Petr Vakoč (Canyon Isadore) and Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ceratizit WNT) won a sweltering edition of the Monsterrando, this year's second round of the UCI Gravel World Series in Italy.
Arzuffi, who was taking on her very first gravel race, delivered a home-nation victory by coming over the line nearly six minutes ahead of the experienced gravel racer Karolina Migon (PAS Racing) and seven minutes ahead of compatriot and fellow road racer Elena Cecchini (SD Worx-Protime).
In the elite men's race Vakoč crossed the line in Quattordio more than two minutes ahead of Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek Driftless) to claim victory at the race for a second year in a row and also deliver his first UCI Gravel World Series victory of the season. Asbjørn Hellemose was third almost a minute further back.
"Feels so good to be on the top spot of the podium again," said the 2024 The Traka 200 winner on Instagram. "More than 4,5 hours of hard racing through the vineyards of beautiful Monferrato region."
"At one point it seemed the heat will take the better of me but managed to overcome few hard moments and found something extra in the last 25km of the race to win the race solo."
The event has been part of the UCI Gravel World Series since the first year in 2022, though this year it's name was changed from La Monsterrato and an extra section was added to extend the race which started and finished in Quattordio. This time the riders passed through the Barbera wine region to the southeast as well before looping back up through the start/finish area and then heading north to the familiar part of the course. They took on 152km on the undulating rural roads before crossing the finish line.
The Monsterrando round is among the final qualifying events for the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium on October 5-6, with both Sea Otter Europe in Spain and Graean Cymru in the United Kingdom still to come in September.
