- Right, here we are, 93 kilometres
into the Maratona on the top of the Passo Giau,
and I think it's fair to say,
I don't know about you, Chris,
but I'm feeling a little toasty.
- I'm pretty much broken, to be really honest,
that was one of the hardest 10 km of my entire life.
- Wow, well you look good, so that is important.
- Well, if you've got nothing else to cling onto.
- Well let's play back and see why we are so knackered.
(dramatic music)
The Maratona dles Dolomites is one of the greatest
Gran Fondo, or cycle sportive, event in the world.
It's been running since 1987 and the
number of participants has risen from
166 back then to over 9,000 cyclists these days.
As a measure of it's popularity,
more than five times more people register for the
ballet than there are places.
So we felt very lucky to have been invited
and even more to be able to start at the front.
It's 21 minutes past six, I think we've been
waiting for two hours already.
I'm already in need of a nap actually.
- I'm excited, 4,000 metres of climbing,
138 kilometres to go.
- 4,000 metres descending.
- Yes, that's the best part.
The reason I'm not at the front,
I thought I'd hang back here to give you
a sense of the scale of the Maratona.
We're in wave number one,
which consists of 1,000 riders
We've got another 9,000 plus.
It is a massive field and it's
everybody enjoying bikes.
- [Emma] The event offers three
courses of different lengths.
The Sella Ronda route at 55 kilometres
and 1,780 metres of ascent.
The middle course with 106 kilometres and
3,130 metres of ascent.
And then the big Maratona itself, which is
138 kilometres long with 4,230 metres of ascent.
All of the courses start together
early in the morning in La Villa and they all first cover
the beautiful Sella Ronda circuit which climbs
the Passo Campolongo, the Pordoi, the Sella,
and the Passo Gardena.
So in fact, a participant can decide on the road,
and according to how they're feeling,
whether they should do the shorter route,
or carry on for middle and marathon distance.
Of course, Chris and I were pretty determined
that we would do the full Maratona,
and to be honest, we had so much
delicious food the week before,
that we felt we really needed to
burn it off in a long ride.
Interestingly though, for Chris,
this was actually his first time going
over an altitude of 2,000 metres on a bike, ever.
But he was pretty sure that the
climbing wouldn't be a problem.
(intense music)
- So 6.2, I've probably reached my max power rate
for the day already.
Getting at the back of the front group
but I think I enjoy it better than everyone else
so that's the main thing.
(intense music)
I think I've done like 1k of climbing so far
and I'm straight out of the back of the
front group, which wasn't really a big surprise,
not really built for these, don't really
get off of them anyway.
Looking forward to the descent though,
they promise it's a good one.
- There's a flat bit coming up but
I seemed to have made it up all alone
which was stupid.
- I have no shame in sitting down for the entire climb
I'm gonna take the most of this opportunity
and enjoy it.
(intense music)
- It's a fast start here, that is for sure.
I'm just going to take my tempo.
(dramatic music)
- Got my first taste of a proper descent today
and uh, sort of caught Emma.
It's a 5.5k climb now, I don't really
think it's looking likely that I'm
going to see her again for the entire race.
- Where's Chris? Is he alright?
I knew Chris to be a demon descender
and I knew I would need all the time I could get
on the climbs. I was counting on his inexperience
in high mountains and hoping that he'd paced himself
very, very conservatively.
Chris, on the other hand, knew he had a strong
card to play on the descents and he was
enjoying them, a lot.
(Upbeat, rock music)
(Speech drowned out by band playing)
(slow, dramatic music)
- Competitive Coolie has taken over
- Turn the wheels, come on.
Stay with this group.
- No no, it's fine, smile for the camera.
- [Emma] Big flat now, turn the wheels, come on.
- This is better.
(inspirational music)
- So, there's good news and there's bad news.
The good news is, we've done 2,100 metres climbing
which is about half of the total elevation we are gonna get.
The bad news, is that it is still around 80 something
kilometres to go, so still a long way to go,
but the hilliest bit, I think, is out of the way.
- Chris is very nice and he stopped to
wait for me on the descent. Isn't that lovely?
That's what teammates are for.
And now he's pacing me at this up this hill.
