Arzuffi and Vakoc fastest at UCI Monsterrando – Strade Bianche Monferrato

The Monsterrando – Strade Bianche Monferrato race in the Piemonte vineyard region of Italy took place this weekend, with only 3 rounds remaining before the championships in Belgium this October

The race was held in the famous Italian Monferrato wine region from Quattordio, a small town in the Monferrato wine region in Piemonte, full of “Strade Bianche” on undulating rural roads.

The circuit winded through all the small villages and towns for a first loop to the east to come back after 76km over the same roads that was already taken to make a western loop with a lot of turns and small rural roads before heading back to the south to finish in Quattordio. The shorter 113km Medio route made a shortcut across 152km Gran route.

32-year old Czech rider Petr Vakoc (Integray L27) attacked and went solo finishing in a time of 4:37:11, finishing over two minutes ahead of Norwegian Andre Roed Torbjorn (4:39:23) and Danish rider Asbjorn Hellemose (4:40:16) in third place.

In the women's race 30 year-old Italian Alice Maria Arzuffi (G.S. Fiamme Oro / Team Ceratizit) won in a time of 5:10:48 ahead of Polish rider Karolina Migon (5:16:32) and Italian Elena Cecchini (5:17:48) in third place.

In the shorter 76km Medio Fondo for masters, Italian Filippo Ceci (Free Bike Team) won the men's race and Italian Elisabetta Mantoan (Tesseramento Giornaliero) won the women's race.

Riders finishing in the top 25% in their age/gender category have automatically qualified to participate in the UCI Gravel World Championships in Flanders, Belgium, October 5-6th, 2024.

The three remaining qualifying races include Alpine Gravel Challenge in Switzerland on September 8th, Sea Otter Europe in Spain on September 21st and Graean-Cymru in Wales, UK on September 22nd.

Link to 2024 UCI Monsterrando – Strade Bianche Monferrato results: www.endu.net/en/events/monsterrando/results