Istria Granfondo
Date
Friday 12.04.2024 - 13.04.2024Distances
21.8 - 87 - 112 kmCity
Umag
Country
CroatiaThe Istria Gran Fondo is one of the biggest mass participation events in Croatia and exists since 2012. The race is organized on the most northeastern part of the country on the borders of Italy and is the ideal place to combine some vacation with the event as all is located within a holiday resort complex.
General
Istria is the biggest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea and is spread over three different countries. A small part of Istria is located in Italy and another small part in Slovenia as the small corridor connecting the country with the sea, but the major part of the peninsula belongs to Croatia as the most northern part of the country.
With its 445km coastline, the region is mostly famous for its tourism along the Adriatic Sea with Venice on the other side. Famous cities like Pula, Porec, Rovinj and Umag where the event takes place are worth visiting for their historic heritage.
Other places worth visiting are the Lim channel, the Ziatni Rt Sijana woods near Pula or the national parks of Brijuni and Ucka, protected regions in Istria.
For more information, visit the following website: coloursofistria.com/en
Road race
The course of the Istria Gran Fondo has two distances, all spread over the Istria peninsula combining flat parts with some climbs in the middle of the course.
Granfondo distance
The race starts with a first flat ten kilometres following the coast line to the south with a minor elevation leaving the coast but the first 30km are mainly flat and fast.
The course meets the local lap of the granfondo course after 38km after a first smaller climb before going down and entering the hardest climb of the day, Oprtalj The 6km long climb has an average gradient of 7.8% with a peak over 12% towards the highest point of the day at 378m above sea level. The climb has some beautiful switchbacks and the steepest parts are located in the beginning.
During the Granfondo, riders do 25km loop with a second time the Oprtalj climb before heading back to Umag for the finish.
Total distance for the granfondo is 112km with 1745m of elevation.
The granfondo distance is the official qualifier distance for all men 19-59 and women 19-49.
Mediofondo distance
The mediofondo course follows the same route as the granfondo but going right after 60km, skipping the second 25km loop resulting in a 87km distance and 1254m of elevation.
The mediofondo distance is the official qualifier distance for all men 60+ and women 50+.
Time Trial
The time trial course has had an update for 2024 with a back-and-forth loop towards a turning point halfway at km 10.5. The first part is slightly going up with start at sea level and a highest point at 117m above the sea. Total elevation is 240m.
