By Leone Belotti
Our race
The Trofeo Laigueglia has been held since 1964 and traditionally opens the season of great cycling. Over the years it has been called Gran Premio Merit (1979), Gran Premio Seven-Up (1982), Gran Premio AZ15 (1983). This year, now in its 59th edition, we like to call it “Laigueglia Rosters”. In international parlance, “rosters” are those registered for the race, and in Laigueglia on March 2nd, out of 175 rosters lined up at the start, 21 will be… Rosters, that is, in the Rosti jersey. 12% of the riders! Three teams out of twenty-five.
For us, being Rosters means feeling - beyond the colors, the nationality, the team - the untouchable value of the jersey, the passion, the ethics, the solidarity, that special, corsair, transversal brotherhood that unites all cyclists, from the top rider to the rookie to the amateur.
The Rosters community today includes hundreds of teams in Italy and around the world, from every cycling discipline. An iceberg whose tip is represented in Laigueglia by the three teams from the top categories of international cycling: AG2R Citroën in the World Tour; Drone Hopper Androni in the ProTeam category and Colpack Ballan, which races with a Continental license.
Our runners
Up and down roads overlooking the sea, the Rosters will run and battle on the same tracks that over the centuries have seen Roman centurions, Gallic warriors, Genoese sailors and Saracen pirates fight.
Laigueglia is an ancient Ligurian village on the Riviera di Ponente that takes its name from the eagle of the Roman legions, which passed through here along the Via Julia-Augusta to reach Gallia Narbonensis, the current French Riviera and Provence.
The most anticipated rosters are Nans Peters and Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën); Mattia Bais and Edoardo Zardini (Drone-Hopper Androni); Davide Persico and Gidas Umbri (Colpack Ballan). They will have to deal with opponents such as Cimolai, Velasco, Ciccone and Mollema, who won the last editions of Laigueglia, but also with Carapaz and Geoghegan Hart, already winners of the Giro d'Italia.
Our teams
AG2R-Citroën is the French team that has been present in the World Tour for the longest time, and the fact that it has chosen Rosti as its technical partner is a great testament to the quality of the entire Rosters community.
Greg Van Avermaet, in the interview he gave exclusively to the Rosti Bar in the last few days
( https://www.rosti.it/it/blog/lo-stile-van-avermaet-b81.html ) referring to the first appointments on the calendar in the new season he explained: «To restart it is essential to have more races in your legs. The first races are very important. They allow you to reset yourself, see what level you are at».
And then, speaking specifically about our shirts: «The look, the Italian style. It's not just appearance. If you look good in a shirt, you feel good».
Drone Hopper Androni represents a stable project in the panorama of Italian cycling. Since 1996 in the professional world, he has 15 stage victories in the Giro d'Italia, the last of which, obtained by a Roster named Masnada. Champions such as Michele Scarponi and Egan Bernal have raced with Androni.
Fabio Marzaglia, press officer for Drone Hopper Androni, who we heard from in recent days, speaking about the Laigueglia Trophy told us:
"We are presenting ourselves at our best, with the ambition to do well. Laigueglia is our Italian debut, which is very heartfelt for us. Even though we have other events and intense international activity, we will field the best possible team. We will try to be protagonists, we hope to be ahead in the final".
Colpack Ballan has been one of the most popular youth teams in the Italian and international scene for over ten years. Tomorrow's professionals emerge from teams like this. In recent times, riders like Felline, Villella, Consonni, Ganna, Ciccone, Covi, Bagioli and Baroncini have emerged from Colpack Ballan.
Gianluca Valoti, Colpack Ballan sports director, who came to visit us at the headquarters together with the team founder, Antonio Bevilacqua, pointed out that this year, sixteen teams between World Tour and ProTeam will take part in the Trofeo Laigueglia, while three years ago there were only four. «For us, Laigueglia is a great race, an important opportunity to race with the pros, gain experience, for our guys these are important experiences to grow. Last year one of ours managed to break away for 100 km...»
Our wish
In addition to the 8 World Tour teams, the 8 ProTeams and the 8 Continental teams, Bennati's new Italian national team will also be present in Laigueglia, with some surprises from the track and mountain bike scene.
Our wish for this Laigueglia Rosters, regardless of who will be the protagonist, is to see a day of competition characterized by healthy competitive spirit, fairness, courage and some feats capable of uniting those who love this sport and igniting the enthusiasm of everyone, runners, spectators, TV viewers.
The right phrase, the perfect quote, is suggested by Fabio Marzaglia. As the great radio commentator Frank Deford said: “Sport is at its best when it unites us”.