The promise was made during the presentation of the 2nd Insubria Grand Prix, on Monday 8 February in Campione d’Italia, and the organisers of the race, which will be held on 27 February. immediately kept it. The race, which crosses the whole of the lake region, from the enclave in Switzerland, to Pieve Vergonte, will award a prize dedicated to the memory of Franco Ballerini (in the photo together with the athletics champion Andrew Howe).

However, the trophy will not be given to a runner, but to the sports director of the winner of the Insubria Grand Prix. “We thought this was the best way to remember Franco,” the president of the “Binda” Team, Renzo Oldani, explained, “because it will be one of his colleagues that we “decorate”, someone that leads his cyclist to victory from the team’s car, just as Ballerini did on many occasions with the Italian national team. For the sports directors themselves, I think it will be a great satisfaction to receive an award of this kind.” And who knows, the trophy might even end up in the hands of someone like Stefano Zanini, a long-time team-mate of Ballerini, in the Mapei Team, and today the sports director of the Footon-Servetto Team, who, like last year, will be at the start in Campione d’Italia.

Preparation for the Insubria G.P. is now in the final stages. Today, Friday 19 February, the race is being presented at the BIT Trade Fair in the Milan Exhibition Centre, on the stand of the Piedmont Region and the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, and also in Lugano, during the presentation of the “Lugano G.P.”, which will take place the following day, Sunday 28 March, organised by the local Sailing Club, which is also a partner of the Binda Team and of “Club Cheula” for the Insubria G.P. The same teams battling it out for victory in Pieve Vergonte will be on the streets of the Canton Ticino.

As mentioned on a number of occasions, there will be some top level teams, including the Italian Liquigas (Basso is now ready to return from his retreat to Mount Teide) and Lampre teams, the BMC Team, which includes the world champion, Evans, and Santambrogio, the winner of the last “Three Valleys” race, as well as the French team Ag2R and the Spanish team Caisse d’Epargne. One curious fact about the Spanish team is that the captain, Valverde, cannot race in Italy because of his involvement in “Operacion Puerto”, and the line-up for the Spanish team has not yet been made known.