Events - published on 21 September 2023
Source: press office Prosecco Cycling
According to a survey published by the British weekly The Economist, Vancouver is one of the five most liveable cities in the world. And in 2011, the Canadian city launched an ambitious project with various environmental sustainability goals, aimed at 2020 but realised years in advance. Among the assets of the capital of British Columbia are a large network of pedestrian and bicycle paths, a public transport system that makes it possible to move comfortably throughout the city, reducing traffic and harmful emissions, and more than one hundred thousand trees planted in a decade.
It is also on the wave of this particular sensitivity towards environmental issues that the RBC GranFondo Whistler will become the third foreign cycling event to embrace the World Cycling Sustainable Event project launched in 2022 by Prosecco Cycling and which has already seen the adhesion of the TD Five Boro Bike Tour in New York and the Cape Town Cycle Tour, two of the most participated cycling events on the planet.
After New York and Cape Town, thanks to Prosecco Cycling’s initiative, the memorandum of understanding on environmental sustainability is now extended to Vancouver, involving the RBC GranFondo Whistler, an event that every year, on the second weekend of September, involves an average of five thousand cyclists, taking them to pedal along a picturesque route that combines sea (Vancouver) and sky (the mountain resort of Whistler, also the site of some of the races of the 2010 Winter Olympics).
The news of the enlargement of the World Cycling Sustainable Event project starts once again from Veneto and in particular from the Prosecco hills, an area that is increasingly oriented to become one of the world’s cycling tourism destinations and where, on the next 1 October, Prosecco Cycling – over 50 thousand participants in 19 editions – will celebrate its twentieth anniversary with an appointment that promises to be memorable.
It has always been the Region’s objective to connote respect for the environment and the rural landscape of our territory in all coordinated projects involving cycling and cycling routes in the Veneto region, – comments the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia. This is why it is a precise objective to encourage events and sporting events capable of enhancing not only the environmental aspects but also a sensitivity to the theme of sustainability. The organisation of the Prosecco Cycling has demonstrated its ability to fully grasp this philosophy, relaunching it at an international level with the World Cycling Sustainable Event project. One year after the launch, we see with satisfaction that after the first two international adhesions of New York and Cape Town, a third is now added with Vancouver. I congratulate the organisers; thanks also to this commitment, the Prosecco Hills are confirming themselves as a planetary reference point for the world of two wheels in all its forms.
The mayor of Valdobbiadene, Luciano Fregonese, after having participated last year in the trips to New York and Motala (Sweden), on the occasion of the popular Vätternrundan, says that he was able to see for himself the importance of the international operation carried out by Prosecco Cycling: If there were not these initiatives and these personalities, it would be more difficult to tell the story abroad of the Prosecco hills and our main product, – says Fregonese. This is the right way to stand out, and for the territory it becomes fundamental to seek and share a viable path towards full environmental sustainability, also in order to find, right from the start, confirmations and openings towards other markets.
The guidelines for the promotion and development of environmental sustainability, included in the memorandum of understanding, stipulate that Prosecco Cycling, TD Five Boro Bike Tour and Cape Town Cycle Tour, now with the addition of RBC GranFondo Whistler, will implement good practices regarding energy saving, office and warehouse management, transport, logistics, choice of suppliers, equipment and materials, implementation and improvement of digital functions as a concrete contribution to the reduction or elimination of printed paper.
The three events also undertake to promote, with the support of public administrations, the use of the bicycle as a sustainable means of transport and to identify instruments to promote the realisation of sports events and cycle paths oriented towards environmental protection and sustainability. In relations with partners and suppliers, they will give preference to companies that have embarked on – or are willing to embark on – a path towards full environmental sustainability. They will also seek to raise the level of responsibility and participation of cyclists registered for the event, giving them the role of ‘Ambassadors of Sustainable Mobility’, so as to obtain thousands and thousands of thematic ambassadors who contribute concretely and ‘on the ground’ to promoting awareness of the environment and sustainability.
With the adhesion of Vancouver, the memorandum of understanding on environmental sustainability goes to involve another major player in world cycling tourism, among other expressions of a strategic market for us as that of North America – says Massimo Stefani, executive manager of Prosecco Cycling – We are looking forward to hosting Neil McKinnon, founder of RBC GranFondo Whistler, who will arrive in Italy for the signing of the memorandum of understanding during the days of Prosecco Cycling and for the first time will have the pleasure of cycling among the Unesco hills.
We immediately welcomed Massimo Stefani’s proposal, – McKinnon adds. – We are happy to be part of an absolutely innovative project that must be an example for the entire world of sport. It is not at all easy to put together such important and organisationally complex events. But we understand the importance of being united towards this one great goal, which is to respect the guidelines of the memorandum of understanding on environmental sustainability.
Satisfaction was also expressed by Ken Podziba, President of Bike New York, who considers this new partnership strategic and of great importance. A thought also shared by David Bellairs, number one of the Cape Town Cycle Tour, in 2022 present in Valdobbiadene for the signing of the World Cycling Sustainable Event project.
Translated by Cecilia Flaccavento
Intern at the Chamber of Commerce of Treviso – Belluno|Dolomites
