Theres no need for UCi points or special qualification for these events, anyone done one? Are they worth the €€€€'s? (Entry fee was quite reasonable actually, €40 or €60 I forget.)

Not quite. The Dolomiti Superbike in Villabassa/Niederdorf in Northern Italy (Sudtirol) was a Marathon World Cup this year.

It gets 3000 entries, only 150 men in World Cup. The World Cup riders go first.

It was excellent - the whole valley supported the race. Not very technical though. An awful lot of bling on the start grids.

As it turned out, I would have placed about 90th in World Cup. But I was 170th in the full 119 km race! I overtook numerous World Cup stragglers.

So that shows the level of competition of the Sport classes. Even the "Hobby" riders fly!

Next year this race is the World Champs. The entry was well worth it - you got pasta, apples, biscuits, chocolate and an event backpack. Plus a pasta party after the race. And to top it all off the entire course had probably 10 food/drink stations where all was free.

To answer your question, I'm thinking of heading back next year!

Im after getting into the WC. But im thinking British Cycling may have something to say about that. But I dont intend to do it for the crack, it will be taken very seriously.

I had an international UCI license. I could have raced world cup if I had wanted.

If you have the license I think there is nothing else stopping you.

There were 2 Italians in the same pension as me, I beat them by about at least an hour. The back end of the World Cup field seemed to be mostly Italian ..... ie. locals.