Anticipation is building for the 27th edition of the Loyalty to Sport Award, scheduled for Monday at 6 PM at the Artè Theater in Capannori. The award changes venue (after 16 editions at the Hotel Country Club) but remains in the Capannori municipal area and has the Cycling Team chaired by Pierluigi Castellani as its organizing society. Its founder and longtime organizer Valter Nieri thus sees his commitments reduced, though he continues to assemble the guest list by selecting sports personalities recommended by honorary members and serves as presenter.

This year the event returns to awarding the golden sphinx coined by Lucca-based artist Giampaolo Bianchi to a sports journalist as has occasionally happened in the past, most recently in 2023 with Alberto Cerruti, who is also a guest at this edition. The Award thus returns to celebrating not only pure athletic performance but also the social, ethical, and informational value of sport itself. The eleventh and final golden sphinx goes to Pier Augusto Stagi, director of tuttoBICI since 1995, then tuttobiciweb and tuttobicitech.

Since 2023 he has also curated the Cycling Almanac and is president of the Lombard Group of Sports Journalists of the Ussi. He has written about twenty books on sport, particularly on figures from football and cycling. His writing style emphasizes the pleasure of storytelling over the frenzy of immediate news, succeeding as few do in recounting the stories and vulnerabilities alongside the dreams of athletes before their victories.

THE AWARD WINNERS

LUCA LUCARONI, multiple world champion in artistic roller skating

MATTEO TAGLIARIOL, Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 in individual épée fencing

VALENTINA RODINI, Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020 paired with Federica Cesarini in lightweight double sculls (Italy's only gold medal ever in women's rowing)

GIANPIERO MARINI, world champion with Italy in 1982 and Serie A champion with Inter in the 1979-80 season

CARLO MURARO, Italian champion with Inter in the 1979-80 season

WALTER NOVELLINO, Italian champion with Milan in the 1978-79 season. As a coach he won 4 Serie B championships, bringing Naples, Sampdoria, Venice, and Piacenza back to the top division.

ROLF SORENSEN, one of the greatest cyclists of the 1990s. Launched by Team Fanini, as a professional he won among others the Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1993 and the Tour of Flanders in 1997

SABRINA BERTINI, former Italian national volleyball player, won two European bronzes and six league titles, and is the current coach of Porcari Volley.

GLENN MAGNUSSON, former Swedish cyclist, excellent sprinter, boasts 3 stages at the Giro d'Italia in Fanini colors.

ARIANNA BERTOLUCCI, multi-titled rhythmic gymnastics specialist, began her coaching career just a few months ago

PIER AUGUSTO STAGI, sports journalist, director of tuttoBICI, tuttobiciweb and tuttobicitech.

The Loyalty to Sport Award thus reaches 530 award winners listed on Wikipedia from 1997 to today. Among the most important are Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Felice Gimondi, Paolo Rossi, Pietro Mennea, Alberto Juantorena, Sara Simeoni, Carmine and Giuseppe Abbagnale.

GUESTS

On Monday, representing the Municipality of Capannori will be Mayor Giordano Del Chiaro, Vice Mayor Matteo Francesconi, Sports Assessor Gaetano Ceccarelli and President of the Municipal Council Luca Menesinini. Inevitable will be the presence of Stefano Gori, multiple Italian Paralympic champion and honorary president of the organizing committee. Among the announced guests are journalist Alberto Cerruti, Inter's scout Leonardo Simoni and former cyclists Michele Bartoli and Andrea Tafi who had previously also received the golden sphinx. Together with Rolf Sorensen, the podium trio of the 1997 World Cup won by Michele Bartoli himself is completed. A trio launched in their youth by Ivano Fanini. For the occasion, Gianpiero Marini will also receive the collateral award dedicated to the unforgettable coach Gigi Simoni, now in its fourth edition.