Tour de Pologne UCI World Tour and Madonna di Campiglio, a three-year partnership that combines cycling, history and territory

Cycling is a sport that traditionally combines competition and the territory. The Lang Team is proud to officially announce a new and fascinating three-year partnership between the Tour de Pologne and Madonna di Campiglio, one of the most important ski resorts in the Italian Alps.

Located between the Unesco World Heritage Brenta Dolomites and the Adamello-Presanella glaciers, Madonna di Campiglio is a place that has always had a special bond with Poland. A relationship that has been strengthened over the years, both thanks to the love Polish tourists have for the Trentino mountains and the events that have written its history. Suffice it to say that in 1984, Pope Karol Wojtyla skied at an altitude of over three thousand metres on the Adamello glacier to commemorate the fallen of the Adamello war. A special occasion, which was then repeated in 1988 with a mass on the altar built to commemorate his first visit.

The tradition of the Tour de Pologne is also intertwined with that of this place set among spectacular mountains. In 2013, the 70th edition of the race started, for the first time, outside the national borders and the first stage – 180 kilometres long – was Rovereto-Madonna di Campiglio. The stage ended with the victory of Diego Ulissi, who also took the first yellow jersey of that year.

For the Lang Team, this agreement goes beyond mere sponsorship but also concerns the emotional sphere. It was in 2014, when the Pinzolo municipality – in agreement with the Madonna di Campiglio Tourist Board and the Autonomous Province of Trento – gave Czeslaw Lang the keys to the village. “When I think of Madonna di Campiglio,” said Lang, “I always remember that stage of the 1985 Giro d’Italia, when I was a domestique for Saronni and, after falling at 80 km to go, I helped my captain to win. It was an incredible day for me and a great success for the Del Tongo team.”

“I am very attached to Italy,” Lang continued. “I have a lot of good memories in this country, I was lucky enough to call it home for a period of my life and I experienced the best moments of my sporting career here. I lived on Lake Garda for a few years, which is just over an hour from Madonna di Campiglio, and I would often leave the silver olive trees of my home to spend time in the mountains skiing soon after. It was a great source of pride to receive the keys to the town, a place I particularly love for its hospitality and the people, always smiling and willing to help you in any situation.”

A collaboration of this calibre with one’s own honorary citizen is also an important opportunity for promoting the area. Tullio Serafini, President of the Azienda per il Turismo di Madonna di Campiglio explains: “The Tour de Pologne represents an excellent platform of relations that can create interesting co-marketing actions with the other partners of the event, besides being an important occasion to organise PR events. For this 2022 in fact we aim, among the others, to organise an event of the 3Tre On Tour in Poland, to present our Alpine Ski World Cup race and the destination Madonna di Campiglio as a whole to a profiled target. Our mountains are a beloved destination for Polish tourists,” he continued, “and our area intends to expand this market, targeting medium-high customers.”

Madonna di Campiglio and the Tour de Pologne are therefore confirmed as a point of reference for establishing relations, promoting the area and preserving the historical and cultural heritage of the two countries.