Fabio Biasiolo wins the Italian Ultracycling Championship – 1st Past Edition of the “24-Hour Montello. Memorial "Mauro Marcato”
It is almost 9 o’clock in the morning on April 18, 2009. We glance up at Montello (Treviso), which is that red-clay colored hill over
there, a short distance from the Piave River. At Santa Maria della Vittoria, which is the highest point of the hill, the first Past Edition
of “24-Hour Montello. Memorial Mauro Marcato” is getting under way. The race, the Italian Ultracycling Championship, a trial for the
World Ultracycling Cup, as well as to qualify for RAAM (Race Across America), is run according to Ultracycling regulations. This means
that for 24 hours the participants will race along a 33.5-km course with a climb of 460 m, organizing their breaks according to their
racing strategy and the objectives that led them to take part.
In fact, professional ultra riders and triathletes are participating in this first Past Edition, but also cyclists who are facing an ultracycling race
for the first time and who may plan to complete the ten laps required to qualify for the Race Across America, the most important race in this
category. All of them, regardless of their level of experience, know that the distance travelled and the total climb will exponentially increase
with each lap: 33.5 km with 460 m of difference in the first, 67 km and 920 m in the second, 100.5 km and 1,380 m in the third, 134 km and 1,840 m
in the fourth, and so on.
The relative simplicity will soon make way for complexity and the ability of handling the changing situation will have a decisive effect
on the results of the race and on the performance of the individual athletes. 167.5 km and 2,300 m – fifth lap, 201 km and 2,760 m – sixth lap.
Only one road keeps count of the distance that each participant will cover. This road opens a passage through vegetation that has exploded with
the first heat wave, while on the surrounding mountains the sun reflects on the good deal of snow that is late in melting.
The bright greens and reds blend into the blue sky and the white of some clouds rise up from the mountains. 234.5 km and 3,220 m – seventh lap,
268 km and 3,680 m – eighth lap. A heavy rain shower along the course in the late afternoon surprises everyone and almost creates a division
between the professional ultra riders, the experts of endurance races, and those who are not. 301.5 km and 4,140 m – ninth lap, 335 km and 4,600 m –
tenth lap, 368.5 km and 5,060 m – eleventh lap.
Few continue to make it through the night: the majority
of the race course is not lit and the dark adds the silence and the cold, which seem to have descended from the snowy peaks.
The timekeepers watching over the course in three different points, noting the passage of the athletes, admire the
pace of the remaining competitors racing toward dawn and the last laps.
It is 9 o’clock in the morning on Sunday April 19, 2009. Fabio Biasiolo wins the “24-Hour Montello. Memorial Mauro Marcato”,
completing 19.75 laps, that is covering a total distance of 663 km with a total climb of 9,200 m, at an average speed of about 28 km/hr.
(Sara Taglialatela)
Photo by Gabriel Leita e Sara Taglialatela
Click here for the photo gallery of the race
