Who will win the Italian Marathon Championship? Very difficult question! The organizers of the 2024 Italian Marathon Championship asked Massimo De Bertolis, marathon world champion in 2004 and one of the FCI managers of the off-road sector.
In the 2023 edition of the Trinacria Race, De Bertolis had tested the race route with the task of suggesting possible changes in view of the June 2 edition, valid as a national championship.
Massimo returned to Sicily at the beginning of April and had the opportunity to get an even clearer idea. “You will need to be at the top, the selection will take place immediately… the two thousand one hundred meters of altitude difference at the 31st kilometer leave no doubt about the difficulty of the race… it will be very hard and suitable for climbers… on the Monte Kalfa GPM, however, you will need at least a 3 minute advantage to be sure (barring unforeseen circumstances) of victory… under a minute’s lead the race would remain wide open.
After the Monte Kalfa GPM this year there will be a new climb and this could make the difference in the case of a small group… The final time will be between twenty and thirty minutes more than the last edition”
Ok, but some names? “The current Italian champion Diego Rosa could do an encore, the race is suited to his characteristics. The route is not very technical although Diego demonstrated last year that he knows how to do it despite having less experience in mountain biking.
I see Samuele Porro very well, also a great climber, and of course Fabian Rabensteiner, a champion on any route… and pay attention to Cherchi and Samparisi, it could be the opportunity for them to make the expected leap in quality”.
Ok, among women, who do you see as favorites? Three names above all: “Mara Fumagalli, Sandra Mairhofer and Claudia Peretti”.
Thanks to Massimo De Bertolis, we’ll see if he’s right.
All we have to do is tune in to the event.
The national bikers’ holiday is increasingly upon us.
See you all in wonderful Sicily on June 2nd.
For info: www.trinacriarace.it