Super steep.
(dramatic music)
- So we've got about 60 kilometres to go
which in my mind, in the past, is around an hour and ten.
But I feel like today is going to be closer
to three hours and ten.
We've got a few big climbs left
and my legs are fried already
Emma has gone off and done her thing again
and uh, I'm going to be playing catch up on the descent
So there is only one thing that makes the
suffering bearable today, well that's not fair
there are a few things, but the view
for me, is right on there.
I love riding my bike where I live, but look at this.
Every corner you turn, it's just stunning.
- He was about to say that it's also the
fantastic company that makes its bearable
but uh, he ran out of breath.
(speaks in Italian)
I can't open my bottle
uh, too weak. Thank you very much!
Oh she is going to make half tea, half water.
(electronic upbeat music)
Just started on the bottom of the Passo Giau
which uh, is just a little one apparently.
I think I've done it before but I can't remember.
In fact, it might be from the other side.
Anyway, we are looking forward to it, aren't we Chris?
Yeah.
- So, I am absolutely on my knees,
I'm grovelling, I feel like cramps
and twinges in my quads
but, luckily, we've got a few old stories
about cycle racing to talk about
to take our minds off how rough I feel.
- Yup, been chit-chatting.
And I feel a lot better now that I've stopped
trying to chase people,
which I realised, was a mistake. I do not have that fitness.
So this is my kind of pace. Unfortunately,
I can't go as fast as Chris downhill,
so he's well,
- It's my recovery time then
- I'll just be slowing him down.
(Inspirational music)
- About to have a very very long sit down.
I might have regret a bit not doing the longer route
Sucking it up, but uh, I think this is hard
enough for me at the moment.
And at least it gives me something to
look forward to maybe in a few years time.
I might do the long route.
It's been an absolutely incredible day out
Just gotta finish up now
- Well there's only 45k to go
- Cool, so that's what, less than an hour?
- No, we've got a whole other pass to go but
I mean, you descend so fast, frankly you won't take long
Here's a tactic, because, I cannot keep up
with you on the descents and you claim
to be feeling rubbish on the climb so
I don't believe you, so why don't you go
full force on the descent and I will try
to catch you on the first uphill.
- That sounds like it could be an interesting little race
- I doubt I'll catch him unless he has to
stop for coffee and toilet or something
- Loser buys the coffees?
- Yeah, I've actually got money with me for coffee
I won't lose anyway, but let's go.
(fast paced electronic music)
- I thought I'd never get a new cycling
achievement once I retired from racing
but, I just overtook Miguel Indurain on the descent.
It's been an amazing day out on the Dolomites.
It's seriously one of the hardest rides I've ever done.
But at the same time, the weathers been incredible,
we've met some really cool people,
and it's been just a really nice atmosphere
everyone wants to help each other and
get through what is a really, seriously hard ride.
I think my little wheelie stunt might have cost me
because she's come up and passed me already
- Come on, if you didn't talk so much mate, you'd be fine
Only 2k to go. We need to make a plan for the sprint, mate
I think I'm gonna have to, like, I'm not the best lead out
but I'm the only teammate you've got left so
- I thought it was a race between you and me.
- No, we're teammates, come on!
- You lead me out of this.
- Sorry, I'm not the fastest lead out.
- Can't believe this. I thought I was gonna get
an easy run into the finish, and now I've gotta sprint!
- Is this the slowest lead out you've ever had?
- Eh, it's okay, it's acceptable.
Obviously the final corner is a crucial one to get right
200 metres to go, I'm just going to swing off
and go around, through the corner first.
Perfect position, perfect lead out.
- Go, go, go!
(intense music)
Awesome job mate, finished off with a sprint,
that was brilliant.
- That was the best lead out ever,
140k in the front for me so
- Slowest lead out ever personally
- Well it took us awhile to get to the finish, didn't it?
But we got there.
- [Emma] I think it was a great effort as a team,
we didn't win, but we gave everything
(announcer drowns out speech)
Hope you liked it, give it a thumbs up if so!
- If you want to check out more videos
about riding sportives, click down there somewhere.
- I really, really need to lie down and
have like a big glass of water.