To cycling fans, the month of May usually means the Giro d’Italia and the news of its cancellation was a tough blow, particularly for cyclists stuck indoors and waiting get back out on their home roads. The good news is that a team of journalists, writers and illustrators refused to give in to the advance of the pandemic.
Since May 9, they have been bringing fans stage-by-stage reports on the progress of the SenzaGiro (‘without Giro), or ‘the Giro that never was’. The group is making 21 entirely fictitious reports plucked from its collective imagination. This features actors and illustrations on the senzagiro.com website.
The aim of the SenzaGiro is twofold: to keep passion for the Giro alive and to raise funds for those working every day to help the most vulnerable groups in society.
Santini Cycling Wear is flanking the SenzoGiro creators and their initiative in supporting Namasté, a non-profit social cooperative. This helps thousands of vulnerable people in the Bergamo area of Italy, which has been particularly hard hit by Covid-19.
Bergamo-based cycling wear company Santinia is now hard at work making 21 exclusive one-off jerseys, one for each stage of the SenzaGiro, which will be autographed by the stage winners and then auctioned. Twenty-one posters designed by the SenzaGiro illustrators will also be available to purchase on the Santini website with all proceeds going to the Namasté cooperative.
Lastly, a cycling kit, comprising a jersey, bibshorts and cap, and a cotton t-shirt, all sporting a special SenzaGiro design, will also available from Santini’s online store.
The jersey has a tie-dye pink background with the SenzaGiro name and logo on its front and the title of a 1946 article by La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Bruno Roghi ‘La Corsa del popolo’ (The People’s Race) emblazoned on the back.
The coordinating bibshorts and cap are in the same colours as the jersey, while the cotton t-shirt is white with a lively take on the SenzaGiro name by Riccardo Guasco, one of the illustrators on the project. A portion of proceeds from sales will be donated to Namasté.
www.santinicycling.com
www.senzagiro.com
www.coopnamaste.it
