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The Sportful Dolomiti Race turns the page but confirms the historic partnership with the Prestige of CicloTurismo, of which it has been one of the pillars, since the year in which the coveted tricolor shield was born, intended for aficionados of the toughest and most legendary granfondos on the Italian calendar. There 29th edition of the former Campagnolo is scheduled to Feltre Sunday 16 June on a completely renewed path. The legendary Passo Rolle and the marvelous Passo Manghen leave the scene, and so is Cima Campo, the first altitude difficulty of the race for decades, replaced by a series of climbs of lower altitude but not without charm and scenic attractions. Of the old route rthis is only the Croce d’Aune, which has always been a springboard towards the final goal. The distance does not change substantially, 200 kilometers, only four less than the old version of the Sportful. The shortened route (125 kilometres)which from this year gives the green light to Passo Brocon, dusted off instead by the Giro d’Italia, will climb into the order the Forcella Franche, the Forcella Aurine, the Cereda Pass and the inevitable Croce d’Aune, for a total difference in altitude of over 2,300 metres. To reach the threshold of the classic 5,000 meters of altitude difference, however, the big man will face the Durán-Staulanza pairing as the second and third climbs of the day.
They will be 4,000 the cyclists who will present themselves at the start of the Sportful on Sunday. He does not hide satisfaction and enthusiasm Ivan Piol, the owner of the event. «We have radically changed the route in honor of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games to show cyclists from all over the world how beautiful the Belluno Dolomites are – explains – and the cyclists trusted us, rewarding us with a return to the old 4,000 members that Covid had wiped out. We will have the task of showing them that they were right to make this choice by offering them a spectacular and exciting weekend. We are thus preparing ourselves for the approaching thirtieth anniversary of our granfondo and this year, in the meantime, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the installation of the monument to Tullio Campagnolo at Passo Croce d’Aune which also saw the birth of our event. In 2025, for Sportful’s thirtieth anniversary, we will give everyone a big surprisetruly spectacular.”
In the meantime, here they are in brief technical characteristics of the six climbs scheduled for the 200 kilometer route, brand new.
Forcella Franche (m. 990) – Long climb (18 kilometres), very pedalable in the first half, where the gradient is very modest. The final 5 kilometers, from the California Bridge to the pass, are challenging, with an average of 7.2% and some passages in double figures of gradient.
Duran Pass (m. 1601) – Average gradient just under 8% for the most important altimetric difficulty of the Sportful. It is a demanding climb, which makes very few concessions, quite long (12.5 kilometres), almost without breaks, and with numerous sections where the gradient breaks the threshold of 10%. 3 kilometers from the top it reaches a peak of 14%.
Staulanza Pass (m. 1766) – With the new route you no longer go above 2,000 metres. There Cima Coppi becomes the stupendous Staulanza, a climb that can be fully enjoyed, because it has a reasonable average gradient (6.5%) and breaks the 10% barrier on just two or three occasions. Watch out for the length, it’s a 12.6 kilometer climb.
Forcella Aurine (m. 1297) – Like the Duràn Pass, the Forcella Aurine also starts from Agordo. It is interrupted towards the middle by a short stretch on a slight slope, but otherwise it is regular, with an average gradient of 6.4% and a maximum gradient of less than 10%.
Cereda Pass (m. 1361) – The penultimate hill of the day is also the shortest, just over 5 kilometers. It is tackled from the easy slope of Sagron Mis, in the Primiero Valley, for a difference in altitude of around 300 meters and an average gradient of less than 5%.
Passo di Croce d’Aune (m. 1015) – It is a climb with two faces. Actually three. In the first 3 kilometers you gain altitude decisively, but apart from a couple of short passages above 8%, the average gradient is manageable (6.9%). The next section, 4 kilometers more on a slight slope than uphill (average 2%) must be used to gather the energy necessary to overcome the treacherous final step, 4 and a half kilometers in which a peak of 15-16% is reached with one kilometer to go to the top and the average gradient stands at 8.3%.
Information: https://www.sportfuldolomitirace.it/
