
Discussion continues about the cancellation of three cycling races (for beginners, juniors, and youth) that were scheduled for Sunday, May 11th in Cintolese, Monsummano Terme. This has prompted the president of GS Circolo Ricreativo Cintolese, Luigi Pappalardo, to issue a statement explaining the reasons.
"Following the Antonelli ruling issued by the Pistoia Tribunal on December 11, 2024, and in addition to issues related to road conditions in the Province of Pistoia (including bicycle transit restrictions), this Sports Group - states the communication - believes that at present, there are no conditions of necessary serenity to continue this traditional event. We have reached this painful decision after carefully waiting and reading the motivations from the Tribunal on March 6, 2025, which led to the conviction of the race director and the President of Aurora Society following the incident involving young rider Michael Antonelli during the Florence-Viareggio race in 2018. This tragic event, for which we express our full solidarity with the family, we believe should open a serious reflection on race safety issues and protection of organizers at the highest levels of the Italian Cycling Federation. The technical commissions have recently been appointed, therefore all the tools are in place to proceed, extraordinarily involving everyone who wants to provide suggestions to resolve this situation, which from our perspective represents a very serious moment regarding a movement that has been neglected for too long. If we want to give a future to this sport, we cannot continue to pretend that nothing has happened. The Pistoia Tribunal has expressed itself very clearly on this matter, and even if there is an appeal with acquittal of the defendants, it does not mean that a discussion on these topics should not be opened to guarantee the people who passionately and committedly carry forward this sport without wanting to harm anyone. On behalf of the entire GS Cintolese - concludes the statement - I thank all those who have understood and shared our decision, which unfortunately has deprived the Community of an important sporting event, but which was made to give a future to cycling and our passion."