'Tour di Via Italia' returns to Windsor's Little Italy Saturday

The annual Tour di Via Italia cycling race returned to Erie Street Aug. 10, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

The annual Tour di Via Italia cycling race returned to Erie Street Saturday morning with world-class competitors riding the 1.7 km circuit for the 64th year.

Organizers say the Tour di Via Italia is the oldest, historical international street race in Ontario that first began in 1958.

"It's a legacy that we want to keep going as much as we can," said organizer Pietro DiPionio. "We're very proud to be back for this event."

DiPonio told CTV News that 188 professional and novice cyclists registered for the event with 6 races scheduled throughout the day, "We've got more racers than we did in the past few years. We had a post-COVID kind of decline like everybody else. But, seems to be back in action and we're very happy with the turnout."

Traditionally, the event has been held on the Sunday of Labour Day weekend, but DiPonio said officials changed that a couple of years ago to allow more people to take part.

"It conflicted with a lot of the racers being available. So we moved it in order to have racer ability because you can't have a bike race without the racers," he said.

Spectators are encouraged to come watch racers from across North America compete for the largest prize purse in Ontario.

DiPonio explained, "We have a very good following and crowd coming into this, especially for the [5 p.m.] race. We have a lot of people on the street, and the racers love it because there's a lot of energy in that and it's like a big pro race."

"It's just a great local race that's been around for so long," exclaimed Sean Ryan, who won the Men's Masters 50+ race, the first race of the day. "Just to take part in something that's been a part of the local cycling scene for so long and have it in our hometown, It's great."