Oliviero Bosatelli collects his second victory: he is the king of TOR X

Oliviero Bosatelli is the winner of the tenth edition of Tor des Géants®. The giant from Bergamo, Team E-Rock, crossed the finish line in Courmayeur this morning at lunch time, concluding his hard voyage in 72h37’13”.
Bosatelli, 50 years old, firefighter, collects his second victory at TOR after 2016. Waiting for him, to celebrate the event, his wife Nadia with a cake and two candles that “Popeye”, as his fans club call him, blew out with the last breath remained in his lungs, visibly touched.
Bosatelli spent the first part of the race wisely: in the first 100 km he stayed behind Franco Collé and Peter Kienzl, both retired after the first night for physical problems. At Donnas life base, right before the half of the race, the turning point: “Bosa” comes in second, behind French Romain Olivier, great protagonist this year, but stopped only 15 minutes and took the first place. From then on, despite a painful knee and other problems, never looked back.
Galen Reynolds tried to make life difficult for him, and was only one hour behind Bosatelli in Valtournenche, but had to slow down yesterday for important breathing problems. He is expected in Courmayeur in the afternoon, more than four hours later than the winner. In third position French Romain Olivier, recovering and only one hour behind Reynolds.
The women ranking is always led by an extraordinary Silvia Trigueros Garrote, seventh overall, with many hours of advantage on Jocelyne Pauly and Sonia Furtado. She is expected to finish her race in the first hours of tomorrow, Thursday 12 September.

“I almost withdrew twice – he said at the finish line – the first night for a problem at the right eye, and then for a bad bronchitis and subsequent difficulties in breathing. We all suffered the freezing cold, particularly during the first night”. The champion bit the bullet and continued his race, focusing on every single step. “I understood that I would win only here, on the finish line: many people yesterday told me that I had a big advantage, but I did not believe it until the end”.

Bosatelli joins Franco Collé in the hall of fame with two victories, although he did not make better than his personal best (69h16’19”) in 2017, when he came second behind Javi Dominguez Ledo (67h52’15”, record of the race).
He spent his sports life running marathons, but approached trail only recently and obtained immediately great results: second at Orobie Ultra Trail in 2015 and a victory in 2016, winning TOR in 2016 and Tor des Châteaux in 2017, when he was also second at TOR (last year he was fourth), while this year he was third at Südtirol Ultra Skyrace 2019 - Ultra Skyrace.