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Already gearing up for its third edition, the Gran Fondo Giro d’Italia Northern Ireland will feature an expanded Giro Expo, creating a bike trade show running in tandem with the cycling event.
Registration for the closed-road competitive sportive has already opened, with what has now become a mini cycling festival set for the weekend of June 3rd and 4th based in Belfast.
The Gran Fondo is a legacy event of the Giro d’Italia’s trip to Ireland three years ago.
And though it has been highly successful to date, the organisers are planning an expanded programme of events early next summer.
Part of that plan includes creating an expo event with international exhibitors set to participate.
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That should prove a welcome development considering the Irish Cycle Show in Dublin is no more and there is now a lack of an Irish bike industry expo anywhere on the island.
Organisers are extending the expo to include more bike trade exhibitors.
The main attraction remains the Gran Fondo cycling event with the Mourne Route set to be run over the 175km course and the shorter Strangford Route at 58km.
Once again both will be on closed roads making the Gran Fondo one of only a handful of events in Britain or Ireland where the riders do not have to worry about sharing with traffic on the open road.
Event director Darach McQuaid said he was delighted the registration was now opening.
He added large numbers of riders came from all across Ireland and planned their weekend well in advance, with foreign visitors also planning their trips to the North especially for the event.
“We’ve quickly gained a reputation as a world class Gran Fondo and this is reflected in the number of participants from abroad we saw in 2016; from as far away as New Zealand and North America,” he said.
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“With the Giro d’Italia celebrating its 100th edition in 2017, we are working with RCS Sport to organise some special events to honour this.”
The event has gotten bigger the last few years and hopefully 2017 will be the best yet.
McQuaid added he was once against working closely with Tourism Northern Ireland, as the event was a major tourist attraction.
And chief executive of Tourism NI, John McGrillen, said the Gran Fondo was now one of the North’s “signature mass participation events”.
“It is great to see riders travelling in from all over the world to ride on fully closed roads through our beautiful countryside, over the Mourne Mountains and along Strangford Lough,” he said.
“We at Tourism NI are very satisfied to see the event grow and, importantly, create a significant local economic impact and boost to tourism.”
Next year the “Piccolo Fondo” takes place on Saturday meaning kids can experience the magic of cycling in under the Gran Fondo finish gantry.
Giro d’Italia race director Mauro Vegni said the Gran Fondo would take on an added significance given it was the race’s 100th anniversary and that it took place the week after the Italian Grand Tour ended.
“We’re planning many special events to mark this milestone in the history of our event,” he said.
“The 2014 Big Start in Northern Ireland still resonates strongly with us and we are delighted to see the Gran Fondo Giro d’Italia NI official legacy event growing bigger and bigger every year.”
Richie Porte, Gianni Bugno and Stephen Roche have been part of the event in recent years and big name stars for 2017 will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Giro d’Italia trophy, ‘Trofeo Senza Fine’, will be on site at the Giro Expo and will be available for riders and fans to get their photo taken.
The Giro Expo will take place Saturday and Sunday June 3rd and 4th and will include cycle industry exhibitors and Food NI vendors as part of the festival weekend atmosphere.
For more details on the event and to register early so you can aim to be fit for the rides in a little over six months time, follow this link.
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