[2] Nowadays only a handful of the largest Italian Gran Fondos have full road closures, but laws requiring riders to obey all traffic signals are more lax in Italy compared to other western countries.
Gran Fondos in the US come in many different varieties with some adhering very strictly to the traditional definition (often going as far as to have a full road closure), and others treating it more like a century ride where riders only compete in short timed sections and enjoy a large elaborate banquet at the finish.
Upcoming finals will be hosted by Glasgow (UK; 2023), Aalborg (Denmark; 2024), Melbourne (Australia; 2025), and Victoriaville (Canada; 2026).
[4] With chip timing becoming more popular in the 1990s, the number of Gran Fondo events grew rapidly in Italy.
On the west coast, Perth has been holding a successful Gran Fondo race that has featured as “UCI Granfondo World Championship”.
In South East Queensland, Tour de Brisbane hosts a Gran Fondo course starting in 2019.
The mother of them all is the Oetztaler Radmarathon, over 240 km with 5,200 m of climbing, one of the hardest Gran Fondo races in the world that attracts a sold-out field of 4,000 riders.
While thousands of riders get to experience events on the same courses like the pros – e.g. at Ronde Van Vlaanderen – they cannot race them.
Brazil After a few hiccups with early events that were held and later got cancelled, Brasil is starting to embrace Gran Fondo races now that larger organizations have appeared.
Canada Owing to its French heritage, Quebec embraces the cyclosportive culture which is identical to Italian Gran Fondos.
The Colourful Yunnan Granfondo Cycling Festival is a popular event with an international field of participants.
Also known simply as Granfondo Yunnan, it not only offers tough mountain courses but also focuses on the cultural, ethnic and culinary features of the province.
Thanks to the new generation of cyclists in the 2010s, Gran Fondo races gained a lot of attention and became very popular, hosted by local stars like Rigoberto Urán El Giro de Rigo, Nairo Quintana Gran Fondo Nairo Quintana, and even old glories like Santiago Botero La Ruta Colombia, as well as GFNY Colombia (first held in 2015).
Not quite as competitive, the scene is easily the second strongest globally with a solid calendar of racing from March to September.
Popular races include La Marmotte, Etape du Tour, Les Trois Ballons, GFNY Mont Ventoux, Kohnse.com/en/ L'Ariegiose and L'Ardechoise.
In 2015 the Dead Sea Gran Fondo joined forces with the Israel Cycling Federation, the organizers of the Tour of Arad, to create the largest international road cycling event in Israel the Gran Fondo Arad Dead Sea.
It is typically held on a hilly course through the northeastern part of Luxembourg known as the Mullerthal, towards the Ardennes low mountain range in the north of the country.
Since 2017, the Schleck Gran Fondo is organized with the race starting and finishing in Mondorf-les-Bains and taking the riders along the scenic Moselle river towards the hilly Little Switzerland region in the eastern parts of the country.
Riders were treated to a scenic course and cultural experience in host city Ipoh, capital of Perak which is just 200 km outside of Kuala Lumpur.
Since then, every July, cyclists flock to Misamis Occidental in southern Philippines and participate in a festive sporting event celebrating cycling and enjoying the legendary hospitality of Filipinos.
Slovenia The Franja Marathon is one of the oldest mass-participation cycling events in the world and as such, it is a true Italian-style Gran Fondo.
Johannesburg hosts the 947 RideJoburg every year, over 94.7Km and 1400m elevation gain (the sponsor is a local radio station, hence the distance close to 95Km).
Other popular events include Ride for Sight (116Km), Macsteel National Classic (103Km) and Race for Victory (110Km).
Spain Spanish laws require full road closures to organize a fully timed Gran Fondo.
While it is held in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland (Ticino), it does not follow the rules of the Italian cycling federation for Gran Fondos[5] because only the climbs are timed.
Many keen UK cyclists have often preferred to travel to France or Italy for their Gran Fondo experience.
The popularity of Gran Fondos has increased rapidly in the U.S. with large numbers of cyclists at several of the top events.
While many of these are not cycling marathons in the Italian tradition but are rather modified Gran Fondos, these events are designed to provide competitive and experiential elements for both professional and recreational cyclists.