This weekend Courmayeur will once again become the meeting point for international trail running. From 10 to 12 July, the 14th edition of the Gran Trail Courmayeur will bring 2,000 athletes from 78 nations onto the trails of Mont Blanc, ready to take on the three distances of the event organised by VDA Trailers: GTC100, GTC55 and GTC30. A weekend that will bring together different languages, stories and cultures in one great alpine challenge, through the technical and spectacular routes of Val Veny, Val Ferret and the territories of Courmayeur, Pré-Saint-Didier, Morgex and La Thuile. The battle for a place on the podium will be unmissable, and more uncertain than ever right down to the final kilometres, as has already happened in past editions.

GTC100: Lisa Borzani hunting for a fifth victory, Roberto Pirola leads a top-level starting list

The queen race will start on Friday 10 July at 10 p.m. from Piazza Abbé Henry. It will be 100 kilometres and 7,400 metres of elevation gain on the trails surrounding Mont Blanc, with the technical level expected to be extremely high.

Looking at the ITRA scores on the start list, the main favourite among the men is Roberto Pirola, who will face a group of top-level contenders including Mauro Rota, Roberto Camperi, Mauro Massimi, Poland’s Marcin Swierc, Mirko Rigoni, Fabrizio Bongioanni, David Leveille and Michele Graglia. Graglia himself, one of the best-known Italian ultrarunners internationally, will also be featured on Saturday at 6.30 p.m. in a talk within the Mont Blanc Trail Fest, adding further prestige to the event.

Among the women, all eyes will be on Lisa Borzani, who, after her victories in 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025, will be chasing an extraordinary fifth victory at the GTC100.

Trying to end her dominance will be, above all, Germany’s Michaela Portenkirchner and Slovenia’s Aja Kozinc, while Italy’s Chiara Innocenti, second last year, will try to improve her result even further. Also worth watching are Marta Cassai, Corina Sommer, Raffaella Canino and Claudia Xhelali.

GTC55: the challenge decided by less than a minute one year ago is renewed

The intermediate distance will start on Saturday 11 July at 7 a.m., with 55 kilometres and 3,500 metres of elevation gain. It is probably the race that promises the most balanced contest of the entire weekend.

The duel that set the 2025 edition alight is back: Simone Corsini, winner of the GTC100 in 2023 and 2024 and of the GTC55 last year, will once again face Uladzimir Yakubouski and Alessandro Macellaro, second and third respectively twelve months ago, when the three finished the race within less than a minute of one another. A rivalry set to flare up again, but with several outsiders ready to join the fight for the podium, starting with Martin Halasz and Andrej Nastran, two of the most eagerly awaited athletes on the eve of the race.

The women’s race also looks very open, with Britain’s Victoria Stansfield leading a high-level group of athletes including Ekaterina Osmakova, Aude-Clémence Doix, Anastasia Yuditskaya, Aoife Courtney, Nicola Glover, Lisa Mehl and Paula Pevida Arbesú.

GTC30: Simone Eydallin defends his title, open battle among the women

At 9 a.m. on Saturday 11 July, the GTC30 will also get under way, the shortest race on the programme, with 30 kilometres and 2,000 metres of elevation gain, capable every year of attracting fast-distance specialists and many high-level athletes.

Defending champion Simone Eydallin returns to Courmayeur to defend the victory he claimed last year, but he will have to deal with a high-quality field led by Manuel Bonardi, as well as Gianfranco Cucco, André Barailler, Luca Jannuzzo, Dario Benelli, Matteo Cesano and Théo Abed.

Among the women, the fight for victory appears just as uncertain, with the Dutch athlete Rens Nijman among the main favourites alongside Tania Rosa, Sonia Meleca, Sonia Chiapello, Irene Glarey, Alexandra Taylor and Natalia Kartasheva.