After 320 km and almost 12 thousand meters of altitude difference, in a week in which the heat was the great protagonist, Appenninica MTB Stage Race 2025 has crowned its masters: Diego Arias and Lola Bakker. If the Colombian of Metallurgica Veneta Pro Team was in the lead from start to finish, the Dutchman had to come back from the American Syd Schulz after a collapse in the second fraction.
Source: press release
The final Maglia Blu Barbieri PNK was therefore worn by Diego Arias, with his second success at the Appenninica MTB Stage Race after the one in 2022. The Colombian found himself in the path of a combative Vincenzo Saitta, who gave him a hard time all week, supported by his teammate Emanuele Spica. The Rolling Bike Team duo animated the race from the first fraction, fighting with Martino Tronconi's Metallurgica Veneta Pro Team.
Emanuele Spica won the final act, the fifth stage with start and finish in Castelnovo ne' Monti (58 km and 1600 meters of altitude difference) on Friday 27 June. The Sicilian started with only 2” of delay on the third overall Andrea Candeago and managed to take the position on the podium thanks to today's success, arrived in 2:30:18.
The first part of the stage was animated by the attack first by Oscar Pujol and then by Peter Menghetti. The latter, representing the Bad Team, was alone in front for almost 1 hour and 40 minutes, before taking the wrong route and being caught by a quartet composed of Diego Arias, Andrea Candeago, Vincenzo Saitta and Emanuele Spica.
At that point the Rolling Bike Team duo forced the pace on the climb towards Pietra di Bismantova, managing to break Candeago's resistance for third place in the general classification. Peter Menghetti remained with them, while on the final descent Spica gained a few meters to go and take the victory of the day.
Menghetti then won the sprint for second place over Vincenzo Saitta, both 42” behind Spica. Behind them came Diego Arias and Andrea Candeago with a 2’27” delay.
“I wanted to finish third overall, so on the last climb Vincenzo and I made the winning push – explains Emanuele Spica -. I'm happy for the stage win, it was a beautiful week where as a team we got some great satisfaction. It's a demanding but very beautiful stage race. It deserves the reputation it has earned over the years.”
Diego Arias instead secured the final Blu Barbieri PNK jersey, after five stages completed in 15:32:25. Second place went to Vincenzo Saitta with a gap of 7'34”, while his teammate Emanuele Spica climbed to the lowest step of the podium at 21'36”. Andrea Candeago (+24'00”) and Massimo Rosa (+45'20”) completed a top-5 that has never been so Italian as this year.
“Today I tried to help Andrea Candeago defend his third position, unfortunately we didn't succeed – Diego Arias' final comment -. It was a splendid week with excellent organization, as I remembered it in 2022. I'm happy to have found the pedal stroke of the best days and to have achieved this success. I hope to be able to return next year to defend the title, perhaps challenging Hans Becking again”.
FULL SHOTS IN OTHER CATEGORIES
It is a perfect streak in the other categories of Appenninica MTB Stage Race. Among the Masters the overall winner is Oscar Pujol: the Spaniard won all the stages, beating the competition of the outgoing winner Juul Van Loon by more than half an hour, while Rob Van der Werf took third place overall.
Similar script for Mirko Pirazzoli in the Grand Master category. For him the final advantage over the Swiss Stefan Buri was over 40 minutes. Third place in the general for the British Paul Wellicome.
In the Great Grand Master category, success for the Austrian Axel Strauss, a true dominator. Second place in the general for Piotr Sozanski, while third place went to Lawrence Westney.
