One year after the announcement of the renewal of the partnership between the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Mapei Group, Mapei welcomes the return of the UCI Road World Championships to Italian soil.
Main Partner of the UCI Road World Championships since 2008, the Mapei Group last year extended its support of the UCI’s leading annual event for a further three years thanks to a renewal of its long-standing agreement with the UCI.
As a result of the cancellation of the 2020 UCI Road World Championships in Aigle-Martigny – due to government restrictions in place in Switzerland to tackle the current coronavirus pandemic - and the consequent awarding of the event to Imola, Emilia-Romagna, (Italy), the 2020 UCI Road World Championships will take place in a region where Mapei’s business and sporting history are deeply anchored.
Mapei has a distribution centre in Sassuolo, a town which is also located in Emilia-Romagna and is known worldwide for its ceramic tiles. Other subsidiaries of the Mapei Group - Adesital, Cercol, Mosaico + and Fili & Forme – also have their headquarters in the region.
In addition, Mapei is the owner of the football club U.S. Sassuolo Calcio, which plays in national Serie A in the cutting-edge Mapei Stadium, a facility renovated with solutions developed by Mapei for sports infrastructures. As recently as last year, the company opened the Mapei Football Center: this training centre, which houses the new headquarters of Sassuolo Calcio, is one of the most modern sports centres in Europe, comprising six pitches, dressing rooms, gyms, swimming pools, and buildings that host the first team, the youth teams and the club offices. Mapei Football Center is also a meeting point for fans thanks to the club’s multiple initiatives and integration projects.
“Mapei is very happy that this year’s UCI Road World Championships will be held in Italy, a country that has an important cycling tradition, shared also by Mapei,” declared Marco and Veronica Squinzi, who head the Group. “Mapei’s participation as Principal Partner of the event confirms the strong bond with this sport which it has always supported and with which it shares the same values. These values are an intrinsic part of the Group’s DNA and of our family. We hope this event will help provide a new starting point for Italy and for sport in these difficult times.”
Since the announcement of the new venue for the 2020 UCI Road World Championships, the UCI, the event’s Organising Committee and Mapei have been collaborating on a number of activation projects that will help strengthen Mapei’s ties with the region and benefit this major international event. The President of the UCI David Lappartient declared: “These UCI World Championships represent a rebirth for Italy, a great cycling country that was hard hit by the Covid-19 at the beginning of the health crisis. After the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour which restarted in Siena at the beginning of August, the UCI Worlds in Imola – Emilia Romagna confirm the return of our sport at the highest level – respecting the safety of riders and participants – much to the delight of its fans. This edition of our UCI World Championships is particularly significant given that it takes place in the territory of our historical partner Mapei, Principal Partner of the event since 2008, which has a strong presence in the region. One year after the renewal of our partnership, the UCI-Mapei association will be in its element in Imola.”
About the UCIFounded in 1900 in Paris (France), the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the worldwide governing body for cycling. It develops and oversees cycling in all its forms, for all people: as a competitive sport, a healthy recreational activity, a means of transport, and also just for fun. The UCI manages and promotes the eight cycling disciplines: road, track, mountain bike, BMX Racing, BMX Freestyle, cyclo-cross, trials and indoor cycling. Five of these are featured on the Olympic Games programme (road, track, mountain bike, BMX Supercross and BMX Freestyle Park), two in the Paralympic Games (road and track) and four in the Youth Olympic Games (road, mountain bike, BMX Supercross and BMX Freestyle Park). For more information: www.uci.org.
About MapeiFounded in Milan in 1937, Mapei is today a global leader in the production of adhesives and chemical products for building. The Group now encompasses 90 subsidiaries in 57 countries and 83 production sites in 36 countries across five continents. Following three main guidelines, Research & Development, Internationalisation and Specialization, to which it is added Sustainability, Mapei has reached 2.8 billion euros consolidated turnover in 2019. In the world of sport, Mapei has been chosen by the largest organisational bodies such as the IOC, FIFA, and the UCI. For more information: http://www.mapei.com/.