Like the sound of gravel bike race through the stunning countryside of Alba, Italy complete with wine tasting en route? We certainly do.

Words and pictures by Alex Boyce.

Sun, wine, bikes.....

Christoph Sauser and Rebecca Gariboldi put on stunning performances to win the second round of the Gravel Road Series, The Langhe Gravel, in Alba, northern Italy back in June. The hills and surroundings of Alba provided a race which mixed technical riding with the right amount of pedalling. Taking in the incredible views amongst the hills and the immense vine yards of some of the most famous Barolo wine producers in the world.

This may help or hinder - be our guest!

Franco Monchiero, the organiser of the Alba race and Series director had this to say, "This circuit was truly gravel. I tried to design a stage race in the best way which for me highlighted what gravel racing is about.” The circuit wound its way between historic hilltop towns with castles and towers, with rest stops including wine tasting it made for an interesting slant to the racing!

Blue bird skies were the order of the day

100 riders signed up to race with one distinguished rider for whom gravel was a mix between cross country and marathon was Christophe Sauser (ex Olympic XC racer). Despite winning, it was not an easy task, with other competitive riders putting up a hard fight. Stage one saw Sauser and Martino Fruet (Italian XC and road racer) challenging each other strongly. However, the racing was decided on the final stage with just a few seconds separating the riders on a long grind up and down through the hills on varying surfaces during stage two.

It wouldn't be the same without a bit of sand to get bogged down in!

Fruet actually won the first stage, but Sauser soon showed his depth of experience by winning the longer and more technical stages two and three, still only by a margin of six seconds. Stefano Corino came in third position, a strong performer who won the very first gravel road race in Italy in 2015. Alex Lupato, a strong Italian Enduro rider, had a technical problem on stage two slowing him down and knocking him down the standings.

Wine or no wine, it was still a pretty competitive affair

In the female category, the young Rebecca Gariboldi a cyclocross specialist from team Isolmant Specialized continued her success in Alba following on from the first round in Castellania where she also had won.

What a beautiful way to see a country

Alba provide some challenging conditions with daytime temperatures reaching 30°C. However as the format of racing takes place over stages with transfers in between, riders have time to recover in between racing. The off-road sections also called upon riders technical skills, overall riders commented on how much fun the mix of panoramas, transfers, trails and racing was.

Views for miles

The race course itself was 80 km long and took riders up and down the hillsides. The area has just been designated a UNESCO area in 2014. Therefore holding a race like this in such a prestigious location was pretty incredible.

You're in wine country now

All riders took their fill of food, wine and trails. Race officials and riders all agreed that this was an excellent way to build a discipline and is heading in the right direction for the final round of racing in Bagno Vignoni – San Quirico d’Orcia on the 4th and 5th of November in Tuscany Italy.

With races set up like these, gravel racing is becoming more and more appealing!

You still need thighs like these....

Words and Photos - Alex Boyce