Nibali at the Hero Südtirol, the “hardest mountain bike race in the world”, and at the Marathon of the Dolomites – Corriere.it

A contagious passion that of increasingly tough races, on increasingly exhausting routes, for very strong participants. A trend that this year also sees involved
Vincent Nibali
the great road cycling champion who decided to enroll in the
Hero Sdtirol Dolomites
a mountain bike race around the Sella massif scheduled for tomorrow and which prides itself on being the toughest and most spectacular in the world.

In the Alps, and in particular in the Dolomites, the season of two-wheeled events has begun, involving thousands of enthusiasts with the closure of many roads to traffic. And more and more i bikers they choose the longest and most demanding tracks. Nibali, like most of the approximately three thousand members, will have to digest 86 kilometers and 4500 meters of total elevation gain, all at high altitude (up to almost 2300 metres), tackling the Sellaronda passes on often very difficult dirt roads: Gardena, Campolongo, Pordoi, Sella. Many fewer amateurs will try their hand at the shorter route, 60 kilometers and just 3200 m in altitude.

The same goes for the Marathon of the Dolomites, a road race again for amateurs scheduled for Sunday 2 July in which Nibali will also participate, together with other personalities from sport, finance and industry. The traditional route, that of the four passes with a difference in height of 1780 metres, is chosen by less than a fifth of the participants (eight thousand). Just to meet the ever stronger desire to emulate the cycling champions, there are two longer itineraries. Both plan to pass for the second time on Campolongo pass and then proceed towards Falzarego and Valparola (medium, 106 km and 3130 m), or continue towards Cortina (Marathon, 138 km and 4230 m) to overcome even the mythical giau at 2236 meters high.

And it’s not just athletes and former athletes who face these trials. At the Marathon there will be the former cyclists Bettini, Bugno, Pozzato and Cassani; then Mlgg, Chechi, Vitozzi, Zorzi. But also characters who do anything else in life. Luca Spada, the founder of Eolo and, in the other editions, Matteo Marzotto, Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel, Alberto Sorbini of Enervit.

The grueling races, for professionals and amateurs, flourish in the Alps and around the world, in a search for ever more extreme. On 9 July the tztaler Radmarathon will pass through South Tyrol which defines itself as the toughest cycling event in the Alps, 227 kilometers and 5500 meters in altitude.

Not to mention the multi-day demonstrations involving thousands of amateurs. THEthe Crocodile Trophy in Australia in which the participants face a thousand kilometers in the desert and 15 thousand meters in altitude. Until the Tour Dividewhich crosses the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico.

In Italy they have also thought of ordinary people, with non-competitive days that reserve the Dolomite passes for bicycles and a tour of the Sella by mountain bike with the help of the ski lifts.

Last Sunday it was the turn of the Sellaronda state roads, traveled by about thirty thousand enthusiasts in complete relaxation, even with many electric two-wheelers. The four passes will again be reserved for cyclists Saturday 16 Septemberand, while the next June 24th the roads that lead from La Villa in Badia to Corvara, to the Campolongo pass and to those of Falzarego and Valparola will be closed to traffic.

In an attempt to lighten the motor traffic around the classic four-wheel drive, this year too many ski lifts will be in operation. And with the chairlifts and gondola lifts that are part of the Dolomiti Superski in winter, it is possible to go around the Sella by mountain bike (also electric) on paths, reducing the difference in height to bridge. Clockwise, the Sellaronda Mtb tour includes only 440 meters uphill. Counterclockwise the meters to climb are 1020.