On July 1st, Lorenzo Bernard, Paralympic athlete and civilian victim of war, will also symbolically cross the finish line of the Tour de France. A participation that aims to relaunch, also through sport, the message of peace of the National Association of Civilian Victims of War of which the athlete is a member. On part of the route of the third stage of the Grand Départ, the longest, from Piacenza to Turin, there will also be Bernard’s tandem with his guide Davide Plebani, a couple who took home the bronze at the Paracycling World Championships in Rio de Janeiro 2024, in the individual pursuit over 4000 meters for tandem, and who is in the midst of athletic preparation for the Paralympics at the end of August in Paris.
Lorenzo Bernard, born in 1997, was born in Novalesa and in 2013, at the age of 15, he was the victim of the explosion of a bomb from the Second World War. A bomb mistaken for a cemetery light took away his sight, making him a victim. civil war. “Since that day my life has changed, also thanks to the meeting with the National Association of Civilian Victims of War, today sport is my redemption and in my pedaling there is a message of peace and a warning about the horrible consequences that the war has on the civilian population” explains Bernard.
Lorenzo, in addition to dedicating himself to sport, achieving great results – he came fifth in rowing at the Tokyo Paralympics – actively participates in the life of the association, in fact he is a councilor of the Piedmont and Aosta Valley section of the Association, whose President Nicolas Marzolino, in the same accident, lost his sight and his right hand. Bernard and Plebani, wearing a uniform provided by the Piedmont Region, are scheduled to depart from Carmagnola at 1:30 p.m., arriving in the Piedmont capital an hour later. They will be welcomed by the President of the Region Alberto Cirio and the Mayor Stefano Lorusso. The Tour caravan will arrive at the Inalpi Arena around 3:30 p.m., and the finish line will be officially crossed at 5:20 p.m.
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