"A successful event, that of the San Benedetto, for Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour 2023: Marche Region and the city welcomed us warmly, in a fantastic location and with a lot of heartfelt participation from all citizens" with these words the CEO of SSI Sports & Events, Riccardo Simoneschi, inaugurated the award ceremony of the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour 2023 in San Benedetto. After having already touched the cities of Genoa, La Maddalena, Naples, Vibo Valentia, Taranto and Vieste, the Sailing Tour of Italy stopped in San Benedetto for one of the final stages of the 2023 Tour which, after the Riviera delle Palme, will touch Slovenia, in Portoroz, to then head to Venice for the grand finale, scheduled for 29 and 30 July. A tour that aims to enhance the beauties of the Italian territory, more or less beaten by tourist routes: "The partnership with Difesa Servizi for the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour is part of Enit's strategy of national and international promotion of active and sustainable tourism. The Italian coasts they have an extraordinary potential for tourism development, linked to active and sporting use throughout the year. The Marche Region is an excellent example" commented Dr. Maria Elena Rossi, Marketing Director of ENIT, during the award ceremony. In San Benedetto, the activity came alive at 9.32.30 on Sunday 23 July: the first crew to cross the finish line, after having traveled over 120 miles from Vieste, was that of the Guardia di Finanza, with Paolo Cian and Fabio Montefusco. As in the previous stage, it was a challenge to the last tack with the crew of Acone Associati, resolved this time in favor of the Guardia di Finanza, with only 35 seconds of margin separating the two.
"A great emotion to be able to battle once again with the Acone Associati crew, even if this time we cannot hide our happiness for having managed to resolve the duel in our favor - commented Paolo Cian, upon arrival in San Benedetto, continuing - Almost 200 miles are still waiting for us to get to Portoroz, and then the final sprint towards Venice. We will give our best to try to gnaw at the last available points for the classification and get the Guardia di Finanza team on the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour".
While there was no shortage of emotions for the offshore fleet, which arrived "in a sprint" from Vieste to San Benedetto taking advantage of an always sustained wind, the conditions proved to be more stingy for the inshore races, which saw the athletes of the Waszp and Wing-foil remain on the ground, due to the breeze that has never been able to stay steadily above 10 knots of intensity.
At 12.00 today the penultimate fraction of the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour should have started, but the Race Committee, chaired by Valentina Bravi, deemed it appropriate to postpone the start to 10.30 tomorrow, Wednesday 26 July, waiting for the adverse weather conditions forecast for the next 24 hours in the Northern Adriatic.
Also on the occasion of the Vieste-San Benedetto stage, the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour 2023 promoted the Scopri Dove ti Porto project by ENIT, the National Tourism Company and divided into seventeen itineraries inspired by historical routes. The route of this stage, at the behest of the Organizing Committee, has in fact overlapped for some stretches with the Rotta dei Trabocchi, an itinerary to be discovered between Termoli and San Benedetto.