17 teams have accepted the challenge of the second Ride the Dreamland event, which will see athletes compete on the dirt roads around Cittadella and the Brenta River. 148 kilometers in total to tackle, 96 of which are off-road
Cittadella is set up and ready to fill up… with dust. Tomorrow, Friday 13 October, the second of the four Ride the Dreamland events will take place, the Serenissima Gravel, with departure and arrival precisely from Cittadella. Now in its third edition, the forefather of competitive gravel in Europe continues to attract and intrigue many of the strongest teams in the world.
4 WorldTour teams have made their presence official at the start from Piazza Pierluigi Pierobon, namely Lidl Trek, Alpecin Deceuninck, Arkéa-Samsic and Astana Qazaqstan. There will be former gravel world champion Gianni Vermeersch, who took home the rainbow jersey on these very roads last year, and with him an off-road specialist like Quinten Hermans. There will also be Italian road champion Simone Velasco, fresh from his world adventure, who will also be accompanied by Christian Scaroni and Manuele Boaro, who races not far from home. Arkéa will bring as many as 7 riders, with Luca Mozzato as captain and Jenthe Biermans as a very valid alternative.
There will also be Florian Vermeersch, vice-champion of the gravel world and a great interpreter of cobblestone races, as evidenced by his second place at the 2022 Paris-Roubaix. With him, Lotto Dstny will bring Brent Van Moer and Jacopo Guarnieri. Among the other Professional teams, the Tudor of the reigning champion Robin Froidevaux stands out, who will start with the number 1, and then the Uno-X, the Q36.5 and the Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè with Filippo Fiorelli and Davide Gabburo.
The race will be characterized by a 37 km circuit to be repeated 4 times, and after the start from the beating heart of Cittadella, the municipalities of Fontaniva (PD), Tezze sul Brenta (VI) and Cartigliano (VI) will be touched, before returning within the walls of Cittadella. There are no altimetric difficulties expected, but of the 37 km of the ring, a good 24 are on dirt roads, which means that the runners will have to avoid rocks and breathe in dust for a total of 96 km out of 148. Of particular note will be the off-road section along the Brenta river, which extends for almost 15 km and will also pass through the Parco dell’Amicizia and the Parco delle Basse del Brenta, before returning to Cittadella via Fratta.
