Friday 16 and Saturday 17 June at Roosevelt Park departure/arrival of cyclists and recreational-sports party open to all.
A bicycle touring route for two-wheel enthusiasts, on mountain bikes or gravel bikes, to have fun in freedom without a competitive spirit. But also a recreational-sports festival open to all, which will have as its ‘base camp’ of departure and arrival the Roosevelt Park in Castelfiorentino. This is the calling card of the 24h Quadrifoglio, divided into four different routes (or ‘petals’) scheduled for Friday 16 and Saturday 17 June in Castelfirentino (FI).
Promoted by the ASD Comunità Castellana per il Ciclismo Popolare- Simoncini Telai in collaboration with Bike Life di Russo Simone and the amateur group MontaEScendInBike “La Rotonda” with the patronage of the Municipality of Castelfiorentino, the initiative is reproposed with the same winning format that decreed the success of the first edition (2022), presenting itself as an event halfway between a party and a ‘bike experience’, together with the other participants, coming from all over Italy (again this year, about half of the registered participants come from other regions, outside Tuscany)
The route – suitable for mountain bikes or ‘gravel’ bikes – will wind its way along four different itineraries (the ‘petals’, which form the ‘Quadrifoglio’) and cyclists will have twenty-four hours at their disposal, to be used in complete autonomy, with the maximum freedom to complete even one of them. The names of the four routes are indicative of the characteristics of the route or the landscape context. Thus to the north we will have the ‘Polveroso’, as it consists essentially of ‘white roads’, to the east the ‘Castelloso’, which will take participants to admire some of the area’s ‘pearls’ such as the Castello di Oliveto or the Villa di Cabbiavoli, to the west the ‘Francigeno’, which will coincide with a stretch of the ancient Via Francigena and where you will be able to arrive as far as the splendid Villa di Meleto (site of the first agricultural school in Italy), and finally to the south the ‘Di Vino’, where you will be able to admire breathtaking views, characterised by the presence of the Valdelsa wineries. The length of each route, which will be traced with GPS, varies from a minimum of 35 to a maximum of 50 kilometres, for a total of 170 km (the complete four-leaf clover)
The 24HQuadrifoglio presents itself as an event for cycling enthusiasts, but not only. For two days, from 7 p.m. on Friday to midnight on Saturday, Roosevelt Park will be set up as a real sports ‘Village’, which cyclists will be able to use as a refreshment point (‘food and drink’ area), an overnight accommodation area (in sleeping bags, tents or a gym) and finally as an event space, open to everyone.
At 7.00 p.m. on Friday, the “Village” will be open (non-stop hours) with the “Food & Drink” area, and at 9.00 p.m. there will be the official start of the cyclists along the various routes, while the Village will remain open at night to offer its services to all. Inside the village there will also be musical entertainment and there will be an exhibition area, set up by the sponsors (almost all from Castelfiorentino), most of which are operators in the sector, who will give demonstrations for promotional purposes. The final party is scheduled for Saturday evening, with prize-giving ceremonies, especially for those who will have managed to complete the entire Quadrifoglio, and a raffle with prizes provided by the Castelfiorentino traders.
“The 24-hour Quadrifoglio,” observes the mayor, Alessio Falorni, “is a unique cycle-tourist route that we, together with many mountain bike and gravel enthusiasts from our territory, inaugurated last year, meeting with great success in terms of participation. Once again this year, dozens of cycle tourists from all over Italy will have the opportunity, thanks to this event, to appreciate the beauty of our hills, admire the landscape and the Villas and Castles of absolute historical and artistic value. In short, a nice calling card for tourism in Valdelsa as well’.
