pedalidimarca

Passion and enthusiasm, the desire to learn and to achieve ambitious goals: these are the reasons that push us to the limit in order to create unique sport events, close-knit to the territory, but through an efficient organization open to communicate with whomsoever.

In our activities we lay professionalism, proudness and competence by putting our generosity and our community spirit at the disposal of our homeland, the region of Veneto and, at the disposal of our sport, the mountain-biking. All this is coupled with smartness; we are looking for improvement on every single occasion while considering that also the smallest mistake can be decisive.

Today, after ten years in the world of sports, we reap the fruit of our work: for the first time in history a group of volunteers composes itself to organize the biggest contests a single cycling discipline can have on national, continental and worldwide level, respectively.

Aware of the major importance of the events we are preparing for, at the same time we do not want to forget about the road that brought us here: a long, demanding and unforeseeable walk.


The beginnings

It all began in the late nineties: a group of friends, a dinner in company and the intuition of making the Montello the perfect mountain-bike location. This is – more or less just for fun - how the first open race was born: it was in 1999 when in Volpago a small number of bikers started off for something that, a decade later, would have become an appointment for the world’s best mountain-bike athletes.

Two years later in 2001, the first step up in quality: the open race turns into the “Montello Bike Cup”, the first small local granfondo starting off in Venegazzù with more than 300 participants takes place.
The year after the race makes its debut on the national calendar and registers already 780 participants: for the first time bad weather punishes the race and makes the race course become a mud bath.

In 2003, despite good resolutions, the passing away of Luca Panighel, brother of Massimo, president of Pedali di Marca, and fulcrum of the organization, convinces the organization of skipping that year. The year after the race is resumed with new motivation and new ambitions. 
 

The growing

In 2004 with renewed enthusiasm the working group of Pedali di Marca is officially born. The Granfondo del Montello, now the new name of the race, is a thorough success with more than 1,150 participants starting out from Volpago.
The success doesn’t come to a standstill, neither when faced with bad weather conditions in 2005, with more than 1,850 participants showing up at the start, among them the World Champions and Olympic Champions Gunn-Rita Dahle and Julien Absalon, nor when the race enters the international UCI calendar in 2006 and more than 2,000 athletes from 10 different nations break another participants’ record.

2007 is the year of the miracle: within a few months Pedali di Marca assumes three big events and starts with a new livery for the Granfondo del Montello.

A new and spectacular location: Montebelluna. The naming of the Marathon distance after the Olympic Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle. The creation of Bikenergy, a mixture of sports, promotion of the territory, concerts, trial bike shows. The kinder bike school and the night short track. Shops open until midnight.
The 3-days event registers more than 15,000 attendants and the participation of 2,300 athletes, among them the world’s biggest mountain-bike performers out of 18 nations: it feels like being at World Cup!
Just a few months later the organization of the Italian Cross Country National Championships in Volpago comes up: a historic edition for its number of participants, the highly technical and spectacular course and the incredible summer heat.
Fifteen days later, the organization of the Italian Downhill Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo completes the trilogy of events signed by Pedali di Marca with a power dive of 550 m of altitude difference down the Olympic slopes of the Col Drusciè.


The rising to the World Championships

In 2008 the Gunn Rita Marathon is the only race to appear in all national race series. Despite the worst weather conditions that force the organization to abolish the crossing of the Piave ford, the race nevertheless has its natural epilog, confirming the extraordinary organizing qualities of the Pedali di Marca team. The icing on the cake is the presence of the Italian national TV station RAI broadcasting slightly time-displaced the race that is won by the former road pro Mirko Celestino.

The rest is recent history: once again, the 2009 edition was ruled by mud, an impartial judge of the Italian Marathon National Championships. To top the umpteenth success of Pedali di Marca was the attendance of the two World Champions in charge, Roel Paulissen and Gunn-Rita Dahle, both winning the overall classification and thus leaving the best recommendation letter for next year's European Championships!

The Continental Championships 2010 offer a memorable edition: a race-track in perfect conditions exalts the technical skills of the athletes, with the Swiss bikers Ralph Näf and Esther Süss winning. Once again, this organization confirms their high-level professionalism: the U.E.C. (the European Cycling Union) honors the quality of the event by awarding Pedali di Marca officially.