The first edition of the Appenninica MTB Parmigiano Reggiano Stage Race ended in Bagno di Romagna after eight days on mountain bike through the Emilia-Romagna Apennines starting from Bologna.
After more than 400 km and 16,000 meters of altitude gain, the bikers of the first edition of the Appenninica MTB Parmigiano Reggiano Stage Race ended their 8-day journey through the mountains, villages and magnificent panoramas of the Emilia Romagna.
The medieval village of Bagno di Romagna welcomed riders from 16 nations and 4 continents who had challenged each other for 8 days, always with a smile on their faces, along a highly spectacular and scenic ridge route, which traces a big part of the itinerary of the Alta Via dei Parchi.
All the competitors fell in love with 360-degree panoramas of the mountains and valleys, high-altitude pastures and forests that descended down to the valley. The volunteers and the communities of the villages crossed were waiting down the routes: Berceto, Castelnovo in the Monti, Fanano, Porretta Terme, Santa Sofia and Bagno di Romagna.
There were 4 categories in the competition: Team Men, Team Women, Mixed Team (man / woman), Solo. Appenninica4, a race of just 4 days for the Solo category, started from the Porretta Terme’s stage.
The fastest and the winner of the Solo category was the young Austrian Lukas Kauffman, who wore the leader jersey from the first stages, followed by the American Coulton Hartrich, while the Italian Lorenzo De Sanctis closed in third position. A really tight challenge considering that after 8 stages and over 23 hours spent in the saddle the gap between the first three was only 45 minutes.
“What we experienced here in the Apennines is true mountain biking. The route is complete with everything: we have met some important technical sections and climbs but my favorite part was the long single track on the ridge on the high mountains“, says Lukas Kauffman.
On the Team Men category the Dutchmen Maurits Buist and Henk Bos won with a total time of 25:11:45, followed by the Swiss team composed by Thomas Jauner and Christian Biffiger. The Czechoslovak team of Michal Prokop and Peter Gunter finished in third position.
Beautiful and tight the challenge in the category Team Women with Lorenza Menapace (Ita) and Danièle Troesch (Fra) who won in front of the English Sophie Hemming and Melanie Alexander second by only 21 minutes, but with four stage wins.
With the time of 29:16:31 the winning Team Mixed was the South Africans Yolandi Du Toit and Ben Swanepoel.
Started from Porretta Terme Appenninica4, the race that only covered the last 4 stages, saw the victory of the Italian Matteo Bravaccini, followed 13 minutes later by the Dutchman Casper Van Oosten who had worn the leader’s jersey after the time trial in Porretta Terme. Scott Cornish from Great Britain finished third.
“We are very proud to have successfully completed the first edition of this event with a complex organization. There have been 8 very important days for the promotion of our territory. The feedback we are receiving from competitors is really great. Everyone is enthusiastic both for the quality of the route chosen and for the hospitality which we have been able to offer thanks to the support and involvement of all the locations involved“, said organizer Beppe Salerno.
Results: https://www.winningtime.it/admin/admin.php?mac=circuiti&item=12
Photo Selection: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/inqmyq0cg22nktu/AAA-aZAo6L-xoGhuJrZCIYmJa?dl=0