The debut of the Granfondo Gavia e Mortirolo in Ponte di Legno was a worldwide success: cyclists from all over Italy and a large number of foreigners wanted to be present at the event organized by the GS Alpi. After twenty years, the organizing committee changed the starting and finishing point of the race thanks to the splendid collaboration with the Consorzio Turistico Pontedilegno-Tonale: the union of intent with the GS Alpi has allowed the Granfondo Gavia Mortirolo to be confirmed as one of the points of reference for the Italian and foreign amateur scene. The most important contingents arrived from The Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
For the occasion, Vittorio Mevio, president of the organizing committee, assigned the first three race numbers to Michele Bertolini, director of the Pontedilegno-Tonale Tourist Consortium, to Ivan Faustinelli, mayor of Ponte di Legno, and to Matteo Aielli, contact person for two wheels of the Pontedilegno-Tonale Tourist Consortium, the true right-hand man of the organizing committee. Matteo Aielli himself officially started the event at 7:30 in the morning.
Under a typical summer sun, the participants of the Granfondo Gavia Mortirolo were able to pedal along roads completely closed to traffic for a good four hours: a truly very important organizational commitment, which allowed everyone to enjoy the beauty of the landscapes along two of the climbs where the history of the Giro d’Italia was written.
The long route, 148 km, saw the solitary victory of Paolo Castelnovo, who raised his finger to the sky to dedicate the success to his former teammate who recently passed away, Michele Negri: the MP Filtri rider won alone with a time of 4h33’10”. His teammate Stefano Bonanomi, second at 1’38”, sealed the team’s double at the Granfondo Gavia e Mortirolo. Completing the men’s overall podium was Matteo Fontana (Colli Berici-Vicenza). German triumph in the women’s ranking, with Julia Schallau who won with a time of 5h16’57”. On the overall podium were Maria Elena Palmisano (Team Garda Matergia), second, and Sonia Passuti (Team Staweld Buzzolan), third.
It was Simone Impellizzeri (Team Da-Tor/Isb) who won alone on the medium 136 km route, with a time of 4h18’51”. The winner preceded Filippo Bianchi (Team Oop1-Xanten) by 3’26”, while the podium was completed by the winner’s teammate, Riccardo Zacchi. Among the women, success went to Valentina Brivio with a time of 5h11’30”; on the podium with her were Sabrina De Marchi (Rodman Team) and Simona Etossi (Team Duebi).
Also very important was the participation in the short course, where the participants challenged each other in a time trial of the Gavia Pass: the best time was set by Alessio Bettoni (Cicli Bettoni Costa Volpino), with a time of 40’09”. In second place we find Matteo Testa (Team Morotti, time 43’41”), while third is Dario Lutricuso (Team Garda Matergia, time 47’10”). The women’s ranking saw Luisa Isonni (Boario) achieve the best time, 51’28”. Federica Spessot (Fontanari, time 55’56”) finished second, while Cinzia Araldi (Team Borghi Racing, time 1h06’21”) was third.
Also present at the final awards ceremony were Antonia Pavlak, head of hotel management for the Pontedilegno-Tonale Tourist Consortium, and Andrea Zampatti, councilor for the Municipality of Ponte di Legno.
Vittorio Mevio, president of GS Alpi, expressed great satisfaction with the success of the event: “Thanks to the collaboration with the Pontedilegno-Tonale Tourist Consortium, we were able to win a very important challenge. The organizational effort was intense, but as usual, we put the safety of all participants first. We allowed everyone to cycle on roads closed to traffic for four hours, allowing everyone to enjoy the splendid landscapes along the route”.
Matteo Aielli, for the Pontedilegno-Tonale Tourist Consortium, said: “It’s great to see that our territory has been visited by so many cyclists from abroad, as well as from most of the regions of Italy. As a Consortium, we want Ponte di Legno to become a point of reference for bicycle tourism, both on-road and off-road. We will work to improve our services and satisfy all cyclists”.
All the complete results are available at this link: https://www.endu.net/it/events/gf-internazionale-gavia-e-mortirolo/results
The complete video report will be available on Wednesday on Bike TV Italia.
The attached images are free to use, specifying the photographic credit Stefano Spalletta.
