Majka Gran Fondo is a traditional Granfondo and time trial in the UCI Gran Fondo World Series with Rafal Majka (UAE team) as the perfect host to guide you on his training courses in and around Myslenice near Krakow.
General
Myslenice is a city in the south of Poland in a region called Lesser Poland Voivodeship with a population of 20,000. The city is located on the European E77 route, connecting the Baltic countries with Hungary.
The Raba River and the Chelm Mountains are famous tourist attractions in the region.
Nearby Krakow (30 km) is Poland’s second largest city with almost 800,000 inhabitants. The city is famous for its historical monuments with also the Wieliczka Salt Mine, the Tatra Mountains and the Auschwitz Nazi Concentration Camp as tourist attractions nearby.
Time Trial
The 20km time trial is an out and back loop starting from the town of Dobczyce (15km west of Myslenice where the road races will be held and 30km south of Krakow) to a turning point. The course is mostly flat with a few hundred meters a bit steeper in the second kilometer, then climbs slightly towards the point where the riders must turn to return on the same road to the finish in Dobczyce.
Road race
The Granfondo has two distances. The shorter 72km course counts as the qualifying distance for men 60+ and women 50+, while the longer 105km course is the official qualifying distance for all men 19 to 59 and women aged 19 to 49. Both courses share the same first 42 km where the mediofondo climbs back towards the finish line, while the granfondo makes another loop and does the part between km32-42 a second time before connecting again with the mediofondo route towards the arrival.
The courses have respectively 900 and 1400m of elevation and can be considered as rather flat with some climbs that are never very steep or long. The difference between the lowest point and the highest point of the race is only 150m, a section that is done between km 52-55.
