MORE than 4,000 cyclists took part in the Giro d’Italia Gran Fondo race yesterday in Belfast, Co Down and the Mournes.
The event is a legacy of the Giro d’Italia tour, part of which was staged in the north in 2014.
Former Tour de France and Giro winner Stephen Roche and current Miss Northern Ireland Emma Carswell were among those taking part.
The race began at Titanic Belfast at 7am and split into two routes – a longer route to the Mournes and Rostrevor and a shorter one to Strangford Lough and back. Police had warned motorists in advance to expect some disruption because of road closures to facilitate the event.
One cyclist who took part, Belfast man Paul Hodkinson, said the prospect of being on a bike on car-free roads was a big attraction.
“It was cool to be out on the roads with no cars on them, because I’m used to cycling on very busy commuter roads,” he said.
“I’d never cycled around the water’s edge at Strangford before and it was lovely. And the people of Comber deserve a mention for coming out in force and cheering us on as we cycled up the steep hill coming out of the town.
“It was a bit of a party and it was great to have that encouragement and we had farmers out clapping us on too. There were international groups taking part in the race; they had clearly come over just for the Gran Fondo, so it’s good for tourism.”
The Gran Fondo weekend also incorporated the NI Bike Festival and a `Piccolo Fondo’ event for families and children. The Giro d’Italia trophy, Trofeo Senza Fine, was also on display at the Titanic Exhibition Centre.
Stephen Roche and another previous Giro winner, Gianni Bugno, were at the Cathedral Quarter restaurant Coppi (named in honour of Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi) on Friday for an “All Things Italian” evening, at which auctions and raffles were held in support of Co-operation Ireland, the Gran Fondo’s charity partner.
