Maratona dles Dolomites, the bike returns to reign on the Alpine roads

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Punctual as every first Sunday in July returns there Marathon of the Dolomites, the most classic and sought-after Granfondo that puts amateur cyclists up against the challenge of some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. They will be almost 8 thousand to challenge each other, some with friends, some with themselves, some simply to reach the finish line in a scenario that alone is worth all the effort made. Half of them will be Italian, the other half will come from 75 foreign countries37 of which from outside Europe, while the female share at the start will be 11%

The routes

To accompany the cyclists will not even be the friends-enemies of all time. Campolongo, pordoi, Saddle, Gardena, giau, Falzarego And Valwordall strictly closed to traffic as usual, they will be the steps to climb in a continuous challenge with others, but above all with oneself along the three routes: Sella Ronda , with its 55 kilometers in length and 1,780 meters in altitude; The Medium from 106 km and 3130 meters; the real one Marathon , 138 km long and with 4,230 meters to overcome. All within the unique and incomparable scenery of the Dolomites, World Heritage Site which was also covered in part in the queen stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia, the one on 26 May which ended at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

Famous faces of sport

Nourished, as usual, the patrol of characters at the start, starting with well-known faces from the world of sport. The challenge in this case is between the ex-pro Davide Cassani, Gianni Bugno, Paolo Bettini, Filippo Pozzato and, for the first time, the shark Vincent Nibalibut there will be champions on loan from other disciplines such as Federico Pellegrino, Manfred Mölgg, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Jury Chechi, Lisa Vitozzi and Cristian Zorzi.

The example of Barmasse

The mountaineer Herve Barmasse he chose to reach Alta Badia directly from his home, Valtournenche, on the saddle of his bike, covering 560 kilometers and 6584 meters in altitude in 22 hours and 35 minutes. «The journey was beautiful – said Barmasse – because it was shared with some people, who joined me: I arrived in Corvara first embraced by the mountains and then by a special friend, Michil Costawho welcomed me as if I were a champion, even if I was just a traveller”.

The challenge in high finance

And the VIPs of Italian finance will also compete on the infinite hairpin bends, this year ideally led by the CEO. Of Mediolanum Bank, Maximus Doris. Around him there will be a real competition with Rodolfo De Benedetti (Cir-Cofide) Gian Luca Sichel (Mediobanca), Federico Protto (Retelit) Matteo Arcese (Arcese Trasporti), Pierluigi Alessandri (Technogym), Luca Spada (Eolo), Nicola Lanzetta (Enel ), Emilio Mussini (Panaria Group), Angelo Gotti (Kask). For once on the pedals and away from summits and budgets.