195 km with 20 sectors of white road, from the Po Delta to Piazzola sul Brenta along the Po, Adige, Bacchiglione and Brenta rivers.
Ride the Dreamland 2022 continues on Friday 14 October with the second Serenissima Gravel, two days after the Giro del Veneto, won by Matteo Trentin. The Serenissima Gravel starts in the Po Delta and ends in Piazzola sul Brenta after 195 kilometers.
The field includes the first Gravel world champion, Belgian Gianni Vermeersch , fresh from his success last Sunday at Cittadella, his Alpecin Deceuninck teammate Mathieu Van Der Poel, and Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno of Astana Qazaqstan. Sixteen teams start, including Astana Qazaqstan Team, Trek-Segafredo, Lotto Soudal, Cofidis, Bardiani CSF Faizanè, Alpecin Deceuninck and Drone Hopper – Androni.
The route crosses the provinces of Rovigo, Venice and Padua, showcasing the magnificent Venetian plain. Approximately 80 percent of the route is off-road, with 20 dirt sectors. There will be no radios, and mechanical repairs will be self-managed.
Preliminary operations are from 8:30 a.m. at Barricata Holiday Village, in the municipality of Porto Tolle. The race route follows the coast of the Sacca di Scardovari, then reaches the right bank of the Po before arriving at the gates of Chioggia. It goes through Correzzola, Pontelongo, Bovolenta, Due Carrare, and pushes on to Limena and Piazzola sul Brenta, where a spectacular 11-kilometer circuit, half of it on dirt road, is ridden three times. This is an opportunity to discover a semi-hidden treasure of the Veneto region between the banks of the Po, Adige, Bacchiglione and Brenta rivers, from a novel perspective.
Proceedings begin at 9:30 a.m. with signing in. Roll out is at 10:50 a.m. and kilometre 0 is at approx. 11:10 a.m. The finish at Villa Contarini is scheduled for between 3:50 p.m.
Last year Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko won the first edition at the end of a long solo escape. Second was Riccardo Milani (Intermarché), third Nathan Haas (Cofidis).
Ride the Dreamland will continue on Saturday, October 15, with the VENEtoGO social ride, which previews the second part of the Veneto Classic route, where the professionals will compete the next day. Participants will have the opportunity to ride with Italian, European and Paris-Roubaix champion Sonny Colbrelli, and the peerless Fabian Cancellara, who counts in his palmares a Milano-Sanremo, three Tours of Flanders, as many Paris-Roubaix, four world championships and two Olympic gold medals in the time trial. Unmissable alongside them is a former champion who will do the honors here, Filippo Pozzato. There are two routes of the VENEtoGO, starting and finishing at Villa Cà Cornaro in Romano d’Ezzelino: 98 km (and an elevation gain of 1,100 meters) and 80 km (for an elevation gain of 800 meters). Common to both are the climbs of Tisa, Rosina and Diesel Farm, but above all a wide range of refreshments, culminating in a gourmet lunch of fried fish. It will be a prelude to the grand finale on Sunday, October 16 with Veneto Classic, 197 km from Treviso to Bassano del Grappa.
Photo Credits: Pocis’ Pix
