Saunier Duval has participated throughout the season on a humanitarian project for reforestation in Mali, called '100 years for a million trees.' The Vuelta a España did want to pitch in and Víctor Cordero, the General Manager of the race, presented a symbolic cheque for 477,238 kilometres to the representatives of the project. In this way, the Spanish Grand Tour joined Saunier Duval's initiative by adding all the kilometres covered by this year's 145 riders who made it to Madrid. The ceremony was held at the control post in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, the starting point of the final stage, and it was attended by all the members of the yellow squad, as well as Francisco de Borbón, Duke of Seville and Honorary Consul of Mali in Spain, and Javier Santa Cruz, Marketing and Business Manager at Saunier Duval, who gave the Consul the cheque to plant almost half a million trees in the African country.
The "100 Years for a Million Trees" project commemorates the 100th anniversary of the heating solutions provider with a humanitarian initiative aimed at fighting desertification in Mali. During this campaign, each kilometre covered by the "red birds" equals one tree planted in the African country. One kilometre is worth twice as much when it's raced in a breakaway, and five times as much in stage wins. Moreover, different figures in the world of sports and culture, like Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain or Paolo Meneguzzi, are adding in their kilometres or making their own contributions to the project.
