HERO 2023

WORLD TOUGHEST MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE

WORLD TOUGHEST MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE WON BY MOUNTAIN SPECIALIST AND GERMAN WOMEN BIKER

HERO SOUTH TYROL DOLOMITE
SOUTH TYROL

DOLOMITES

ALPS

ITALY
LENGTH: 05.07 (incl. 3D map clips of route)

SOURCE: KONGSHAUG WITH  HERO

DATE: 17.6. 2023

FREE COPYRIGHT ON ALL PLATFORMS

STORY
The toughest mountain bike marathon in the world just took place on top of 10 mountain peaks in the Dolomites in the Alps.

Several world champions of both men and women competed with 3,000 cyclists from over 41 countries from all continents.

Among the men bikers was UCI marathon world rankings top three: Nr. 1 Italian Fabian Rabensteiner,  2nd  and 2021 HERO winner German Andreas Seewald, and 3rd. Czech Martin Stoše. Also, mountain specialists, Columbian Leonardo Paez, Swiss Urs Huber, Austrian Alban Lakata, and Diego Arias Cuervo from Columbia participated as well.

They took off on an 86 km (53 mile) and 4,500 hm route, lasting an app. 5 hours. The mountains around the starting point of Gardena is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This part of the Dolomites also hosts  the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in the winter.

HERO MTB has now also been recognised by UCI as a Hors Classe race, such as Grand Tours like the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España.

HERO Südtirol Dolomite is broadcasted in a good 85 countries across five continents.

Five cyclists took off: Austrian Daniel Geismayr, Czech Martin Stosek, Samuele Porro from Italy, the two Colombian Diego Arias Cuervo and Leonardo Paez.

The five cyclists kept equal pace until the foot of the killer climb to the The
Here, Paez sped up, getting a nearly 4 minutes’ advantage compared to the other four.
After that, Paez cycled solo. Hector Leonardo Paez is 2 times World Champion. 4 times National Champion. Winner of 35 races and is World Ranking 8. This was his 8th HERO victory.

Second came Italian Porro Samuele, that is 6 times National Champion and third the second columbian mountain specialist and 2 times National Champion Arias Cuervo Diego Alfonso.
. 

The women’s race was on the 60 km and 3,200 hm course and  just as exciting. 

The top two in the UCI ranking, Lejla Njemčevic from Bosnia and Stefanie Dohrn from Germany, were competing against German Adelheid Morath, winner of the 2022 edition, and Katazina Sozna, the 2018 and 2021 winner from Italy.

The German Morath Adelheid kept a high gear in company with Sosna Katazina, Lithuania and Italian Mairhofer Sandra  

Morath Adelheid, world ranking 6 was fighting against world ranking 4, Sosna Katazin from Lithuania. They kept together over 5 peaks. Morath Adelheid was driving a higher gear and in the end did last year’s HERO champion Morath Adelheid from Germany again advance before the last climb to Passo Gardena. Morath Adelheid is 1 time World Cup winner and 4 times National German Champion. With the German flag and a time of nearly 4 hours (3:58.59,5 ) she won and said:
“I choose to go alone and on the last on the fourth line I go all in, and I’m quite done for today. Yes”

2 minutes later came Lithuanian-Italian cyclist Katazina Sosna from Torpado Factory Team (4:02.07,4) and third surprised local South Tyrolean Sandra Mairhofer 50 seconds later as 3d. Sandra is ranked as nr. 71 in the world.

Paez Leon Hector Leonardo finished in 4:29.05,9. Porro from Italy came second 6 min.37 seconds after in 4:36.29,9. In third place, Colombian Diego Arias Cuervo from Team Futura ASD, who was behind the winner by 7 ’34”. 

Austrian Daniel Geismayr, and Czech Martin Stosek came in 4th. and 5th.

The peaks of the Dolomite mountains are from 1.5 km to 2.3 km.

