This is not just any room, but an excellent one. Cycling entered this morning through the main door, that of the Chamber of Deputies, where today the sumptuous presentation of the Regions Cup of Italy was held, the challenge that first drew breath at the end of last season. The Regina Hall is the location chosen by the President of Professional Cycling League Roberto Pella, a Forza Italia MP and vice-president of Anci (Italian Municipalities) who brought professional cycling to the center of attention and in this case also to politics and institutions, which is certainly not a bad thing, but a great opportunity.

Too bad that the President of the Italian Cycling Federation, Cordiano Dagnoni, was missing, an absence that did not go unnoticed and the hope is that Pella can find the right ways in the not too distant future to establish a constructive dialogue with Dagnoni, which is necessary for the revival of our sport. Let's not forget that it is fundamental to have a strong and proactive League, but it cannot be forgotten that the League is still a branch, an offshoot, an organism that reports to the Italian Cycling Federation.

The President of the Chamber Lorenzo Fontana. "I would also have a written speech, but the passion that binds me to cycling leads me to speak about this sport from the heart. Thank you for being here to present this beautiful competition, a sport that has always been in my heart and has given me so many emotions over the years. A sport that is passion, emotions, a paradigm of life. Seeing so many champions here, like Moser and Saronni, Bugno and Nibali, makes me happy: thank you for what you have done and continue to do for cycling".

Happy, and how could he not be, MP Roberto Pella, President of the Professional Cycling League. "Thank you all, thanks to President Fontana who wanted us here at the Chamber and to Sports Minister Andrea Abodi who is doing so much and with absolute success for the sports system, as well as Minister Eugenia Maria Roccella, Minister for Family, Natality, and Equal Opportunities. Thanks also to Vito Bardi, President of the Basilicata Region and Coordinator of the Sports Commission of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, as well as Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè. Thank you President Fontana for this gift you wanted to give to cycling, which I think deserves it. A sport that is at home and crosses houses, touching them every day and binding an entire country with passion".

"The Regions Cup of Italy is an event that exalts the link between sport and territory, enhancing the great Italian cycling tradition and promoting principles such as sustainability, safe mobility, and healthy competition. Cycling unites communities, tells local excellence, and generates growth. As the Conference of Regions, we strongly support initiatives that reinforce these values. I wish the maximum success to this edition and its protagonists," added Vito Bardi, President of the Basilicata Region and Coordinator of the Sports Commission of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces.

So, off to the presentation of the second edition of the Regions Cup of Italy, 21 stages for men and 10 for women and as many as 11 Regions involved: Abruzzo, Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Trentino Alto-Adige and Veneto. A tour of Italy spread out over time, with cycling at the center of a project aimed at promoting territories and transmitting the values of a correct lifestyle, without forgetting equal opportunities, sustainability, and safe mobility, all in the name of intergenerationality.

In this magnificent context, the draft of the trophy was also shown, designed and will be created and donated by Master Michelangelo Pistoletto, a world-renowned painter and sculptor, the leading animator of the poor art movement who created this tribute that continues in the wake of an artistic tradition that in the past has seen artists of the caliber of Mario Schifano and Mario Sironi involved in "cycling" matters.

The Regions Cup of Italy is the exciting challenge between athletes and the best Italian and international cycling teams, inserted in the prestigious ProSeries circuit and in the UCI Europe Tour calendar, and promoted and coordinated by the Professional Cycling League together with the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, which returns in 2025, after the first edition last year, with an even richer and high-profile program from March 5 to October 19.

Institutional partners of the Regions Cup of Italy are the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Tourism, the Minister for Sports and Youth, the Department for Family Policies of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Health partner, with an unconditional support, is Novo Nordisk, which for over 10 years has been promoting health and prevention through the Cities for better health project, Mobility partner is Suzuki, Jerseys partner is Castelli.

The Challenge is based on point classifications, where the points of each individual race contribute to the formation of final rankings, namely Individual, Young, Best Climber, Combativeness, Team Classification.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani explained: "I want to send you an affectionate greeting, to greet and thank you for this innovative and virtuous event, a new opportunity for our country. Cycling plays a key role in our economy. Sport is a great engine for our growth".

Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, Minister of Economy and Finance engaged at the G20 in Cape Town, made his voice heard: "I'm sorry not to be with you, but I thank you for this very welcome invitation. Talking about cycling is one of the things I love most to do, because it is one of my great passions. Practicing a discipline is not only beautiful but useful for health. Doing sports is an added value, sports teach you how to lose and be patient, two virtues that our children often ignore. For us, removing the training wheels and riding a bicycle was an entry into adult society, a symbol of freedom. The bicycle has been a great protagonist in the history of sport. My champion was Felice Gimondi, my 'little stage' was dedicated to him".

Andrea Abodi, Minister for Sports and Youth: "If we are here, it is because this sport has a recognized and rooted history, and thanks go to those who have nurtured this sport over the years. Thanks to the League that wanted us all together. Cycling is a carrier of interdisciplinarity and despite always being an individual sport, it has shown that it knows how to play as a team. What we expect is not only the enhancement of Italian talent but also a cultural change: cycling is good for you. We still have to work a lot on infrastructure, cycling tracks and velodromes. Safety issue: still too many deaths, too much pain, too many unresolved issues. We seek and must pursue safety models. Tourist promotion is not only during races but is the result of work 365 days a year: let's try to work on training facilities, national and international. Equal opportunities: not only prize money equalization but equality of condition, making normal what is still asymmetrical".

The Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè, after listing a series of cycling tourism numbers recorded last year, emphasized that "we are showcasing ourselves for the growth of our tourism and we are positioning ourselves ahead of France and Germany. I really like this event and thank those who thought of it because it will take place not in canonical holiday periods, but in periods that are notoriously not holiday periods, so it helps with off-season tourism. Cycling and tourism must go together, for the enhancement and exaltation of cycling tourism".

The Minister of Family Roccella concluded: "A hundred years ago, a woman participated in the Giro d'Italia, her name was Alfonsina Strada and she did it with the men. It was a challenge at the limit, extremely difficult, which she did not manage to complete. Equal opportunities start with recognizing a difference that should not become a disadvantage. When President Roberto Pella came to ask me for our contribution to the development of the Regions Tour project for women, I was happy. It is a first step, but a very important one".