Tour de France. A day of sunshine and celebration, the celebration of cycling and life. He is seated at the table. A beautiful (well, sort of) floral tablecloth, with roses even. Drinking and eating. First course, second course. Ready, go. Just at that moment, the group arrives, a silent velocity, an epidermal earthquake, an eternal instant, but he - nothing, the table is almost at the edge of the road, it overlooks the road, but he prefers the call of his stomach to the call of his heart. And he eats. And he'll drink to it later. And the riders, goodbye.

The color photograph was taken by Etienne Garnier, published by L'Equipe and chosen as "the photo" of The Best of Cycling 2024, championship festival review contest on display - until September 14th - at Forte di Bard, in Valle d'Aosta. The event is in its eighth edition, conceived by Roberto Bettini and curated by Bettini himself with Federico Bona, with over 200 works, about sixty exhibited in the Fort's stables (from Tuesday to Friday 10-18, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10-19, entrance included in the Fort access ticket, for information info@fortedibard.it and www.fortedibard.it).

The Best of Cycling is a journey within a journey. Studied and improvised photos, photos where the bicycle is the protagonist or a supporting actor, leading lady or cameo, where the scene is invaded by geography or architecture, where attention is captured by a gesture or a grimace or focused on a muscle or a gaze. The image selected to attract and draw in is the one Joris Knapen dedicated to Mathieu Van der Poel, a lone man, the world champion jersey, number 101, the white road, the sun in his face, life ahead of him. But there is no photo without its reason, regardless of where and when, who and with whom. The beauty of cycling, even that of 2024, is its message of the road, a democratic place, open to all, therefore common and communal, a message that should push towards respect, consciousness, beauty.

The cycling photographers are an allied band in the privilege of the specialty, but also in the taste of effort, research, observation, and belonging to a nomadic lineage. A passion, but also a compassion, in the sense that photographers seem to feel, if not even suffer together with the riders. The riders know this, they recognize them and thank them. How much humanity in Elisa Longo Borghini, exhausted but grateful, on the ground, at the finish line, in front of a crowd of photographers (the work is by Remo Mosna). How much spirituality in the rainbow that sanctifies two men in a breakaway, or in pursuit, on a red road of Strade Bianche (the photo is by Stefano Spalletta). How much sky above the riders and how much landscape around the riders and perhaps how much solitude within the riders in single file (Ivan Benedetto) and also how many sand cathedrals that seem to hide and crush them or perhaps instead guide and lead them, even save them (Luca Bettini).