Gran Fondo Michele Scarponi: Triumph of Paolo Ciavatta and Giulia Medri in Filottrano

Over 900 cyclists on the pedals in the Michele Scarponi Grand-Foot Race arrived from all over Italy, but also from abroad to honor the late Filottranese cycling champion. It is the Go Fast team that puts on a show on the Filottranese roads and not only by placing four athletes in the first four places of the competition. The Abruzzo team dominates the 6th Gran Fondo Michele Scarponi – Strade Imbrecciate. Success for the Teramo rider Paul Ciavatta who precedes her teammates Frangioni, Celano and Di Felice. Among the women, a clear success for the Forlì native Giulia Medri, Second place for Elisa Leardini and Alice Puggelli. In the short race of the GF Scarponi (88 kilometers) Davide Breccia from the Marche and Alessia Bortoli from Vicenza prevailed.

"It was a weekend of commitment, smiles and emotions, for which we simply say thank you - we read in the post by the Michele Scarponi Foundation -. On Sunday there were many, many friends who came to visit us, who took part in the routes proposed by the Cycling Group dedicated to the Aquila di Filottrano and who all together put their foot on the ground to remember our Michele". In fact, the entire Gran Fondo group put their foot on the ground in front of the cemetery of filottrano where captain Astana rests for a minute of silence. In reference to this gesture, the social post by Michele Scarponi's brother, Marco, is touching. "After the minute of silence, the cyclists set off again on those roads that my brother has ridden up and down thousands of times, nurturing endless dreams. The boys from the Cycling School enter the cemetery in silence and go straight to the family chapel where Michele rests. They stop in front of the tombstone and everything around them vibrates. There is a silence that seems like a collective scream, then listening carefully, the scream declines into a sweet, new song. Some of them eight years ago perhaps weren't even born. They never knew Michele. Further back are me, my mother and Luca Panichi. The excessive silence of everyone brings old tears back to the eyes. It will always be like this. The void is too great. Too much. And yet this tomb, while I cry, with the little ones still in front of it, appears so powerful to me for the first time. This is not a place of death. It isn't today. It won't be anymore. The memory of Michele is a seed that grows strong like an oak tree inside the children who never knew him. A seed that becomes flight, energy. Community. Thanks to those who still believe in life, to those who tell stories, to those who sow in the wind to see new roots of a thousand colors grow one day. Thanks to the children who protect Michele".