Verona-Bardolino Bid for 2004 Cycling World Championships Highlights Lake Garda
A Golden Opportunity. The bid from Bardolino and Verona to host the 2004 Cycling World Championships could significantly boost the image of the Lake Garda area and the Veronese shore of the lake. For this dream to become reality, Italy must beat competitors from Spain and Germany, whose bids, along with the Italian one, have been accepted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).
Subsequently, the Verona-Bardolino alliance will need to offer guarantees greater than those from Bergamo, Caneva (Friuli Venezia Giulia), Imola, and Pescara. A race that is definitely neck and neck, but still fraught with pitfalls and surprises. The yellow-blue committee can count on a prominent leader, Teofilo Sanson, an industrialist capable of delivering the winning sprint.
Credentials and Support
These high-ranking credentials, combined with the experience gained as the organizer of last year’s World Championships on the Torricelle in Verona, give Sanson a respectful influence. The same “King of Gelato,” as he was already described Monday afternoon during the press conference held in the Province, is not hiding a good dose of optimism.
“The success we achieved in Verona was on a worldwide scale. The sporting event was watched on television by 380 million viewers. Never before had so many tuned into a World race. Considering the image crisis surrounding the cycling world, this result is definitely double,”
But on what basis does he trust to bring a competition of such stature back to Verona, and for the first time onto Garda? “Simple. International cycling requires impeccable organization but also spectacular scenery and attractive locations, which we certainly do not lack,”
Sanson’s optimism has also been contagious among those present at the press conference. Among them were also Bardolino’s vice-mayor, Valter Rizzi, and the tourism councilor, Stefano Tagliaferri. The mayor, Armando Ferrari, was absent due to illness.
Territorial Characteristics and Local Support
“Our country’s selection as a potential venue for the six time-trial races is determined by the area’s characteristics and, equally, by the presence of numerous high-standard hotel facilities,” Rizzi explains. “Our extensive capacity to accommodate visitors, compared to other nearby towns, played in our favor, just as the pre-World Championship event held in 1992 on the roads of Bardolino and the hinterland did.”
Let us not forget that during winter, entire professional teams come here to winter, taking advantage of the ideal climate for training. The last world champion here was Oscar Camenzind.
Sponsorships and Tourism Development
Yesterday, as today, Sanson remains the main sponsor of the coastal town. “But Bardolino is not the only place involved,” adds the provincial and Garda native, Davide Bendinelli.
“There will also be room for Lazise, Garda, and others. It’s also worth noting that this would be a great promotional launch for the Riviera degli Olivi,”
The Garda Lake has previously hosted cycling champions on several occasions. Beyond the last three editions of the Giro del Trentino, which stopped at Torri and Malcesine, it is worth remembering the festive greeting Garda extended on May 16, 1969, to the 52nd stage of the Giro d’Italia, which was ultimately won by Gimondi.
At that time, the sporting event was also linked to ecological concerns. During those days, the “Rodighiero project” stirred discussion, which proposed to bring barges, freight boats, onto Garda via the Mincio, which would be made navigable. The local population and lake mayors opposed the measure, threatening a protest on the occasion of the tadpoles’ tagging, but everything proceeded peacefully in the end.