As we rang in 2020, we knew which areas we wanted to focus on throughout the year: competition, ultracycling and exploring our regions. We wanted to bring into beautiful harmony the many souls that characterise the world of cycling.
However, the events of 2020 changed the direction we had mapped out. The challenges we faced this year triggered new ways of behaving and gave new significance to cycling. And so, instead of celebrating the highlights of the Giro d’Italia, we were catalysed by a completely different undertaking: Francis Cade’s double Everesting on Zwift, an extraordinary feat that expresses better than anything else what a very strange year this has been.
And, who would have imagined we would coin slogans like “Cycling: The medicine of the future,” or even that we would need to invent them in response to an unprecedented situation like that created by COVID19. As we worked in view of the easing of restrictions, both the competitive and leisure cycling seasons somehow sped by. Jakob Fulsgang, Alexey Lutzenko, Miguel Angel Lopez, Alexandr Vlasov and Ion Izagirre shone in their partnership with Astana Pro Team, while Bruno Ferraro, Ole Hem and Omar Di Felice travelled extreme routes, demonstrating the great reliability of the bicycles they rode on.
2020 will be remembered for Miguel Angel Lopez’s solo arrival on Col de la Loze, for Omar Di Felice’s winter trek in Mongolia, but above all for the proof once again—this time very clearly—of the therapeutic value of cycling, clearly showing how we can live better in the times to come.
Biking has returned to its original focus, one that it has always had, but to which little attention was paid. “Cycling: The medicine of the future” is back in vogue, surprising everyone for the simplicity and absolute truth of the message it conveys. Everything we hope for 2021 is linked to this rallying cry—“Cycling: The medicine of the future”—so that we will soon be able to hop on our bicycles and peddle off into a more carefree world.
Best wishes from Wilier Triestina.
