"Objective achieved". They smile as they did on their greatest victory days, the former professional cyclists from Varese who in Azzio, in the upper Varese area, have organized for the twenty-fifth year the Ride with the Champions, a historic non-competitive event for charitable purposes. Tupak Casnedi, Oscar Mason, Cristiano Frattini, Dario Andriotto and Stefano Zanini took to their bikes and managed to exceed 300 registrations at their event, this year's objective, and to donate 3,000 euros to the Polha association of Varese, which provides sports activities for disabled athletes. (photo Giordano Azzimonti)

Also in the saddle was professional Filippo Turconi, the cyclist from Busto Arsizio of the Bardiani CSF 7 Saber team returning from the Milan-San Remo, and the winner of the 2000 Giro d'Italia Stefano Garzelli. From a technical standpoint, the event, under the auspices of the Italian Cycling Federation, was organized by the Orinese Cycling Society with the support of Davide Passeri for the gravel route, the collaboration of Sestero, Ciclovarese and the Pro Loco of Azzio, and the patronage of Varese Doyoubike, the Municipality of Azzio, the Panathlon Club Varese and the Valli del Verbano Mountain Community. In the special ranking reserved for the largest groups, the Amici di Varese team prevailed ahead of the Gruppo Sportivo Contini of Monvalle and the Vivaci team.

Daniela Colonna Preti, president of Polha Varese, and executive Marco Re Calegari thanked and appreciated the organizers of the sporting day: "This contribution will help us start a fundraising campaign for the purchase of a minibus for our association, which has been operating in sports for the disabled since the mid-1980s. The cyclists from Varese have once again proven to be very generous on this occasion".