The second UCI Marathon World Championships have been won by Massimo de Bertolis and the all-conquering Gunn-Rita Dahle. The 106km Bad Goisern, Austria course was always going to be a tough proposition, with extensive technical sections and a healthy 3,693m of climbing, but wet weather made for added challenge. It proved no hindrance to Norwegian World Cup Champion Dahle, though. In typical style, she rode away from the pack early on and rode her own race from the front, completing the course in 5:28:12.45. Second-placed Irina Kalientieva, racing in her first marathon event, was nearly twenty minutes behind, but only a couple of minutes ahead of MTB newcomer Blaza Klemencic of Slovenia.

A hard-fought men’s race saw Italian rider Massimo de Bertolis giving it everything he had to cross the line in 4:37:31.9. Another novice when it comes to marathon racing, de Bertolis found himself in a group with experienced long-distance racers like Bart Brentjens, Thomas Dietsch and Austrian Marathon Champion Alban Lakata. He managed to shake most of them off, although Dietsch hung on until the bitter end, finishing just a couple of minutes down. Bart Brentjens, runner-up last year, was third, capitalizing on the technical sections later in the race to work his way up the field.

Full results are at www.sport-timing.at. The Austrian Merida 100 Marathon event was run in conjunction with the World Championships – more on that shortly…