Debra said:I notice there are Italians that post to this newsgroup and I'm hoping to get some help to sort out
the different racing organizations in Italy.
I'm not sure that I know enough to really explain my question but here goes.........
The FCI is the national governing body of cycling in Italy and they sanction races - I'm not
certain how the categories work.
Then, there are the Gran Fondo events - I'm not sure who sanctions them but I know they are a
combination race/tour. I would really like an explanation of the race portion of these and
information on the categories - are they age or ability categories or both?
There is also an organization called UDACE (I may have this quite messed up as I'm not sure what it
stands for). Where do they fall into the picture?
I would really appreciate some help and an explanation of these organizations and how they compare
with each other and even how the categories compare with USA Cycling categories. I manage the U.S.
Armed Forces Cycling Program and have to evaluate applications from athletes stationed around the
world. It's always a difficult comparison but for the applicants from Italy, it's impossible
without understanding the system.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light my way!
Debra Ponzio U.S. Armed Forces Cycling
Helping the US Army who is helping us against terrorism is always a pleasure. However the question
you ask is quite complex and difficult. First of all, in italian cycling there is no thing like
categories as you know them in the US (Cat. 1, 2, 3 etc) Basically in Italy there are: Pros - riders
who have a professional contract with a professional team and for which riding a bycicle is the
official job and are payed at least accordingly to the minimum salaries provided by category
contracts. On the base of European labour laws, there are no limits for this category. Anyone can be
hired to be a professional. Dilettanti Elite - riders over 23 years of age who are part of a team
recognized by the FCI/UCI but are not professional teams. These riders may be payed for riding, but
being a cyclist is not their official job. Riders from the Army should fall in this category.
Dilettanti Under 23 - like the category above, but the fact that they are under 23 gives them the
opportunity to partecipate in races solely reserved to them. Amatori - riders that are not registred
with the FCI but with other organizations, they are part of teams, may even be payed a lot of money,
but they can not partecipate to FCI/UCI sanctioned races. The teams of these riders may be either
affiliated with UDACE, UISP or other organizations. These kind of riders should not be entitled to
partecipate to really competitive races.
Concerning the races: FCI/UCI sanctioned races may be entered just by pros/elite/under 23 according
to the kind of race. They are competitive by any means. The course of the race is completely closed
to traffic.
The "Gran Fondo" races may be entered by anyone who have a license with any kind of organization and
who is older than 18. In theory they are not competitive and run over roads open to traffic.
However, in fact they have huge prizes in nature (goods instaed of money) and the roads are mostly -
when not completely - closed to the traffic by the organization of the race itself instead of by
public security forces. Even people without a cycling licence may enter them, but just as a tour,
they are not counted in the classment. Also people over 65 years can only ride them as a tour. I
have been racing this kind of races for a few years and as far as I remember, there no
differentiated classment except for males and females, no age groups or things like that. Mostly
they are won by former pros that want to gain some further income. There are no anti doping control
in these races and many of the riders dominating these races are completely doped up.
I hope of having given you some help. If you would like to have some further insights, please ask.
