On a bright, sunny day, ‘buonasera’ was the local greeting from the main stage at Piazza Michelangelo in Florence, Italy for the Tour de France team presentation. A procession of athletes from each participating team rode bikes past a giant Michelangelo statue of David and were introduced in Italian and English from a yellow stage with the Apennine Mountains providing a dramatic backdrop.
Eight Italian riders received loud ovations from the home crowd as they were part of processions for seven teams, Astana Qazaqstan featuring Davide Ballerini and Michele Gazzoli. Six other teams were comprised of one Italian rider each - Lidl-Trek with Giulio Ciccone, mountain classification jersey winner from 2023, Alberto Bettiol with EF Education-EasyPost, Luca Mozzato of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Davide Formolo with Movistar, Gianni Moscon with Soudal-QuickStep and Matteo Sobrero of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
The 111th edition of the Tour de France starts in Florence, Italy, on Saturday, June 29 and ends three weeks later in Nice on Sunday, July 21. It is the first time the Tour has started in Italy.
Christian Prudhomme, race director of the Tour de France, addressed the audiences, in person along the banks of the Arno river and watching on a web cast, and thanked the three regions who would host the trio of stages to open the French Grand Tour - Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte. Each of the first three stages were featured in a video presentation on a giant screen in the piazza, and a full-length video of all 21 stages was broadcast, depicting the terrain for all 3497.3km with some 52,320 metres of elevation gain across Italy and France in the next three weeks.
From EF Education-EasyPost in the first slot to Visma-Lease a Bike, all 22 teams were introduced on the stage, with the setting sun casting shadows on defending champion Jonas Vingegaard as he spoke to the crowd with his team alongside.
“I am very happy to be here in Florence. It’s amazing to be here. Being at the start line is in itself a victory for me,” the two-time Tour champion said in reference to making the Tour his first race back since suffering shocking injuries from a crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April.
Several squads used the stage as a sort of catwalk to show off new kits for this year’s Tour de France. Clad in light blue jerseys rather than the traditional red was Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Cofids also took the stage in the same red and white signature colours but with a vertical bar on the chest for the title sponsor.
Cyclingnews' Josh Croxton was in attendance at the presentation and spotted new front-only tyres on the Van Rysel bikes of Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, noting there were no demarcation besides the words 'Continental Aero 111' and 'Aerodynamics by SwissSide'.
Astana, Mark Cavendish spoke Italian to the local crowd, which generated roars from the crowd as he noted he had just one more victory to go to secure a record 35th stage victory and set the new Tour de France record.
The new branding for Red Bull on kits and Specialized bikes were part of the proceedings for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Tour contender Primož Roglič made short remarks which the crowd seemed to appreciate knowing he was the 2023 Giro d’Italia champion.
The colours of national champions were part of the parade, including Spain’s Alex Aranburu Movistar), Belgium’s Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), France’s Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), South Africa’s Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek), Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) of Luxembourg, Netherlands’ Dylan Groenewege (Jayco-AlUla) and three riders from EF Education-EasyPost - Italy’s Alberto Bettiol, Portugal’s Rui Costa and USA’s Sean Quinn.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) was recognised as the four-time winner of the young rider classification, noting he had captured the white jersey 72 consecutive times over several years. He received a framed white jersey with “72” emblazoned on the chest and an artist’s rendering of him taking a bow at the finish line, and called it “a pleasant surprise”.
Alpecin-Deceuninck riders Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen were also given short stints at the microphone, Philipsen recognised as last year’s points winner and Van der Poel as the reigning World Champion.
“I know how hard racing is here in Italy, but I will try,” said Van der Poel, who has only one stage win at the Tour from 2021 and rides this year wearing the rainbow stripes for the first time.
Tour de France débutant Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was recognised as the reigning time trial world champion and addressed the crowd about whether he would look for a stage win across the opening days in Italy.
“We are ready for the Tour with this strong squad. We will go all-in for sure over the three weeks to get the best result as possible. It doesn’t matter [where we win], a stage in the Tour is a stage in the Tour, if it’s the first one or the last one, I don’t think it matters which one we would like to win so we will try our best.”
Throughout the formalities of rider introductions during the team presentation, music and dance artists appeared on stage, including singer and songwriter Paola Vallesi, a native of Florence, performing his hit “La Forza de la Vita”.
Once the men departed the spotlight, organisers acknowledged the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift with a fast-moving video presentation that featured clips of the top female professionals. The women’s Tour de France will take place August 12-18, with 946km from a Grand Depart in Rotterdam to the overall finish atop Alpe d’Huez.
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