And since 2005 a Granfondo too

Wilier Triestina, a “marketing-oriented” company
The marketing and brand consolidation strategy adopted by the Gastaldello family especially in recent years has expanded to the world of “granfondo”, a type of race which gained ground beyond any expectation and attracts a huge number of cyclists.
The opportunity of entering a Wilier Triestina granfondo in the competition calendar presented itself in 2005 thanks to the availability of the Pool Ciclistico Città di Vicenza, which for five years had been organising the “Città di Vicenza” among the climbs of the Berici Hills, an event entered in the Criterium Veneto. The 5th Gran Fondo Wilier Triestina was held on Sunday 5 June 2005, a few days after another big event the Gastaldello family was the promoter and author of:


the arrival in Rossano Veneto of the 10th stage of the 88th Giro d’Italia, Wednesday 18 May 2005.
More than a thousand competitors were at the start line, including two huge names: the home idol Emanuele Sella and the Cofidis captain Leonardo Bertagnolli. The Wilier Triestina Gran Fondo extended into twelve municipalities. Two routes to choose from, 161 and 104 kilometres. In the longest the greatest hurdles were the three climbs of San Gottardo from various approaches, with the intermediate peaks of Pozzolo, Grancona, Villabalzana and Scudeletta. In the mediofondo San Gottardo appeared twice, at the start and end, with Pozzolo and Grancona in the middle. The headquarters of the event were placed at Campo Marzio, Vicenza, near the railway station.
The presence of Wilier Triestina in its capacity as main sponsor coincided with the birth of the Gran Premio Wilier Triestina, reserved to owners of bikes from the Rossano Veneto company. It was a race within a race, for which additional prizes were awarded in the eight male and female categories set by the regulations. “We had been thinking for some time of creating a granfondo which bore our name – Andrea Gastaldello explained during the presentation. Since there was already this granfondo in our area, more and more popular every year, we thought it worthwhile to unite our efforts with those of the Pool Ciclistico Città di Vicenza to make their event grow even more”.

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17th December 2013