World Marathon Champion Roel Paulissen won the Gunn-Rita Marathon, which doubled as the Italian National Marathon Championships in Montebelluno. In her first race back after having a baby, Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa won the women's competition.
The men's race featured 16 climbs. "It was a challenge to race 116km. It's different racing marathons as proper organization is important. The last 30km were especially not easy in heavy, wet clay soil, however I won by nine minutes," said a happy Paulissen.
"This gives me extra confidence going into the European Championships in two weeks in the Netherlands."
Paulissen defeated Leonardo Paez (TX Active-Bianchi), who was second. Paez was slowed by a mechanical at 28km, which forced him to have to repair his chain at 30km. But he made a determined comeback to finish ahead of Italian Mirko Celestino, who became national marathon champion.
Paez will head home to Colombia for a period of training before he returns for the World Marathon Championhips.
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå returned to racing to win the race named after her.
"When I arrived at the finish, I did not realize I had won right away, as I thought that the strong Italian riders were all ahead of me. I'm still completely surprised as I did not exopect such a result," said the Norwegian. On the demanding course, she profitted from her experience to properly pace herself.
Dahle Flesjaa is unsure of what she will race next. "First I have to see how I recover from this effort, and then I'll continue with my build-up. Within a few days, I should be able to judge which races are a realistic option and make sense."
Eva Lechner finished second at 1:21, and Roberta Gasparini was third, with the same time.
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Elite men
1
Roel Paulissen
4:24:18
2
Hector Leonardo Paez Leon
0:09:30
3
Mirko Celestino
0:09:38
4
Mike Felderer
0:09:40
5
Mirko Pirazzoli
0:11:28
6
Massimo De Bertolis
0:14:24
7
Gilberto Simoni
0:14:58
8
Marzio Deho
0:15:48
9
Enrico Franzoi
0:19:00
10
Julio Humberto Caro Silva
0:19:02
11
Johann Pallhuber
Row 10 - Cell 2
12
Iván Gutiérrez
0:20:45
13
Juri Ragnoli
0:23:21
14
Michele Casagrande
0:26:02
15
Paolo Cesar Montoya Cantillo
0:27:02
16
Johnny Cattaneo
0:28:49
17
Pierluigi Bettelli
0:29:08
18
Paolo Alberati
0:30:42
19
Flavio Creuso
0:34:07
20
Massimiliano Milan
0:36:17
21
Johannes Schweiggl
0:36:22
22
Nicola Dalto
0:36:32
23
Simone Diviggiano
0:38:09
24
Luca Ronchi
0:44:04
25
Alexey Medvedev
0:44:13
26
Ramon Bianchi
0:46:16
27
Daniele Mensi
0:46:58
28
Ivan Degasperi
0:47:20
29
Federico Fuser
0:50:08
30
Alberto Olla
0:52:04
31
Federico Rizza
0:56:22
32
Simone Colombo
0:56:37
33
Marco Santinello
1:01:52
34
Marco Trentin
1:04:29
35
Diego Beltramo
1:06:31
36
Manuele Spadi
1:10:19
37
Alessandro Garziera
1:12:14
38
Marco Bastianel
1:28:44
39
Alessio Bisio
1:28:49
40
Daniel Pozzecco
1:35:38
41
Davide Finetto
1:40:38
42
Davide Cecchin
1:55:35
43
Nevio Cornaro
2:02:24
44
Matteo Garbin
3:16:57
45
Mirko Tessaro
3:48:26
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Elite women
1
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa
3:47:30
2
Eva Lechner
0:01:21
3
Roberta Gasparini
Row 2 - Cell 2
4
Elena Gaddoni
0:03:33
5
Elena Giacomuzzi
0:08:45
6
Alessia Ghezzo
0:13:58
7
Michela Benzoni
0:21:58
8
Sandra Klomp
0:27:49
9
Daniela Campuzano
0:39:11
10
Francesca Lonardelli
0:39:38
11
Nadia Tosi
0:59:00
12
Ilenia Lazzaro
1:12:28
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