The Granfondo Matildica Merida postponed to August

 "It has been just over a week since the Nove Colli announced that it would not be contested and that it would be postponed.

A little more than a week since those terrible, tragic images of devastation and, unfortunately, even death came to my eyes.

The Emilian people have always been close to the Romagna people with whom they share the love for the land and not only, the passion for good food, for cycling. Our region is one and here I write it without hyphen to define exactly its borders...EmiliaRomagna.

Cooperatori has always been a friend of Romagna and Nove Colli, where this year we would have been in a dozen to walk those roads, those territories.....We are also united by the same longevity!

Since that day, from those days, we can’t help but think about what happened, about those images, raising our eyes to the sky to call for the rain to stop, consulting the weather forecasts to see if all this could be over... and still not, even in these days there is talk of weather warning, of rain that will inflate those rivers and crush our territory, already so tried.

Since that day, since those days, I wonder, and together with me, the volunteer friends of the Organizing Committee of the “Matildica” do it if it is worth continuing, if it is worth celebrating when there is still talk of emergency and counting the dead.

And, again, if there can be the prerequisites to guarantee maximum security to the participants, to all those who have registered for a long time and who are rewarding our efforts and to whom we want to say a big THANK YOU, for the trust, attachment, esteem and affection they have for our Matildica, for our work.

These days, registrations are continuing to arrive, from all over Italy, from all over Europe, but we continue to receive requests about whether and how our Granfondo Matildica will take place next June 4.

Just these days we got together, we looked at all the possibilities, and we asked ourselves “can we guarantee 100% security for our participants?” The Reggio Emilia area’s has not suffered the same damage as the Romagna area’s, it has not suffered flooding, but it continues to be a “great observed”. In some areas, even close to the trajectories, there is talk of landslides and the danger of landslides.

Therefore, the answer was: not always “the show must go on”. We were ready to welcome you and give you a great party of sports and cycling. The stage of the UCI GRANFONDO WORLD SERIES in Reggio Emilia was ready and the organizational machine was chiseling the last details.

But we felt collegially that it was appropriate to postpone the show and party to NEXT 27 AUGUST for the GRANFONDO MATILDICA MERIDA and to 25 AUGUST for the CRONOSCALATA DI DANTE

A thank you to the Institutions, Sponsors, Suppliers who understood and shared the particular moment and the resulting decision.

To all of you, subscribers, who have rewarded us and who continue to reward us, in spite of the difficult moment, go our thoughts, thanks and the invitation to be present on the weekend of 25th – 27th AUGUST to celebrate together this great festival of Sport.

The last thanks go to the volunteers, many of whom are still working in Romagna to help the victims of this tragedy.

A big hug and a big goodbye soon! COME ON MATILDICA! COME ON EMILIAROMAGNA!"