The Colnago Cycling Festival is born, a great project connecting sport and lakeside   Desenzano del Garda, Brescia, Italy. On the strength of its 2013 success, the Granfondo Colnago Desenzano del Garda will be on May 4, in full springtime. New and more challenging itineraries. On May 2 the White Night festival, on May 3 the “Lake Garda Circuit” randonnée and Baby Bike. The “Garda Legend” and “Family Bike” are confirmed on Sunday.

November 22, 2013, Desenzano del Garda, Italy – The the curtain is up on the first edition  of the Colnago Cycling Festival in Desenzano del Garda, Brescia, Northern Italy, with a program full of events and promising intense emotions.

The festival’s pièce de résistance will be the second edition of the Granfondo Colnago Desenzano del Garda. After the 2013 success, with about 2500 enthusiasts giving life to the race, the organizer confirmed the new date will be in mid springtime, on Sunday May 4, leaving a wider choice of possible itineraries.

The new springtime setting, with a milder weather and fitter riders, will open up possibilities for longer routes. And confirmation came about the number of courses, which remains three: the longer course, with 144 kilometres and nearly 2200 m altitude gain, the medium course, with 110 kilometres exceeding 1000 m altitude gain, and the shorter course with 62 kilometres and about 550 m altitude gain.

But the Granfondo Colnago Desenzano del Garda will not be the only outstanding event of the Colnago Cycling Festival: the small lakeside town of Desenzano will be thrilled to host a 3-day festival devoted to tourism development in the area. The whole festival will be a superb venue for reinforcing the bond between cycling, or more generally the world of biking, and the lakeside area. The municipalities and authorities of the area too were active in making the festival possible, and particularly the Desenzano del Garda administration and the Consorzio Lago di Garda .

The opening will be on Friday, May 2 with the opening of the expo area and, from dusk, the White Night festival in Desenzano del Garda. Saturday, May 3, 9 to 9.30 am will be the starting time of the “Lake Garda Circuit” randonnée with its two courses: 100 and 200 kilometres, a trial included in both the Italian randonnuer championship and the world ACP calendar. The afternoon will be dedicated to younger bikers with the Baby Bike. The big party, from 7 pm, will stage dance shows, dancing, sport and fitness. On Sunday, May 4 the highlights will be the Granfondo Colnago Desenzano del Garda, with its three courses, the “Garda Legend”, a race for vintage bikes built before1987, and the Family Bike, a food-and-wine discovery ride for families.

The Colnago Cycling Festival is strictly connected to the brand founded by cavaliere Ernesto Colnago. The project includes a number of initiatives promoting a veritable “culture of biking”: bike hotels, bike paths, the creation of permanent cycling trails and accommodation facilities for bike tourists.

Registration to the Granfondo Colnago is already open for a 30 € fee until December 31, following this link http://www.mysdam.it/home.do?request_locale=en (http://www.mysdam.net/store/data-entry_27687.do;jsessionid=4EB186348C780355D734510E055F9F00?request_locale=en) or following instructions in the Registration page on the Granfondo Colnago website (http://www.colnagocyclingfestival.com/en/join-granfondo.html).

From January 1 2014 until April 6, the registration fee will be  35 €, and from April 7 to 30 it will be 40 €.

For all information about the Colnago Cycling Festival, please visit http://www.colnagocyclingfestival.com/en/