MADRID, 27 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The 111th edition of the men’s Tour de France began this Thursday with the official presentation of the 22 participating teams, and it did so in the Italian city of Florence, where the first stage will start next Saturday. composed of 206 kilometers of medium mountain and arriving at Rimini.
Led by Christian Prudhomme, general director of the ‘Grande Boucle’, this new edition began on a stage with the Arno River and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore behind it. Full of people, the facilities also witnessed the first official act of Sara Funaro as the new mayor of Florence.
The parade of the 22 participating groups, including the 15 Spanish cyclists, was enlivened with music and dance. First it was with the song ‘Romagna mia’, by the artist Mirko Casadei, later the young dancer Marisol Castellanos came on stage and then it was the turn of the singer Paolo Vallesi, with his song ‘La forza della vita’.
Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu, Oier Lazkano and Javier Romo (Movistar Team), Carlos Rodríguez and Jonathan Castroviejo (INEOS Grenadiers), Juan Ayuso and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Ion Izagirre and Jesús Herrada (Team Cofidis), Raúl García Pierna and Cristián Rodríguez (Arkea-B&B Hotels), and Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek) are the 15 Spaniards on this Tour.
The Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike), winner of the last two editions of the ‘Grande Boucle’, admitted to feeling “very happy” to be in Florence. “Thank you for the welcome, it is really an honor. For now I am very happy to be able to be at the start, that is already a first victory for me,” he commented on the stage.
Not in vain, Vingegaard suffered a pneumothorax on April 4 due to a very hard fall while descending from the port of Olaeta during the last Itzulia, being evacuated by ambulance. He then underwent surgery at the Txagorritxu University Hospital (Vitoria), where he left 12 days later on his own two feet and with his right arm in a sling.
2024-06-27 18:36:27
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