We recently reached out to Team Garmin (South Africa) as they have confirmed their participation to the 2019 Appenninica MTB Stage Race. With their team, Appenninica adds a new country and another continent to the starting list.
Yolandi du Toit and Ben Melt Swanepoel are very familiar faces in the MTB stage race circuit and they are ready to tackle the Apennines next July.
– How was your 2018 season? Give us a highlight.
We are very happy with our 2018 season. We raced 64 days in total making it a full year for us with many wonderful experiences and memories. If we have to mention a highlight then it would be our participation at The Pioneer NZ. It was our first trip to that part of the world and participating on unknown terrain is always an exciting experience no matter the outcome. As a bonus New Zealand turned out to be one of the most beautiful and bike friendly destinations we have ever visited.
– Have you been to Italy before and why Appenninica appealed to you?
We have raced in Italy before but only in the North during the Craft Bike TransAlp and some marathon races in the Tirol and the Dolomites. Back then we already fell in love with the beautiful countryside and the warmth of its people. When the opportunity arose to explore a different part of Italy by bike, especially an area as attractive as Emilia Romagna and the Appennine Mountains, we couldn’t resist. Now we can’t wait to see what the Appenninica MTB stage race has in stall for us.
Team Garmin is a solid and experienced mixed team. Yolandi and Ben know how to approach a long stage race and we expect them to be competitive while charming everyone with their usual great attitude.
More approachable, less demanding but equally intense and complete, Appenninica4 condenses in 4 stages the essence of a proper Stage Race: make sure you don’t underestimate it.
While the long-distance Appenninica is going to mean business only for the most physically and mentally prepared athletes, thanks to Appenninica4 the dream of a MTB adventure over more days is going to be within reach for all, and still not an easy undertaking, by any means. For many riders, it is going to be the sporting challenge of a lifetime. For others, it will be the springboard and the rehearsal for the bigger brother, in which stages will be seven (plus the Prologue).
Appenninica4 is still going to be a 265 km-long Stage Race with 8,780 m of climbing spread over 4 days of competition; a race that requires serious preparation, planning, managing; a challenge in which an expert observer would find all the same ingredients that characterize the Full Race.
Leaving aside the fact that this race is specifically dedicated to SOLO participants, plenty of other things are common to both Appenninica4 and its bigger brother, Appenninica Stage Race:
A tough race course that reaches its crescendo in the Queen Stage: once that stage is in the bag, it will only be a matter of enjoying the grand finale, staying focussed all the time though.
Stages that go across 3 different provinces following a route known as Alta via dei Parchi, throughout unique and unexplored territories stretched over 5 Protected Natural Areas
Regional Park Corno alle Scale
Regional Park of Suviana and Brasimone Lakes
Regional Park Vena del Gesso Romagnola
National Park of Casentinesi Forests, Monte Falterona and Campigna
Interregional Park Sasso Simone e Simoncello
Amazing atmosphere in the Race Village, that will make the time spent between finish line and start of the following stage an equally memorable experience for all participants, no matter what race they are in. All competitors will become part of a community, where friendships will grow stronger than competitiveness.
Exactly like it happens for the Full Race event, some riders will take part in Appenninica4 mainly to live the experience and face the challenge of reaching the finish line, while others will be racing with the ranking in mind, to be on the podium of this very first edition of the event.
Despite that, they will all participate in the grand finale of Bagno di Romagna to be awarded – once they have crossed the finish line –the Appenninica4 finisher’s t-shirt. And then, back on their home trails, they will realize how this absolutely outstanding experience in the saddle has made them stronger.
These are the details of the 4 Stages (corresponding to the second part of the race route of Appenninica) that will take place between Wednesday 24 July and Saturday 27 July:
24 July – Porretta Terme: La Cronoscalata del Monte Piella (time trial) Length 23 km – Elevation Gain 830 m
25 July – Porretta Terme – Castel del Rio: La Linea Gotica [The Gothic Line] Length 90km – Elevation Gain 2300 m
26 July – Castel del Rio – Bagno di Romagna: Queen Stage Length 112 km – Elevation Gain 4000 m
27 July – Bagno di Romagna – Bagno di Romagna: La Tecnica [The Technical] Length 40 km – Elevation Gain 1650 m
Total distance: Km 265 – Total Elevation Gain: 8,780
With today’s Press Conference announcing that the Prologue stage will take place in Bologna, the last piece of the jigsaw for the 2019 race-course falls into place at Appenninica MTB. Matteo Lepore, councillor for Sports and Tourism of the Municipality of Bologna, and the whole organizing staff attended the event
The first edition of Appenninica MTB will kick off on 20 July2019 at 12:00 in Bologna, with an opening stage Prologuesponsored by the Municipality of Bologna.
