Cycling, the Gran Milan Vigorelli in Milan on Sunday 17 March

On 13 January this year Genova 1913 reached another notable milestone: 111 years of life. Those three number 1s lined up are an extraordinary sight, the license of an ancient company: another birthday that smells of history. With a past that drips with glory, which began in the Porta Genova district (hence the name), a stone’s throw from the Navigli, along which the column of ‘Genovini’ (attention, not Genovesi) pedals today almost 52 times a year.

LONG WALK

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In the early days, however, SC Genova 1913 ASD (www.Genova1913.it) was a sportswoman and she had that glory pinned on her chest also thanks to swimming, athletics and boxing. Over more than a century, at least twenty-five thousand people have worn the orange and blue jersey (the colors of Genoa football, but it’s just a coincidence) and some, more than others, have written important pages of our cycling. Like Alfredo Binda, the most famous, or another Alfredo, Sivocci, tricolor among the amateurs and winner of some stages of the Giro (the first in 1911, the last in 1924), who triumphed with those colors and whose names, linked to epic tales, are handed down from generation to generation in the historic headquarters of the club in Via Marostica 4.

NOT JUST PEDALING

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Today Genova 1913 boasts over 200 members, who have a strong sense of belonging. When you put on that shirt you become friends, colleagues, companions: on the pedals we all sweat together. The company’s chats are full of photos and videos of group rides, but also of individual exploits. From the Stelvio to the Marmolada, as if to say, with a certain pride: Genoa passed through here. The president Giancarlo Scalmana, an over eighty year old in deadly shape, heir to the great Adriano Rodoni, who climbed the ranks to become president of the UCI, of the Cycling Federation as well as vice-president of the CONI, underlines: “I want to say that we don’t just pedal, ours is a family and aggregating environment. We don’t just use the bike, but we organize evenings at our headquarters to learn and keep up to date: on health and road safety”.

LA RANDONnée

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But they certainly use the bike, even for highly charitable gestures, such as a Milan Genoa event organized specifically to raise funds and help the reconstruction of the Morandi Bridge. Scalmana is especially keen to talk about the next Randonnèe “Gran Milan Vigorelli”, sponsored by her Genoa. She explains: “Our race will start right there, from the Scala of cycling: the Vigorelli. For many decades it was the great love of Genoa: it is there that we won many gold medals. For society it is like a return to our origins, even if in a different context.” On March 17, at least three hundred runners are expected to gather inside the legendary velodrome, home to many editions of the famous Six Days, where nine hour records were set (in 1971 it hosted two Beatles concerts). The race will end 200 meters from there, at the Sant’Ildefonso oratory: between start and finish, two hundred kilometers around Lombardy (130 km for the less fit) and alternative gravel routes (127 and 94 km). Registration is open to everyone, even those who are not part of Genoa. A notable organizational effort, with the involvement of dozens of volunteers. With the hope of seeing in the end… a single man in command, wearing the colors midnight blue and orange. In the name of Binda and Sivocci.

TO REGISTER

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Registrations are already open, also via the link: https://mail.aol.com/d/list/referrer=newMail&folders=1&accountIds=1&listFilter=NEWMAIL/messages/AH1mDDpemoMyZdqT6g3mmGG3hFA