Category 1 racer Ruari Grant from Great Britain won the revised June edition of the Haute Route Dolomites 3-day gran fondo.

Moving the event from September to June offered more predictable weather, including perfect sunny riding conditions under glisteneing snow covered Dolomite peaks this past weekend.

With a total of 213km and 8,230 meters of climbing, all three stages left from the heart of the Dolomites in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy,  making logistics easy for the 400 riders registered for the sold-out event.

Grant started his assault early in stage 1 and climbed to victory atop Passo Valparola after riding 98km and 3300 meters vertical, finishing over 5 minutes ahead of Roedi Weststrate and Marco Rodero.

Stage 2 was 95km with 3370m vertical including a finish on the HC climb of  Tre Cime Di Lavaredo.  The results were almost identical to stage 1 with Grant finishing 7 minutes up on Weststrate and Rodero to virtually secure overall victory with only the final time trail remaining.

Sergei Pomoshnikov won the final 16.6km time trial up Passo Giau on Sunday with Grant second, followed by Weststrate and Rodero who were in a fierce battle for 2nd place overall.

At the finish atop Passo Giau, Rodero squeeked out 2nd place overall by a scant 8 seconds over Weststrate as Ruari Grant savored the thrill of winning his first Haute Route Dolomites.

Photos: Olivier Borgognon/Haute Route

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