Last week written we wrote that Strava was misusing the name gran fondo for their challenges. We knew it. The reactions, both positive and negative, were unrelenting. We explain what a gran fondo is and delve deeper into its origins.
A gran fondo is an organized ride for cycling tourists with timekeeping. Outdoors, through nature and usually through mountains or hills. There is nothing that brings you closer to the feeling of being a professional cyclist. A lot of events do the cols you know from the Grand Tours. Mont Ventoux, Stelvio, Alpe d'Huez, Tourmalet, Mortirolo, La Planche des Belles Filles; every famous climb has at least one or more gran fondos.
Goedemorgen, dit is een zin zonder punt
In the early morning, thousands of cyclists stand nervously before the start. Some to ride a good classification, others to achieve a certain time and many just want to finish it. Everyone sets their own goal and that's what makes it so cool. It's a fight against nature, the conditions and yourself.
That Strava is hot we know, of course. It's a fun app with lots of features. The social aspect makes it really cool. We ourselves use it as well. The use of the name gran fondo we find less successful. Hence our complaint. Who cares? wrote someone in a comment. Well we do.
“It's like calling a 5-kilometer charity walk a marathon.”
And not just us, someone like Uli Fluhme also has a clear opinion about Strava gran fondos. Uli is a citizen of the world and owner of GFNY, a series of 20 high-quality organized international gran fondos. Like no other, he knows the background and origins of this phenomenon. “Strava is the worst,” he says. “We fought the misuse of the term for several years and finally gave up. That's why since 2015 our races are simply called GFNY and no longer gran fondo. It's like calling a 5-kilometer charity walk a marathon. Marketers destroy all beautiful things."
In general, the Italian Nove Colli is considered the mother of all gran fondos. In 1971, the first edition was held with only 17 participants. In a short time it grew into a mega-event that to this day ranks among the most popular cyclosportive events in Europe.
In the cradle of gran fondos, Italy, they know how to appreciate its popularity. For several years, the Giro d'Italia has honored a great gran fondo by planning a stage along the event's route. In 2016, the famous Maratona dles Dolomites celebrated its 30th edition. That prompted the Giro's course builders to plan a stage over the Maratona's route. Three years later, it was the Sportful Dolomiti Race's turn because of its 25th edition. And this year the pros rode in the pouring rain along the route of the Nove Colli that was to be held for the 50th time. And according to strong rumors, in 2021 the Giro will pass by La Fausto Coppi, another legendary gran fondo.
Italians are proud of their granfondo culture and cherish the tradition. CycloWorld supports this wholeheartedly. We believe everyone should know the origins and meaning of the real gran fondo.
Goedemorgen, dit is een zin met punt.
Loose or together? Here the Italians are a little less unambiguous. Usually gran fondo is used, but gran fondo is also encountered. Internationally, gran fondo is usually adhered to.
Uli Fluhme: “The Italian term gran fondo freely translated means ‘long-distance race’ and comes from cross-country skiing. There are even rowing gran fondos in Italy. No Italian will ever call it fondo because that means bottom. Rather, they call it gara (race). Many gran fondos have three distances: lungo, medio and corto."
We can be brief about that: there is no difference. Gran fondo is a French word derived from cyclosportive. It means the same as gran fondo and is used particularly in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Because both terms are used interchangeably in the Benelux countries, confusion sometimes arises. In the rest of the world gran fondo is used to indicate this type of event.
At CycloWorld we use a sharp definition for gran fondo or cyclo:
By the way, there are always events that do not meet 100% of all conditions. In that case we will make our own decision, taking into account the competitive or non-competitive character of a tour.
Rides without timekeeping are sportives, even though organizers sometimes refer to them as gran fondo. That is allowed, cyclo is not a protected title, but it is not pure.
A small number of gran fondos use the term marathon. The Ötztaler Radmarathon and the Dolomites Marathon are the most well-known examples. In MTB, cyclo and gran fondo are not used. There the term marathon is always used for events that are similar in structure to a gran fondo. Important detail: in Austria a Radmarathon is a race, in Germany a sportive.
So the origin of gran fondo riding lies in Europe. Almost every country has several, sometimes hundreds (Italy, France), of events. It is booming; in recent years, the number of new events has increased dramatically.
In the meantime, this form of cycling has expanded around the world. A wonderful granfondo culture has been built up in the United States and Canada. But you can also find numerous cyclosportive events in Asia, Australia, Africa and Latin America.
.There are some major players. GFNY is a global circuit of 20 events that concludes each year with the GFNY World Championship in New York. The UCI, in cooperation with the Belgian Golazo, organizes the official UCI Gran Fondo World Series. A series of events through which riders qualify for grand finals that are held somewhere else each year. And with the L'Etape series, the ASO also has an international gran fondo competition.
Do you also want to ride a gran fondo, but don't know where to find them? CycloWorld has the largest international overview. Our calendar offers more than 4,000 events for cycling tourists. Not only gran fondos, you will also find sportives, stage races and gravel rides. Feel free to look around and start your planning for next year.
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