Italy has a long history of international mountain bike stage races that have taken place all across the Alps to the north, and through the Apennine mountains that stretch the length of the peninsula. Likely the most storied of these events, Ironbike, celebrated 25 years in the running this past summer. With its 7-day format, 700km total ride length, and over 26,000 meters of climbing, several veterans of the multi-day format have deemed it the most difficult MTB stage race in the world. I’ll take their word for it.
This coming summer a new race will be added to the extensive Italian calendar
Appenninica MTB Stage Race, coming in July 2019, will be the first MTB stage race on the Italian divide between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The race format has been designed for two-person teams, with 7 stages + prologue, over 500km total course length, and 20,000m of climbing along the Alta via dei Parchi.
Head to appenninica-mtb.com for a promo code to sign up for the race in 2019.
