Courtesy of Maratona dles Dolomites/Alta Badia
Mattia Casse returns to Val Gardena for two-wheel summer season coaching
World Cup winner trades skis for biking problem.
After touchdown his first World Cup win right here final winter, Italian skier competes in Maratona dles Dolomites biking race
Mattia Casse returned to the location of his inaugural World Cup win this summer season, however to not relive the most effective day of his life.
In summer season, the 35-year-old Italian ski veteran is large into biking. Bombing down mountain passes on two wheels feels very similar to attacking Val Gardena’s Saslong course on skis.
Casse returned to the slopes of his breakthrough super-G victory final winter, the identical hill the place he earned his first World Cup podium in 2022. For the fifth straight summer season, he entered the Maratona dles Dolomites, an iconic biking race in Alta Badia that attracts 8,000 members from 92 nations. The occasion options three gran fondo choices. This July, Casse took on the traditional Sellaronda course, which climbs 55 kilometers and 1,780 meters over 4 steep mountain passes. A type of is the famed Gardena, the place the Saslong course winds under in lush inexperienced, framed by jagged Dolomite peaks in each path.
From Saslong to biking’s grand stage
“Each time I take part as a result of I believe it’s the most effective bike newbie race in Europe,” Casse says. “Every thing round that occasion is particular – group, lodging, volunteers, individuals and wonderful panorama.”
The Maratona is billed as an newbie race, however quite a few professionals line up yearly, together with former winners of the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. This July, Casse was the thirty fourth man throughout the Sellaronda end in 2 hours, 28 minutes, 43 seconds.
“My greatest second is the beginning time with buddies, sports activities champions and all the fellows round. Then for positive, once I’m on the highest of Pordoi Go and you may look throughout. It’s one thing unbelievable,” the skier says. “I like to come back to Gardena each in summer season however above all, as you’ll be able to think about, in winter. After I gained right here it was the most effective moments in my life.”
Hailing from Italy’s Piedmont area, Casse spends a lot of his summer season biking with buddies in close by Bergamo but in addition dedicates time to the Dolomites. This June, he joined the Castelli 24H, an in a single day biking race in Feltre.
Biking and snowboarding similarities
“I’m going biking as a result of I fall in love with wrestle and onerous work,” he says, including that two-wheel efforts are unbelievable coaching and preparation for ski racing.
“It’s a type of coaching that helps me to organize to be resistant and particular coaching with watt max to enhance my energy,” he says.
Within the Maratona, using up the steep passes means grinding in granny gear. Happening, cyclists hit 14-percent grades filled with hairpin turns, simply reaching 60 mph. Whereas terrifying for a lot of riders, it looks like a thrill – and truly on the sluggish facet – for Casse.
“I like pace each time and in all conditions,” he says, including that he has by no means in contrast his downhill pace on a motorcycle versus on skis. “I’m used to being quick on a motorcycle and by automobile, however by no means as quick as on my beloved skis.”
Casse has already circled the 2026 Maratona on his calendar for subsequent July. Within the meantime, he’ll attempt to defend his super-G title in Val Gardena and put together for his first Olympics – on residence snow, no much less – this February. Nonetheless, he prefers to take issues at some point at a time.
“I’m not ready for one thing particularly,” he says. “It will likely be a course of product of many days, many races and outcomes. I’ll stay the alternatives and present myself what I can catch.”
