Maratona dles Dolomites
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| Date | First week in July |
|---|---|
| Region | Italy |
| Nickname(s) | Maratona dles Dolomites |
| Discipline | Road |
| Type | Single-day race |
| Organiser | Maratona dles Dolomites Committee |
| Race director | Michil Costa |
| First edition | 1987 |
| Editions | 25(as of 2011) |
| Most wins |
 Emanuele Negrini (ITA) (5 wins) |
| Most recent |
Giuseppe Sorrenti Mazzocchi (ITA)
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The Maratona dles Dolomites (Dolomites Marathon), is an annual single-day road bicycle race covering seven spectacular mountain passes in the Dolomites. Open to amateur cyclists, the Maratona—with 9,000 riders from over 40 nations—is one of the biggest Italian Granfondo bicycle races.National Geographic described it as "one of the biggest, most passionate, and most chaotic bike races on Earth."
The first Maratona was held on July 12, 1987 as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Alta Badia-Raiffeisen Cycling Club [1]. 166 riders raced in this first event covering 175 km and 7 passes in the Dolomites. In 1989 the race had to be abandoned because of heavy snowfalls on the ascent to Giau Pass. But since then the number of people who would like to ride the Maratona has increased exponentially. In 2004 the number of participants had to be limited to 9,000 riders and lotteries were introduced to draw participants. For the 2012 edition 29,100 people registered to take part in that year’s lottery, which will allocate 4,800 entries. A further 4,200 entries are reserved for official tour operators, fidelity Members of the Maratona, and charity racers bringing the final tally of participants to 9,000 persons.
The race is actually divided into three courses of varying difficulty: the Sellaronda course, the Middle course and the Maratona course. All riders start at 6:30am in the village of La Ila and complete the four pass Sellaronda course first. After completing the Sellaronda course riders can either choose to finish the race or proceed directly onwards with the Middle course. As the Maratona course is an extension of the preceding shorter Middle course, riders wishing to tackle the full Maratona dles Dolomites have to proceed with the Middle course. All three courses lead the riders through the Dolomite mountains around the Sella Group and over roads, where legendary rides by great champions of the Giro d'Italia have taken place. The roads are lined with tens of thousands of cheering spectators and the entire event is broadcast live on Italian national broadcaster RAI. Along the courses seven refreshment stations are manned by volunteers, where riders can strengthen themselves with foods and drinks, varying from sports drink to coffee to Strudel or Speck sandwiches.
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Wikipedia