If you can catch your breath, the Maratona in Italy’s Dolomites is the world’s most beautiful bike race, says Martin Love
Photograph: Freddy PlaninschekPhotograph: Freddy Planinschek
Mountains and bicycles aren’t natural bedfellows. Defying the thigh-burning power of gravity tends to spoil what could be a blissful union. But the annual Maratona manages to celebrate the jaw-dropping beauty of this brutal landscape by sending 8,000 Lycra-clad riders up and down seven of its most famous peaks. And, despite the fact that almost every single one of us will spend the day cursing the absurdity of cycling uphill, none of us would have it any other way.
Mercifully, the event takes place on roads that are completely closed to traffic, so there is no danger from motorists trying to overtake you on narrow bends or even angrily shouting at you to “Stay in single file!”. For one day each year, these mountains are a cyclist’s paradise and we stream out across the full width of the tarmac in an endless colourful ribbon of carbon bikes and neon jerseys, all of us relishing our unchallenged occupancy of the high-altitude switchback roads.
The action gets under way at 6.30am at the bottom of a tree-lined valley outside the town of La Valle. Despite the severity of the challenge that lies ahead, there’s almost a carnival atmosphere among the peloton, with hot-air balloons, low-flying helicopters, a brass band oompah-ing away and the race director, Michil Costa, sitting at the starting gate in traditional lederhosen on a penny-farthing.
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