Twenty years of Italian and international mountain bike history, with two (three) Uci Mtb World Championships. This is the ID of Val di Sole that is going to host the umpteenth world event in Trentino over the last 30 years.
From 29 August to 11 September the Val di Sole will experience again, in less then ten years, the World dream, this time with the Masters event, for the first time in Italy. With two World Championships and many World Cups, as well as European and Italian championships, the most beautiful and charming pages of Mtb history in Italy have been written in this valley, enhanced by stunning mountains and by the river Noce. Val di Sole can offer a unique track in the history of this sport in Italy.
It seems like yesterday when mountain biking, born in the USA and initially considered a whim of some eccentric cycling lovers, started to liven up this corner of Trentino. Hard to recall all the races, all the people, all the anecdotes linked to the competitions and the organization that have lead this beautiful valley to host this world event twice in 2008 and 2016. It all started in the ’90s with the empirical competition experiences (from the 5 Ore in Malè to the Downhill races) and then at the beginning of two thousand, the first bid to host 2001 World Champs and then held in the USA.
After this first unsuccessful bid, in a few years the Gruppo Sportivo Mountain Bike Val di Sole Cup, lead by Renzo Job and Paolo De Bevilacqua, started organizing many high level competitions. Among which 2001 Italian Downhill Championships, 2002 Italian Cross Country Championships and 2005 European Downhill Championships.
Then came the bid for 2008 World Championships submitted to Uci by a Committee lead by current Apt (Tourism promotion agency) Luciano Rizzi. A winning project. An ambitious dream able to finally bring to Trentino the World Championship even if not even a single World Cup race in Val di Sole had been held. A gap bridged in May 2008, a few weeks before the World Championships, when a test event was held in Commezzadura, a year before the World Champs.
Since then, Val di Sole has never stopped: in addition to the various World Cup stages, double Elite-Master World Championships are held and in 2017 the World Cup finals will be hosted.
This is one of the many records in this area, which is now one of the most important tourist and sport venues in the world. It is the latest target of the Great Events group – lead by Aldo Bordati, with general director Sergio Battistini supported by general secretary Patrizia Daldoss – who collected the previous working experience, lead by Alfredo Ravelli and today is involved in the tourist and world challenge. After 2016 World events, 2017 World Cup finals are already a fixture in the calendar.
Alberto Penasa - Azienda Turismo Val di Sole
Viale Marconi, 7 - 3827 - Malè - (TN)
Tel. +39.0463.900863 - Fax +39.0463.901563
www.valdisole.net - penasa.a@valdisole.net
