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The scenery changes, not the result. In 2022 the Giro d’Italia handbike race had started in Bari, while twelve months later it did so almost 1,000 kilometres further north, in Merano to be precise. But the red jersey classification at the end of the first stage reaffirmed the same balances already seen in the past season, crowning once again the Active Team La Leonessa espoused by MAK WHEELS as the ‘fast team’, the team that collected the most points thanks to the results of its athletes. The result was 133 points against the 102 of Restart Sport Academy (Padua), and in some ways unexpected given that the Brescian club was at the start of the competition without a good number of athletes, some due to physical problems and others – such as the star players Mirko Testa, Omar Rizzato and Christian Giagnoni – because they had been called up for the Italian national team meeting. However, the absence of some sure protagonists was not made to be regretted by the eleven present, in particular the two-time world champion Simona Canipari, who proved to be the strongest in the WH1 category, completing the six laps of the course in 1 hour, 41 minutes and 32 seconds. For the athlete from Villanuova sul Clisi there is now the pink jersey, which last season eluded her due to absences from some stages due to commitments with the national team at European and international level.

The third jersey that ended up on the shoulders of an Active Team La Leonessa athlete is the black one that rewards the last classified of the day, won by 19-year-old Giammarco Pini (MH1). A disgrace? Far from it, because the young man from Rudiano is the latest arrival in the Active household (only last summer, thanks to the handbike donated to him by the “una pedalata per la giustizia” project promoted by Danilo Fornasieri) and had made his debut in an official handbike race just seven days before his debut at the Giro. Canipari aside, among his teammates the best was Mirko De Cortes, reigning Giro champion (in 2022 he won both the overall classification and the pink jersey among the MH5) and second in Merano, behind Fabrizio Bove. Also excellent was the fourth place in the MH1 of Giuseppe Uberti, himself a great protagonist in the competition last year, when he came within a whisker of the final success.

Also in the top-5 was Claudio Pietroboni (MH5). “To confirm the red jersey despite the absences,” commented captain Sergio Balduchelli, “is one of the results that make us most proud. We were not the favourites, yet with everyone’s commitment we managed to give ourselves another goal. We are a great team. A special applause for Giammarco Pini, who is just starting to compete and already shows great margins for improvement. He has a very interesting future ahead of him’. On 14 May, in Tirano (Sondrio), the second of eight stages of the Giro. But first, between 15 and 16 April, the athletes of Active Team La Leonessa will go in search of glory in the ninth edition of the “Due giorni del mare” in Marina di Massa, an international race that is part of the European Cup calendar.

All the results of the athletes from Active Team La Leonessa
Cat. WH1 – 1st Simona Canipari.
Cat. MH1 – 4th Giuseppe Uberti, 8th Giannino Piazza, 9th Giammarco Pini.
Cat. MH3 – 25th Fabrizio Falappi, 29th Bernardo Pasinetti.
Cat. MH4 – 10th Franco Tonoli, 11th Claudio Zana, 19th Mattia Guerini.
Cat. MH5 – 2nd Mirko De Cortes, 5th Claudio Pietroboni.