L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 8 SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY I t doesn't seem to matter what the occasion might be, Italian culture can enrich everything from bicycle tours and races to local community fes tas all around the San Francisco Bay A rea and beyond. Take for instance two bicycle races, Il Giro di San Francisco and Giro d'Italia. (Giro is the Italian word for "Tour".) Bicycle racing and touring is a time-honored tradition in Italy w ith many premier events through the tranquil and pic- turesque countryside, including the 99th Il Giro d'Italia which took place in May and June of 2016. Il Giro is a staged bicycle tour s ome cycling experts believe has the prestige and pedi- gree rivaled only by the Tour de France. Il Giro is almost as old as the Tour de France and is often considered more challeng- ing. Both combine the energy of thousands of fans along with a tour route through breathtaking- ly beautiful landscapes spectacu- larly illus trated by cours e through Cortina D'Ampezzo, located in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The 2016 tour began in the N etherlands and continued throughout Italy. The scenery for stage 19 of the race featured Cima Coppi. This is the name given to the highest point in the course, a term that was first introduced for the 1965 race, named in honor of Fausto Coppi who won five editions of the Giro d'Italia and three mountain classification titles during his career. Colle Dell'Agnello (hills of the lamb) was considered the highest point of the 2016 race and this year's leader at the sum- mit was Michele Scarpoini of Italy. Il Giro d'Italia was first orga- nized in 1909 to increase sales of the newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, and has been held annually since, except when it w as s topped during the tw o world wars. The first edition of the race w as w on by Italian Luigi Ganna who received 5,325 lira as a winner's prize, with the last rider in the general classifi- cation receiving 300 lira. During the years 1910 through 1953, winners of Il Giro d'Italia w ere exclus ively of Italian descent with Italians winning most of the races through 1968. Cycling scholars point to the "golden age" of Italian cycling as the period from the end of the 1930s to the 1950s, the time when two exceptional cyclists, Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi, were prominent in the sport. This period coincides with a dif- ficult time in Italian history dur- ing WWII and also the more positive, post-war period, a time when the bicycle became an important transportation vehicle and also the most popular sport. Moving across the globe to San Francisco, the City does appear to be experiencing resur- gence in cycling both as trans- portation and s port. S an Francisco did its part on Labor Day, September 5, 2016, the day that marked decades-old, 42nd annual running of the City's Il Giro. Il Giro di San Francisco began life as the "San Francisco Gran Prix". The race has been a long-standing tradition over the past three decades. It was start- CATHERINE ACCARDI Giro d'Italia & Il Giro di San Francisco ed by George Pagni of the San F rancis co Columbus D ay Celebration Committee in 1975. The race moved to Lake Merced in 1976-77 before being renamed "Il Giro". The race has moved to several different locations over the years including down San Francisco's iconic, s erpentine, brick Lombard Street. In 1979 and 1980, the race took place in the N orth Beach D is trict during which both races were won by Greg LeMond who went on to win three Tours de France. In 1981, Il Giro moved to its present course which begins at Levi Strauss Plaza at Battery and Union Streets. The different cat- egories of races run from morn- ing to afternoon as the course runs along Battery, F ront, Vallejo and Sansome Streets, totaling approximately .8 rela- tively flat miles, considered par- ticularly flat for San Francisco's usually exuberant topography. The race is under the direc- tion of Robert A. Leibold of Velo Promo, and in 2016 was organized by Crystal Geyser and Metromint Cycling. The 2017 Il G iro promis es to be another energizing event for the San Francisco community so mark your calendars for next year's Il Giro by staying updated and checking the Metromint website at http://w w w .metromintcy- cling.com/?giro_di_sf. The starting line for the 2016 Il Giro di San Francisco Photograph courtesy of Metromint Cycling The 2016 Giro d'Italia passes through Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy. Photograph credit: Matteo Fes/Shutterstock.com,

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