A textbook split for Armellini, who defeats Busin. Three Scandivian women on the podium, Börjesjö dominates over Kettunen and Ivarsson.
Over 500 participants registered for this memorable 49th edition.
It required a photofinish to determine the winner of the 49th Granfondo Toblach Cortina on the first day of the classic race. Mattia Armellini (Team Futura) and Lorenzo Busin (Team Internorm) battled it out for the prestigious victory after a very intense 26 km race.
The women’s podium was entirely Scandinavian, with Malin Börjesjö (Team Internorm) pulling away immediately after the start from Finland’s Oona Kettunen (Team Futura), who made a comeback on the second lap and was then overtaken again. Third place went to her teammate Emma Ivarsson.
It was a splendid day today at the Nordic Arena, with sunshine, perfect snow, a pleasant temperature of -2°C and a large group of cross-country skiers representing 30 countries, making it a great success. Due to a winter that was not very wintery, the race was reduced to 26 km with two laps to be completed partly on the World Cup track and with an extension towards Lake Dobbiaco and the War Cemetery.
The first group started at 9.30 a.m. with the elite and amateurs in the first group, and then an hour later the other amateurs set off for a majestic ride on the tracks that hosted the Tour de Ski 15 days ago.
The best elite skiers immediately broke away from the group, maintaining high speed with high-performance skis. Armellini and Ferrari set the pace, with Busin, Rinner and Stefano Mich just one second behind, followed by their brother Riccardo, who kept the pursuers at bay, closely followed by Amhof and Lorenzi.
The lead group of the race saw constant changes at the top, with Busin covered by his teammate (Team Internorm) Ferrari, while Armellini studied his strategy to surprise the two leaders at the entrance to the stadium. On the short final uphill, Mattia Armellini caught up with Ferrari and engaged in a fierce head-to-head battle with Busin. Only a final burst of speed with a textbook split secured victory by a few centimetres for Armellini who beat Lorenzo Busin. Ferrari, for his part, earned a well-deserved podium finish ahead of Thomas Rinner and Stefano Mich, who finished with the same time.
Then came the plot twist after the flower ceremony had already concluded. The jury disqualified Ferrari for ‘skating,’ which is prohibited in classic races. Therefore, the official awards ceremony saw Thomas Rinner take bronze ahead of the Mich brothers.
Dietmar Nöckler was born and raised on these tracks, and today his good name was upheld by his brother Ivo (8th) and his father Friedrich, 39th overall, born in 1953, who found himself immediately behind a competitor born in 2002: chapeau!
Malin Börjesjö was skilful and tactical. She tried to keep up a fast pace among the best, deceiving her rival Kettunen, who was perhaps counting on jumping onto the top step of the podium, but in the final stretch, the Swede slipped away from the clutches of the Finn and crossed the finish line with a 42″ gap. Joy and a little disappointment for her. She was hoping for a great success as a pair, but her teammate and partner in life, Lorenzo Busin, finished “only” second. Emma Ivarsson, aware of the gap between her and the two leaders, took it easy and finished third, 3’21” behind, battling it out to the end with Austria’s Schmidhofer, who finished with the same time. The first Italian was Anna Giordan, in fifth place.