After years of hearing how good this ride is, I finally got the chance to cycle the Maratona dles Dolomiti in Corvara, Italy. It’s a climbers’ gran fondo, with 7 big climbs and 4000+ meters of elevation for the 138 long route. I opted for the 106km medio route – with 6 climbs and 3000+ m of elevation, and recorded my day from start to finish. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to ride, this video will give you an idea.
Click Play to watch my video record of the day, including my PEZ Instagram Live posts from throughout the ride.
Technically, it’s a gran fondo, but everyone at the pre-ride press conference called it a “race”. This made sense because we are after all, in Italy, where the gran fondo was born, and up until a few years ago they were truly “raced” by a hardcore peloton of riders ranging from wannabe’s to ex-pros, and oh yeah – there was plenty of “kitting up” going on (… savvy?).
And while you gotta show up with some serious training miles already in your legs – today the vibe has chilled out and with 8,000 riders selected from some 24,000 who apply for an entry spot, this is one of the most popular rides anywhere.
But with over 4000 meters of climbing over 138km for the long route, this one is not for the softies. Riders here are serious because you need a lot of miles in the legs to get through. People come from all over the world to do it, and it is one helluva day – the start gun fires at 6:30am sharp, and it’s broadcast live on the Italian RAI tv channel. The roads are fully closed until 4:00ish, and with all that climbing comes some amazing descending. Man that is fun!
My ride for the event was this beautiful Dogma, equipped with Princeton Wheelworks carbon disc wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 – a very nice ride, courtesy of the folks at Pinarello.
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https://cyclinghero.cc/event/maratona-dles-dolomites-enel-2026
The post PEZ Rides the Maratona dles Dolomiti appeared first on PezCycling News.