The race course, as exciting for the attending public, as fun to ride for the participants, will follow a loop that from Arco del Meloncello will climb steep gradients up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca before going back to town along cracking trails.
The stage will be around 12 km in length with approximately 470 m in elevation gain and gradients up to 18%, as on the S. Luca section, a very testing climb that has also played an important role in the opening time trial of Giro d’Italia, in May of this year.
There are not many mountain-bike stage races in the world that can boast a start line location as prestigious as the one in Bologna and a race course as varied and complete as the one put on here.
“The Prologue stage in Bologna is meant to be our welcome to all participants and industry media that will follow the event. Getting off on the right foot is important for the following seven days of racing” Beppe Salerno, event organizer, states.
Far from being just a parade across the city centre, the Prologue will shed light on the forces at play and will help establish the line-up for the following day’s start line in Berceto (Parma Province) for the stage ‘Thousand Lakes, Berceto – Castelnovo ‘ne Monti’.
Setting off from a city so steeped in art and continuing the journey in the saddle for more than 500 km, across the countryside, getting to know the culinary heritage and the history of all places reached by the course, will be a truly unique experience. It is going to be a journey across a region – Emilia Romagna – that will attract a high attendance of high-level athletes from the national and international scene, beside obviously arousing the curiosity of cycling industry companies and media.
Appenninica mountain bike Stage Race lays the cards on the table and unveils the details of the 2019 race course. The Prologue, still secret, will be announced during a press conference on the 3rd of December in Bologna.
During the last two weeks seven of the eight stages of Appenninica MTB Stage Race have been revealed, one by one. The race will be in its first edition and for the first time in the history of the sport will see the participants crossing the whole Emilia Romagna region along the Apennines watershed – about 550 km in length and with 20,000 meters of elevation gain – roughly following the route of Alta Via dei Parchi.
However, the launch of the race course is not yet complete, as the Prologue still has to be revealed: it will be unveiled, finally, during the press conference on the 3rd of December in Bologna, when the itinerary and all involved locations will be announced too.
The Prologue – time to let something leak – will really make for an amazing show in a unique and special setting, something that will leave everyone speechless. But it will also give the participants the first chance of getting the measure of the field of competitors. The result of this very first round, as a matter of fact, will help to establish the line-up at the start line of the following day’s stage (Stage 1).
The feedback on the race course the organizers of Appenninica MTB have been receiving up to now is exactly what they were hoping for, and worth a competition that is going to find its place in the international panorama amongst the best stage races.
The race course is going to be tough and challenging – that’s for sure – but at the same time it will be fast-rolling and for the most part rideable, with a good mix of intense stages and easier days, and techy trails that will alternate with sections where legs and sheer power will make the difference.
During the first half of the race the high-mountain terrain will dictate the rules of the game; a difficult ground, with long passes and serious gradients. The race course will make its way across magnificent woods of beech trees, throughout meadows and along high-altitude ridges. The stages of the second half of the competition will take the participants over lower hilly ground, on a limestone and clayish type of terrain covered with woods of oaks that gradually give way to ancient chestnut trees and conifers.
Appenninica MTB is a unique adventure of its kind, a journey throughout 5 Regional Nature Parks and 2 National Parks, an immersion in the ancient roots of this part of the country, an experience for the senses in a region that boasts an extraordinary culinary heritage and plenty of renowned spas.
Seven different municipalities will play host to the event, and no less than 21 feeding zones will be arranged along a race course that will run above 1,000 meters of elevation for 60% of its length, with breathtaking views, forests and enchanted lakes.
Great work and consideration have been put into the choice of the race course, bearing in mind the natural context the event will take place in. Appenninica organizers in close collaboration with IMBA Italia (International Mountain Bicycling Association) are working on creating a round table with the representatives of the Parks and with Emilia Romagna’s section of CAI (Italian Alpine Club). The aim is to draw up a ‘low-impact Appenninica‘ protocol that will make possible to go through the experience and participate in a top-notch competition with the smallest possible environmental impact.
