Maratona dles Dolomites Sportive 2015

The Maratona is one of Europe's biggest cyclosportives, taking place in July each year and attracting 9000 entrants to the picturesque Dolomites region in northern Italy.

Billed as a race on (mostly) closed roads, the Maratona starts and finishes in the ski resort of Alta Badia. The winner usually finishes in a little under 5 hours.

The Maratona route takes in seven major climbs:

Passo Campolongo (length: 5.8km, average gradient: 6.1%)

Passo Pordoi (length: 9.2km, average gradient: 6.9%)

Passo Sella (length: 5.5km, average gradient: 7.9%)

Passo Gardena (length: 5.8km, average gradient: 4.3%)

Passo Giau (length: 9.9km, average gradient: 9.3%)

Passo Valparola (length: 11.8km, average gradient: 6.7%)

Mür dl giat (the cat wall) (length: 300m, average gradient: 13.1%)

A Maratona Village is set up around the event in the town of San Leonardo with a fan zone, pasta and music, big screens, a shuttle service to nearby towns and of course concession stands from leading cycling brands including Pinarello, Campagnolo, Mavic and Selle Italia.

How to enter

Entry to the Maratona is by ballot due to the huge demand for places. The registration window for the 2015 Maratona opened in September 2014, closing on 5 November. A non-refundable €2 pre-registration fee is applied, with entry for the 2014 edition costing €87 + a refundable €10 deposit for the timing chip.

Starting packages (hotel+registration) are available from the official Tour operator Holimites and usually go on sale in October for the following year's event: www.holimites.com

A further 380 charity registrations will be sold online in two tranches from November on www.maratona.it.