The waiting is over. This weekend the ‘most freeride’ of the Italian skimo races

704 competitors from 18 different nations. 300 men’s and 22 women’s teams, 30 youth teams, 3 days of racing, 7000m of elevation gain distributed over 75 km of real off-piste skiing. On Sunday, the La Sportiva freeride prize, live streaming every afternoon of “Stage on Trial” with Silvano Gadin and numerous guests. This is what the 19ª edition 2.2 has in store for us. Download the starting list!

Everything is ready for a 19th edition of the Millet Tour du Rutor Extrême, an edition that promises to be awesome. The peaks of the Valgrisenche are covered in a thick layer of snow for the only Italian stage of La Grande Course 2018, a 3-day event sponsored by the Sci Club Corrado Gex which will attract 704 athletes from 18 different nations to the splendid village of Arvier. Awaiting them will be 3 days of racing that is “extrême”, both by name and by nature, with 7000m of elevation gain distributed over 75 km of real off-piste trails (40km uphill, 32 of free-riding, 5 of arêtes).

A thrilling weekend to be lived to the full, a race that raises the tension to the point of sleeplessness.   Something the young champion of the Army Sports Centre Davide Magnini knows well: at the end of the Sellaronda Skimarathon he received a call. The sort of call you dream about as a child, but which at the same time gives you butterflies:  «On Friday evening Michele Boscacci asked me to race the Millet Tour du Rutor Extrême with him. Obviously I said yes, even if racing with the leader of La Grande Course in my first year as a senior is a huge responsibility». Elaborating further, the promising athlete from the Trentino area went on to say: «I am honoured but a bit worried at the same time. I have raced the Rutor twice in the youth categories, but this will be a totally different ball game. I know I’m in good shape, but I don’t know how I will perform on such a tough and testing stage race. And particularly, I don’t know what it will be like to race against the big names with a teammate who is set on winning. All I can say is, I hope I’ll be ready. This is a super classic race, one of the best and most prestigious skimo competitions in the world… I will do everything in my power to make the best of the opportunity that Michele and the Army sports coaches have given me».

Glancing down the starting list, apart from the new duo Boscacci – Magnini, the other team from the Italian Army Sports Centre made up of Matteo Eydallin and Nadir Maguet is well worth keeping an eye on. After the injury to the Catalan Kilian Jornet, the Austrian Jakob Hermann will be teaming up with Filippo Barazzuol from Italy. Also in the running for top spot are Xavier Gachet – William Bon Mardion from France and the winners of the last Sellaronda Werner Marti – Martin Anthamatten.

The youth competition promises to be equally spectacular, with 30 teams competing from Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain who will race over a course designed especially for them.  And it looks as if we are in for a hard-fought battle and possibly for the tables to be turned in the women’s race as well, after the fireworks we saw in the first stage of the La Grande Course, between Katia Tomatis – Alba De Silvestro from Italy and the Franco-Swiss pair Axelle Mollaret – Jennifer Fiechter. The role of outsider will be filled by  Séverine Pont Combe from Switzerland who will be teaming up on this occasion with Lorna Bonnel from France. Amongst the 22 teams in the women’s TdR, a mention must also go to Martina Valmassoi – Martina De Silvestro from the Veneto region and to the home champion Gloriana Pellissier racing in the Team Millet. She will be racing together with Chiara Musso, chosen after a rigorous selection process.

The last few frenetic hours of work and then… “Show Time”. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, amidst a real escalation of emotions, scores of champions and a number of top teams carefully selected on the basis of their resumés, will battle it out in this legendary competition, an event for real freeriders. On the long final descent on the last day of racing, almost 2000m of fast free-riding down to the finishing line, just to raise the level of adrenaline a tiny bit further, a special prize offered by La Sportiva will be awarded to the duo that takes the least time to ski down from 3422m of the Château Blanc to the 1554m of the finishing line at Planaval.

Download the starting list!