With its varied and challenging terrain, the Specialized Bike Marathon is a race specially designed for cross-country mountain bikes. XC bikers can choose from various distances, which differ in terms of length, altitude difference and technical difficulty.

Ronda Extrema

The Ronda Extrema, the race with UCI status, saw numerous familiar faces start in the front rows, including the winners of 2023 and 2022, Leon Hector Paez and Andreas Seewald, and the winner of last year's race, Adelheid Morath. The starting gun was fired at 7.30 a.m. local time in the middle of the old town of Riva del Garda. Once again this year, licensed riders were able to collect valuable UCI points for the world rankings on the Ronda Extrema of the Specialized Bike Marathon, as the marathon was once again listed in the UCI's highest race category with the "Hors Category". The longest distance, which stretches over the Monte Biaina and Monte Brento with changing surfaces over 82.77 km and 3,484 m elevation gain, the participants had to master a number of steep uphill sections and many technical trails.

In the tough battle for the men's podium, Fabian Rabensteiner from South Tyrol was able to prevail over Austrian Marc Stutzmann by a margin of just three hundredths of a second after an exciting final sprint. Rabensteiner crossed the finish line with a time of 4:01:27.5. Third place went to Simon Stiebjahn from Germany. Last year's winner Leon Hector Paez finished fourth. "I didn't really know where I stood this morning after five weeks without racing, so it was difficult to get back into the racing action. I tried not to go too far over the limit at the start and was able to play my cards well at the end." Fabian Rabensteiner was completely satisfied with his victory after several weeks off racing.

Three Italians rode to the podium in the women's race. Sandra Maierhofer claimed victory with a time of 5:03:21.5 and a strong lead of more than three minutes over Mara Fumagalli, followed by Claudia Peretti in third place.

"The bike marathon was simply a top race, I really enjoyed it. It was really tough, but the course suited me well and I'm super happy to have won here in Riva," said a delighted Sandra Maierhofer from South Tyrol about her first victory of the racing season.

Ronda Grande

The Ronda Grande was won by Christoph Wachter from Germany. This challenging route covered 59.56 km and 2,406 vertical meters. Several tough climbs followed by equally demanding descents make this route in the northern mountain region of Riva del Garda challenging. The German rode across the finish line as the winner after 2:57:36.4 hours, just under a minute ahead of his pursuers. Austrian Uwe Hochenwarter came second, followed by Noah Laschewski from Germany.

The women's ranking of the Ronda Grande is led by Theresia Schwenk from Germany with a time of 3:43:13.9 and a lead of over 20 minutes, followed by Austrian Silke Mair in second place and Noelle Werner from Germany in third.

Ronda Piccola

Daniele Rossi from Italy won the Ronda Piccola, the shortest lap of this year's Specialized Bike Marathon. Here, the athletes had to tackle a fast-paced but equally diverse route covering 30.67 km and 1,065 m of elevation gain. After a good 16 km almost exclusively uphill, the participants were then able to put their skills to the test on the long descent. After 1:24:14.8 hours, victory was a safe bet for the Italian with a lead of over one and a half minutes. After Rossi, Hannes Spahn from Germany and Austrian Patrick Föger finished second and third. Austria's Lea Krempl took first place in the women's race with a time of 1:43:37.9 and a lead of almost three minutes. Germany's Melina Vogt came second, followed by Isabel Speer from Austria in third place.

Rankings