Paolo Bettini had been dreaming of this event since 2020, a gravel festival that would do
introduce the world to the wonder of the Strade Grigie and the geothermal territory of Tuscany.
This weekend the dream finally became reality.
In the splendid setting of Pomarance (PI), a real gravel festival has come to life
where sport and celebration merged to give everyone the almost 200 gravellers who arrived for the occasion
and the local population, something unique.
It all started on Friday afternoon with the opening of the GeoVillage set up "at Piazzone" where
they found the various sponsor stands, the stage tent, the kitchens and the entire organisation
coordinated by the guys from Velo Etruria of Pomarance.
The first to set out to discover the Gray Roads were the daredevils who faced the
Ultra route (240 km with 5000 meters of altitude difference), which started on Saturday afternoon.
Among them was also the former professional Nicholas Roche, who after a career on the road
he discovered the thrill of pedaling on gravel.
On Saturday evening the big party.
A thousand people from all over Tuscany (and beyond) attended the DJ concert
Federico Scavo, who with two hours of great music gave the right energy to face the three
the next day's routes.
In fact, Sunday morning was the highlight of the whole event: almost 200 left to admire the beauty
of the geothermal territory, some for the Short route (46 km), some for the Medium (90 km) some for the Long
(110 km).
Among them several well-known faces: Paolo Kessisoglu, Giovanni Vernia, Marco Bandiera and Luca Paolini.
Once they reached the finish line everyone found a pasta party prepared by the volunteers
Pomarance.
There, in that beautiful space close to the center, with the dust still in my legs and in my eyes
the wonder of the passages they just crossed, they toasted together with old and new friends
to this three-day celebration on the Strade Grigie, the first edition of GeoGravel Tuscany.
At the end of the event Paul Bettini he summarized his impressions thus:
"I'm very happy with how it went, I saw with my own eyes a dream come true.
I owe a big thank you to those who made it possible, to the sponsors, to the volunteers, to all the participants who
they chose to come here with us to Pomarance for this holiday weekend, because this
it had to be".
This event convinced me even more than focusing on slow cycling – which really allows
to discover all the excellences of a territory – is the winning formula.
There will certainly be room for improvement in some aspects, as in all first times, and thanks to
voices and suggestions that we have collected in recent days from the participants we will be able to
organize a second edition which I am sure will be even more beautiful.”
