest of Fondital.
Participants and international participation
Giovanni Pozzani announced that there will be approximately two hundred participants, including many foreigners from Northern Europe, particularly from Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Germany, and France.
The meeting was attended by Giancarlo Ceruti, president of Federciclo, provincial councilor Mario Scotti, mayors Isidoro Bertini (Manerba), Ambrogio Floridi (San Felice), and Giampiero Cipani (Salò), as well as regional councilor of the cycling federation Riccardo Stanga, Mario Cicli, Davide Boifava, Bruno Leali, and provincial sports councilor Alessandro Sala.