Waiting for the aspiring Italian title is a Marathon course of 70,3 km and 3393 meters in altitude.
Source: press release
As always, it will be a summer of great sport in Trentino, with cycling as the star, both on and off-road. In particular, a tricolor thread will link different areas of the Province of Trento: from Comano Terme which will host the Italian Road Championships at the end of June to Telve, in Valsugana, start and finish of Valsugana Wild Ride, which will assign the Italian Championships on Saturday 29 July 2023 MTB Marathon for the Elite and Master categories.
The organizing group of the GS Lagorai Bike, led by Enrico d'Aquilio, is therefore back to confronting an Elite tricolor event eleven years after the 2012 Tricolor Week in Valsugana, which awarded the Italian road titles in all categories. Heir to the 3T Bike, whose baton it took over in 2022, Valsugana Wild Ride thus sees itself already promoted to the decisive appointment of the 2023 season, when it will see all the best of the national long-distance movement compete against each other just a week from the World Championship in its category , scheduled in Glasgow on Sunday 6 August.
The pretenders to the tricolor jersey will have to compete with a route, that of Valsugana Wild Ride, demanding and technical, immersed in the beauty of the Lagorai group, with that wild soul that characterizes the context and the race - starting from the name. Upon indication of the Federciclismo Off-Road Commission, the Organizing Committee has made changes to the race route, which now reaches 70,3 km and 3393 meters in altitude, always with start and finish in Telve.
The presentation, shared with the Italian Road Cycling Championships in Comano Terme, was attended, among others, by the Councilor for Tourism and Sport of the Autonomous Province of Trento Roberto Failoni, the President and CEO of Trentino Marketing, respectively Gianni Battaiola and Maurizio Rossini, the President of APT Garda Dolomiti Silvio Rigatti, the President of the Italian Cycling Federation Cordiano Dagnoni, the President of CONI Trento Paola Mora, the President of FCI Trento Giovannina Collanega, the Director of APT Valsugana Stefano Ravelli, the Mayor of Municipality of Telve Matteo Degaudenz, the Mayor of the Municipality of Bleggio Superiore Flavio Riccadonna, the Director of the Terme di Comano Alessandro Bazzanella, as well as the leaders of the organizing committees, the President of the GS Lagorai Bike Enrico D'Aquilio, the President of the GS Alto Garda Giacomo Santini and the General Manager Maurizio Evangelista for the Italian Road Championships in Comano Terme.
THE RACE TRACK
The reigning Italian Champions, Fabian Rabensteiner and Claudia Peretti, will have to try to defend their titles in a truly demanding test: the Marathon course starts from Piazza Maggiore in Telve, and after a short walkway in the heart of the town you go up to the provincial road of Passo Manghen through the cobblestones of the S. Antonio climb, with peaks of 20%. From there on, continue on provincial road 31 up to Malga Pozza, where you enter the woods that divide Val Calamento with the Musiera plateau.
It is precisely in Musiera, at km 18, that the Classic (37 km and 1280 meters in altitude) and Marathon routes divide, with the latter proceeding with a single track between high-altitude woods and wooded pastures passing under the top of the Monte Ciste. After various technical passages at high altitude, the first real technical descent begins towards Ponte del Cogno between mule tracks and forest roads before an 8 km climb up to Forcella Mendana, the highest point of the route with its 2.100 m above sea level between huts and high altitude streams.
From the highest point of the route, you return to Malga Pozza with a technical descent of 9 km on a dirt road to then tackle the 7 km dive towards Telve, the very technical descent introduced for the first time in the last edition.
Here comes the fascinating novelty of the 2023 edition, with a name that says it all: Mexico Toboggan. It is an excavated gully, reminiscent of a toboggan, of about 900 meters with extreme slopes (up to 33%) and a high level of technicality, which could really become a decisive passage for those who will be fighting for the tricolor jersey.
The difficulties are not over yet: the last ascent of Monte S. Pietro, on a forest road and gradients of 13%, and the technical descent of the Auseri – Casa dell'Ammiraglio, in single track, will offer the last chances to the difference before the Telve finish line.
THE ITALIAN NATIONAL TEAM RETREATS IN VALSUGANA
Those who dream of the Tricolor won't be able to leave anything to chance: also for this reason, the athletes of the Italian Marathon team, selected by CT Mirko Celestino, will be in Valsugana from 11 to 14 July for an intense training camp right on the Valsugana Wild Ride routes .
The strongest specialists on the national scene for men and women, starting with the reigning Italian Champions Fabian Rabensteiner and Claudia Peretti, will try to focus on the crucial points to aim for the big target on July 29, but not only: the training camp it will be a fundamental moment of approach also for the World Championships in Glasgow.
The withdrawal of the Azzurri will not be the only moment of approach towards the challenge for the Italian titles: various special initiatives will come to life in the days preceding the event in the five municipalities involved in the event - Telve, Telve di Sopra, Torcegno, Carzano and Borgo Valsugana – aimed at all categories of sportsmen and bikers, from the youngest to the most experienced. Also not to be forgotten is the e-MTB cycling tour scheduled for Sunday 30 July, with the guides of the GS Lagorai Bike acting as exceptional escorts.
THE PARTNERS OF THE EVENT
The Valsugana Wild Ride project is supported by important partners, many of which are an expression of the Valsugana area. The Italian company GSG comes from the technical clothing sector, linked to the GS Lagorai Bike project for three years. Rifugio Crucolo and Melalagorai are an expression of territorial excellence, as are Acqua Levico and Sant'Orsola. The event is also supported by Internorm, MasoEnergia, Ecoopera, Zotta Forest – who also designs the technical jacket contained in the event's goody bag – and a prestigious international partner such as Loacker.
CIRCUITS AND ENROLLMENTS
This year Valsugana Wild Ride is included, as per tradition, in the Trentino MTB Circuit, but also in Rampitek and in the newborn Triveneto MTB Circuit.
Registrations for the 2023 edition of Valsugana Wild Ride are open on the Winning Time portal (www.winningtime.it).
For more information: www.valsuganawildride.it
