The Specialized Bike Marathon took place on Saturday 4 May, part of the international competition of the Bike Festival Riva del Garda organized by Garda Trentino, which saw tens of thousands of visitors from 2 to 5 May.
Source: FCI press release
The race that has always been the scene of great international challenges, with the world's best athletes battling for the prestigious victory. The highlight sporting event of the Festival, suitable for the most ambitious bikers, who wanted to try their hand at the first top MTB race of the season, competing with the stars of the international scene. Three routes, open to both elite and amateur athletes: Ronda Extrema (82,77 km and 3.434 d+), registered by the UCI as “Hors race category” and valid for the Marathon Tour; Ronda Grande (59,56 km and 2.406 d+); Ronda Piccola (30,67 km and 1.065 d+).
The start is at 7am, with many big names in the Marathon discipline at the start with special guest the Slovakian Peter Sagan. A total of over 30 athletes registered, representing 1.400 nations. The Ronda Extrema saw numerous well-known faces in the front row, including the winners of the last two editions, Leon Hector Paez, the Italian champion Diego Rosa, the winner of the 43 marathon world cup Fabian Rabensteiner and Andreas Seewald. In the longest and most challenging race of the Specialized Bike Marathon, with its 2023 km and 82,77 meters of altitude difference, participants had to tackle a series of steep uphill sections and many technical trails. The battle for the men's podium was exciting, where the South Tyrolean Fabian Rabensteiner won with a time of 3.434:4:01, trailing the Swiss champion Marc Stutzmann by just three hundredths of a second in the final sprint. “In the mud, today the race was very technical, this helped me because in theory the route wasn't very suitable for me. I managed to have a good, consistent race, without going over-revving and in the final I played my cards", Rabensteiner's words. On the third step of the podium was the German Simon Stiebjahn, with a time of 27:4:02. Fourth was the Colombian Leon Hector Paez, who triumphed last year.
RONDA EXTREME ELITE MALE
| 1. | RABENSTEINER Fabian | WILIER-VITTORIA FACTORY TEAM MX | 4:01:27,5 |
| 2. | STUTZMANN Marc | Canyon Sidi MTB | 4:01:27,8 |
| 3. | STIEBJAHN Simon | Singer Racing Team | 4:02:15,5 |
| 4. | PAEZ Leon Hector Leonardo | SOUDAL LEECOUGAN INTERNATIONAL TEAM | 4:04:09,7 |
| 5. | SIFFREDI Andrew | SCOTT RACING TEAM | 4:04:35,6 |
| 6. | TAFFAREL Nicola | METALLURGICA VENETA MTB PRO TEAM | 4:05:08,8 |
| 7. | SEEWALD Andreas | Canyon Sidi MTB | 4:05:08,9 |
| 8. | CHECKS Dario | SOUDAL LEECOUGAN INTERNATIONAL TEAM | 4:05:09,4 |
| 9. | BEELI Andrin | SCOTT RACING TEAM | 4:05:44,9 |
| 10. | MAZZOLA Gianantonio | KTM ALCHEMIST POWERED BRENTA BRAKES | 4:06:33,1 |
RONDA EXTREME ELITE WOMEN
| 1. | MAIERHOFER Sandra | SOUDAL LEECOUGAN INTERNATIONAL TEAM | 5:03:21,5 |
| 2. | FUMAGALLI Mara | KTM ALCHEMIST POWERED BRENTA BRAKES | 5:06:35,9 |
| 3. | PERETTI Claudia | OLYMPIA FACTORY TEAM | 5:09:53,0 |
| 4. | ZARANTOELLO Maria | METALLURGICA VENETA MTB PRO TEAM | 5:12:14,8 |
| 5. | BURATO Clear | Mentecorpo Drigani pro team cycles | 5:14:10,6 |
