Sportful Dolomiti Gran Fondo
By Fran Whyte
We won a VIP weekend for two, including accommodation and entries to the Sportful Dolomiti Gran Fondo on June 26th, through a competition run by the UK distributors of Sportful clothing.
The Sportful Dolomiti Race (SDR) is a gran fondo run in the Dolomites. It began life as the Gran Fondo Campagnolo, back in 1995, but has been sponsored by Sportful for many years now, since the event goes past the front door of their head office in Fonzaso.
There were two options for riding: the Gran Fondo, at 200km with 5,000m of climbing, or the Medio Fondo, at 125km with 2,000m of climbing. We decided to go for the Medio, which was a distance that we could attempt at race pace, rather than pushing ourselves to ride the long one, which it would have been an achievement just to finish.
On the Friday night, we were welcomed to an incredible buffet at Villa Guarnieri, a country house in the hills on the outskirts of the town, described to us as the most beautiful house in Feltre.
On Saturday morning, we joined the SDR social ride from the MVC store near Feltre, alongside a host of the who’s who from the cycling world, with the event organiser escorting us on his scooter. We were treated to a feed stop of Prosecco and cherries at the top of Croce d’Aune, next to the monument dedicated to Tullio Campagnolo, where I chatted to Castelli Brand Manager Steve Smith.
Legend has it that this pass is where Campagnolo invented the quick release skewer, after being forced to remove, and then reinstall, his wheel to change gears in the freezing cold and thinking, “There has to be a better way of doing this.”
We returned to the store for a light lunch, coffee and an exchange of stories about the people we’d met, then headed over to the event village to sign on, collect our stunning Sportful Dolomiti Race Jerseys, get temporary race tattoos from Vittoria and check out the Lamborghini police car.
On Saturday night we enjoyed outstanding pizza and tiramisu at Le Case Rosse. We were lucky enough to sit right next to Paolo Bettini (a two-time World Champion and Olympic Gold medalist, to name just a few of his achievements). I had to work hard to understand his excitable stories of Paris Roubaix and other Classics, relying on my woeful Duolingo Italian.
Sunday morning came around quickly, and after the usual pre-race struggle to eat breakfast, we headed down to line up for the 6.30am start. The organisation of the event was phenomenal, with clear signposting and an easy-to-access start pen being the first two joys. You don’t need to teach Italians how to run a cycling event!
The atmosphere was electric, with anticipation having been building on social media for weeks. As part of the VIP treatment, we were given entry to one of the first race pens, reserved for the local clubs, so no pressure there!
The field of competitors was predominantly Italian (athough there were several nationalities represented), with the Italians tending to compete in club or team kit. We raced in our event Sportful Bomber Jerseys, which were ideal for this ride, due to their light weight and race fit.
The race was set in motion dead on 7.00am, to the tune of church bell tolls and the howling of a wolf (the mascot of the race – I’m not convinced it was a real one). We started with a neutral rollout, to let everyone safely negotiate the centre of this historic town, where there was plenty of local support.
The route was wonderful, with vistas across the Southern Dolomites, gradual Alpine climbs and fast, swoopy descents beside rivers and along balcony roads. The race is run on closed roads, with ‘neutral service’ mechanical support bikes and cars ever present.
We were impressed by the three well-stocked feed stations, with Segafredo espresso shots on offer and a DJ to entertain us at the second one at the top of Passo Cereda (1,361m). The organisers really know how to create an amazing atmosphere. I would have happily laid in the grass and listened to the DJ all day long in the sunshine.
I knew the Croce d’Aune was the last climb of the day (1,015m), however I naively thought we were climbing it from the same side as we had on Saturday. I was mistaken and I’m glad I didn’t know of the pain to come!
Eight kilometres, with an average gradient of 8% but kickers of 16%. The sun was beating down and all I kept thinking was, “I am not heat-acclimatised, but once at the top it’s the downhill run into town.” At this point I heard lots of car horns, motorbikes and shouting. The leader of the full Gran Fondo came flying past me, as if I were standing still, accompanied by a camera moto (the event is live streamed and employs a commentary team, which includes staff from Eurosport Italy).
On the fast run into town I really pushed on, knowing I was close to a sub six-hour time, and in the last 10km I absolutely buried myself, gradually catching many small groups that were riding more steadily. I hammered it into town, knowing I was nearly home, but had not accounted for the uphill, cobbled finish.
When I saw a sign announcing 300m to go, I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but a combination of the Italian compere, the DJ and seeing my partner Dave in the stands propelled me the last few metres to the finish line. Having collected my cool finishing medal, it was time to find some shade, cool down, soak up the atmosphere and cheer on the rest of the finishers.
Thank you Sportful, it was a fantastic weekend away, and we’d recommend continental European events to other riders, even if you don’t win a free entry. The level of organisation and support is beyond anything you will see in the UK – even RideLondon and the Tour of Cambridge don’t have camera motos and neutral service!
