Classica Corsica Classica Corsica Classica Corsica is an elite men's road bicycle racing event held annually on the island of Corsica, a region of France. It is run two days before the Critérium International stage race, which has been held on Corsica every year since 2010. The Classica itself is a legacy event of the 2013 Tour de France, when the race held its Grand Départ and first three stages on the island. The event is UCI 1.1 rated and is part of the UCI Europe Tour. The route varies from year to year, but in its first edition, 2015, the race
Corsica soon became part of the Kingdom of the Lombards. This made it a dependency of the March of Tuscany, which used it as an outpost against the Saracens. Pepin the Short, king of the Franks and Charlemagne's father, expelled the Lombards and nominally granted Corsica to Pope Stephen II. In the first quarter of the 11th century, Pisa and Genoa together freed the island from the threat of Arab invasion. After that, the island came under the influence of the republic of Pisa. To this period belong the many polychrome churches which adorn the island, and Corsica also experienced a