2023 UCI Gravel World Championships: the Veneto exploration continues

The Veneto exploration continues

Host of the first two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships, the Italian region of Veneto enables riders to explore breathtaking landscapes charged with history.

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,” wrote Ernest Hemingway, who loved to ride for fun and was also captivated by bike races… the more epic the better. You get this knowledge of the terrain, the American writer added, “since you have to sweat up the hills and can coast down them.” He was very familiar with the terrain of Veneto, home of the second edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships, to be held on 7-8 October, after hosting the first edition in 2022.

Towards the end of World War I, Hemingway was only 18 years old. From Chicago, he had joined the Red Cross on the Italian front and went into the Dolomites, which inspired him to write “A Farewell to Arms”, in which an ambulance driver named Bartolomeo Aymo (after the Italian rider Bartolomeo Aimo, who stepped onto the podium of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the 1920s) states: “A bicycle is a splendid thing.”

A bicycle opens infinite horizons, as embodied by the array of riders – amateurs and Elite - who will take on the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships. A bike serves many purposes: it delivers thrilling competitions year after year; and ignites limitless adventures. Gravel riding brings together these elements and Veneto is a perfect venue for the discipline: it’s beautiful, young and modern, but also deeply rooted in the origins of bike riding and racing.

Escape rides

In 1919, Hemingway made his way back home, scarred by the war. Meanwhile Italy’s healing process included the return of the Giro d’Italia, whose first two stages visited Trento and Trieste, only recently annexed.

A century later, Veneto is the most visited region in Italy and the sixth most visited in the whole of Europe. And gravel riding is the perfect way to explore a territory and its history: compared to road riding its slower pace perfectly reflects Hemingway’s observations, and gravel’s off-road nature means virtually any path to discovery can be pursued.

“We ride bikes because that's enough to live life at its fullest,” echoes the manifesto of the Enough Cycling Collective, which organises the Memory Bike Festival.

The Enough Cycling Collective comprises ten of the many gravel enthusiasts to be found in Veneto. They have ties with professional road cycling - Asja Paladin and Mattia De Marchi are former pro riders, and Frank Bettini is the nephew of Paolo. But they’ve taken the ride to the wild side, with “a 720km long route which links several landmarks and key places along the front between Austria and Italy from 1916 to 1918 […] The route starts in Bassano del Grappa (Vicenza) and finishes in Asiago after crossing breathtaking and historically relevant areas like Fiume Piave, Monte Grappa and Monte Pasubio.”

"I didn't know there were so many small roads and dirt tracks"

“Gravel is perfect because it takes your mind off things, you discover new routes, you appreciate new places in the hills near home, on the Piave river,” says Asja Paladin’s sister, Soraya, who still races on the road with UCI Women’s WorldTeam Canyon//SRAM Racing. "I didn't know there were so many small roads and dirt tracks, I discovered them thanks to the gravel.”

From the Dolomites to Venice and the seaside, passing by the hills of Prosecco and along many lakes, these landscapes host many more gravel events, including an international classic, the Veneto Gravel, started in 2017. “A track loaded on your GPS will start you on this adventure, where, following your pace, with no time limit, you will live a unique experience”, the organisers promise, having designed several loops covering between 200 and 720 kilometres.

On similar terrain and competed over shorter distances, the 2022 UCI Gravel World Championships went from Vicenza to Cittadella. The 2023 UCI Worlds will explore a different part of the region, starting at Lago Le Bandie in Treviso and concluding in Pieve di Soligo. The new course contrasts with that of last year, offering more hilly challenges and landscapes.

With its dramatic history and its many rich and varied traditions, Veneto has much to offer its visitors. And riding a gravel bike is an ideal way to learn its contours and explore the area’s intimate richness.