The Monsterrato Gravel Race changes its name; for 2024 it will be “Monsterrando – Strade Bianche Monferrato”.
The great result of 2023 of the “Monsterrato Gravel Race” 2023 of Quattordio has committed the organizing staff to a new edition, more competitive, richer and more focused on the new cycling discipline of continental Gravel competitions.
It will be called “Monsterrando – Strade Bianche Monferrato” for 2024, and the goal is to bring many participants to discover the naturalistic and landscape beauties of the Monferrato territories, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014.
Returning to 2023, the Quattordio race was the only qualifying test in Italy for the Gravel World Championship organized by the UCI (International Cycling Union), held in the same year in Veneto on 7 and 8 October, between Vicenza and Cittadella.
Among the 600 starters of the Quattordio race there were athletes of great competitive calibre; from the Italian National Cyclocross Team, led by CT Daniele Pontoni, to the former professional Daniel Oss, a specialist in road cycling classics, Peter Sagan’s faithful domestique and World Champion in Team Time Trials (2014/2015) as well as the Elite cyclist Igor Zanetti, 2022 Gravel World Champion in his category.
But the list of “famous people” does not end here, from the Formula 1 circuits to the Strade Bianche, dirt roads and asphalt of Monferrato, “aboard” his bicycle, on the starting grid, there was the former French driver, Alain Prost, four-time world champion with a single-seater.
The F1 World Champion said in an interview; “I love Monferrato and I will definitely return in the future. Here in Monferrato I had a beautiful holiday and by bike it was even more beautiful”.
The finish line in Quattordio was crossed by the Czech Petr Vakoč of Team Canyon, a former professional, with an average of 34 km after 125 km of dirt and gravel roads. Second place went to the Belgian, after 6 minutes, Jan Bakelants, winner of a stage at the 2013 Tour de France, while for the women’s sector the first classified was the Danish Annika Langvad, winner of an Elite Cross Country world title and five Marathon world titles in her career.
The 2023 UCI World Championship, held in Vicenza in Veneto on 7 and 8 October, ended with the rainbow jersey going to Matej Mohoric; the Slovenian from Team Bahrain Victorious, who despite falling on the descent 3 km from the finish line, is the 2023 Gravel World Champion.
Second place and silver medal went to the Belgian Florian Vermeersh, who was also unlucky due to a chain slip.
Third place for the British Connor Swift ahead of the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde while Wout Van Aert, the Belgian three-time Cyclocross World Champion (2016, 2017 and 2018) is only eighth, behind the Italian Simone Velasco and ahead of his compatriot Alessandro Demarchi.
The first edition of the 2022 UCI Gravel World Championships, run between the Unesco Hills of Valdobbiadene, was dominated by the Belgian cyclist Gianni Vermeersch while on the podium the Italian Daniel Oss took the silver medal and third Mathieu van der Poel.
Who will be the new 2024 World Champion?
We will find out, following the qualifying trials, and the “Monsterrando – Strade Bianche Monferrato” is among them, at the “Bolero UCI Gravel World Championships” on 5 and 6 October in Flanders in Belgium.