END

SHOTLIST 

  • HELICOPTER THE DOLOMITES, THE ALPS
  • MEN TEAM AT THE STARTING LINE
  • MEN TEAM START
  • DRONE OF MEN START
  • DRONE OF STREETS WITH MANY CYCLISTS
  • DRONE OF MEN CLIMBING HILLS
  • DRONE OF MEN PASSING LOGS ON ROAD
  • DRONE OF MEN PASSING BY BALLOON
  • SIDE VIEW OF MEN GOING UP HILL
  • MEN GOING UPHILL WITH GONDOLAS IN THE BACKGROUND
  • DRONE OF PATH SNAKING THROUGH VALLEY
  • MAN ON BIKE, SHOWING THE TOUGH CLIMB
  • 5 MEN CYCLING CLOSE TO EACH OTHER WITH HILLS IN BACKGROUND
  • 3D MAP OF CYCLE ROUTE
  • CYCLISTS GOING DOWNHILL
  • CYCLISTS GOING DOWNHILL WITH GONDOLAS IN THE FOREGROUND
  • CYCLISTS GOING FROM SMALL PATH TO BIG ROAD
  • CYCLISTS PASSING BY CATTLE
  • HELICOPTER OF CYCLIST ATOP MOUNTAIN, GOING DOWN ROAD
  • CYCLIST ALONE IN FRONT 
  • FIRST PLACE CYCLIST GOING DOWN HILL
  • 3D MAP OF COMPLETE ROUTE
  • FIRST PLACE CYCLIST GOING DOWN THE FINAL PATH TOWARDS FINISH LINE
  • FIRST PLACE PASSING FINISH LINE
  • SECOND PLACE PASSING FINISH LINE
  • THIRD PLACE PASSING FINISH LINE
  • SOUNDBITE, Paez Leon Hector Leonardo – COL
    (TRANSLATION:
    It’s not easy to win 8 times this race. I’ve been 11 times at the start. My motivation is the fun I still have on the bike. I love this sport and this pushes me to great results.
    I know this race very well, I’m coming from a period I didn’t feel very well but I wanted to be here in shape. I had a good feeling on the first climb so I tried to make selection on the Ornella, the most difficult part and I made it. After that it was a long ride to the finish. It’s good.)
  • HELICOPTER SHOT OF VILLAGE
  • WOMEN AT START LINE
  • WOMEN STARTING RACE
  • WOMEN GOING UP HILL
  • WOMEN GOING UP HILLSIDE
  • SIDE VIEW SHOWING TOUGH CLIMB
  • HELICOPTER SHOWING CYCLISTS GOING UP HILL
  • HELICOPTER SHOWING CYCLISTS GOING DOWN HILL ON SMALL PATH
  • ZOOM OUT SHOWING TWO FEMALE CYCLISTS ON TOP OF MOUNTAIN
  • FOLLOWING FIRST PLACE WOMAN CYCLIST GOING THROUGH PATH
  • FIRST PLACE WOMAN CYCLIST REACHING FINISHING LINE
  • SECOND PLACE PASS FINISHING LINE
  • THIRD PLACE PASSING FINISH LINE
  • SOUNDBITE Morath Adelheid – GERMAN, Winner:
     “I choose to go alone and on the last on the fourth line I go all in, and I’m quite done for today. Yes”
  • WOMAN SPRAYING CHAMPAGNE
  • MEN SPRAYING CHAMPAGNE

END

2023 BMW HERO SÜDTIROL DOLOMITES RANKING, MEN (86 KM)

  1. Paez Leon Hector Leonardo – COL – SOUDAL LEECOUGAN INTERNATIONAL TEAM – 4:29.05,9
  2. Porro Samuele – ITA – WILIER-PIRELLI FACTORY TEAM MX – 4:36.29,9
  3. Arias Cuervo Diego Alfonso – COL – FUTURA ASD – 4:36.39,9
  4. Geismayr Daniel – AUT – WILIER-PIRELLI FACTORY TEAM MX – 4:37.30,0
  5. Stosek Martin – CZE – Canyon Northwave MTB Team – 4:38.36,2

2023 BMW HERO SÜDTIROL DOLOMITES RANKING, WOMEN (60 KM)

  1. Morath Adelheid – GER – Team Mount7 – 3:58.59,
  2. Sosna Katazina – LTU – TORPADO FACTORY TEAM – 4:02.07,4
  3. Mairhofer Sandra – ITA – A.S.D. GRANBIKE VELO CLUB – 4:02.57,1
  4. Dohrn Stefanie – GER – CANYON NORTHWAVE MTB TEAM– 4:08.13,4
  5. Njemcevic Lejla – BIH – Allebike – 4:09.44,9

LINKS:

 

Riders:

https://mtbdata.com/riders/

 

Hector Leonardo Leon

https://mtbdata.com/riders/hector-leonardo-paez-leon

Samuel Porro, Italy

https://mtbdata.com/riders/samuele-porro

 

Adelheid Morath, Germany.

https://mtbdata.com/riders/adelheid-morath

 

Sosna Katazina 

https://mtbdata.com/riders/katazina-sosna

Elena Gaddoni

http://www.cyclingarchives.com/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=20988

 

3D MAP:
https://www.herodolomites.com/en/the-race/courses

 

All rankings and intermediate timings can be found at datasport.com

 

For further information visit www.herodolomites.com    

 

Pictures available at www.herodolomites.com