Beyond the legendary Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, there are many countries in the world that boast to be the ‘spiritual’ home of cycling.

However, for Maltese riders, nothing can really claim the spiritual tag like tomorrow’s traditional 14-kilometre-long journey from Rabat to Żabbar, held as part of the celebrations of the feast of Our Lady of Graces.

Like all religious icons, there’s a ‘legend’ behind the tal-Grazzja. Back in medieval days, when the nights were dark and the roads fraught with danger, Count Ghisallo was travelling by the hamlet of Magréglio in what is now northern Italy when he was attacked by a gang of highway bandits.

Spotting an image of the Virgin Mary in a roadside shrine, he managed to flee from his attackers and take refuge there, where he prayed to Our Lady for protection.

Motorbikes and bicycles riding together.

Miraculously, the count was saved from the robbers and he lived to tell the tale, which he did with such vigour and frequency that Our Lady of Graces became the patroness of road travellers.

The pilgrimage has been held since 1951

Then, in 1949, a local priest persuaded Pope Pius XII to nominate Our Lady also as the patroness of cyclists.

In his address to the participants in the Giro d’Italia in 2000, St John Paul II extended a particular greeting to the cyclists in remembrance of the 50th anniversary of the proclamation, by his predecessor Pius XII, of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Ghisallo as the principal patron saint of cyclists.

In 1951, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Malta, Michael Gonzi, crowned the miraculous image of Our Lady of Graces and local feast organisers started holding the motorbike and bicycle pilgrimage, which turned into a national event.

Thousands of cyclists and bikers are tomorrow expected to ride for about three long hours behind a truck carrying a picture of Our Lady of Graces.

The pilgrimage has been held since 1951, with most of the riders participating year after year out of devotion. The riders start from two different localities: cyclists leave Rabat at 9.30am and motorbike riders depart from Mosta about 15 minutes later.

They are expected to reach the Żabbar Sanctuary at about 12.30pm to be blessed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna following pontifical Mass at 11.30am.

Motorcycles leaving Saqqajja in the first pilgrimage in 1951.

Cycling back in time

Carmen Linwood, who used to live past il-Misraħ, in Żabbar, emigrated to Canada in April 1982. When she lived in Malta, she never missed the pilgrimage.

“The pellegrinaġġ tar-roti gives me goosebumps and it was something I never missed even though, not being a good cyclist, I never participated in it,” she said.

She and her husband have been to Malta several times but not in September, for the Żabbar feast.

“Oh it was a memorable time,” she recalled.

Linwood loved the Saturday mornings when there was strong competition between the village’s two band clubs, locally known as the Blues and the Greens, who played along the streets of Żabbar to the cheers of the crowds.

“I can still remember our beautiful church with luxurious red damask draping the walls inside and loads of flower arrangements in front of Our Lady.

“I miss the culture and the Maltese folklore. We don’t find it here.”