The first weekend in October this year will see the world’s greatest gravel racers heading to the Veneto region of Italy to compete for the honour of wearing the rainbow jersey as the UCI World Gravel Champion. To celebrate the event and destination, Italian bike manufacturer Basso, based in the Veneto, have launched a stunning-looking limited-edition colourway of their Palta gravel bike.

Having the world gravel championships practically passing your front door is too good an opportunity to miss for any passionate gravel bike manufacturer and Basso definitely didn’t want to miss out. As they say on the webpage for their limited-edition Palta gravel bike “The Gravel World Championship is held at our home”.

The Veneto region of Italy is world-renowned for its marble quarries and Basso have obviously been inspired by their geological heritage, endowing the WC special edition bike with a marbled-effect paintjob. “Beauty, history, and art inspire our creation, proudly emphasizing the places where we were born and raised. We wanted to create a bicycle that manifests this connection and its determination to strengthen itself through gravel cycling” is the archetypally Italianate description they included in the press release. 

Unfortunately, the marble-effect bikes available to the public will come without the world championship stripes – you have to earn the right to display these after all! The marble paint scheme is a strictly limited special edition and will only be available to order until Sunday 8^th October, the date chosen to coincide with the final race of the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships.

If you are interested in finding out more details about this stunning-looking bike, head over to Basso’s website where you can personally configure all the details. If you want to add the rainbow bands to the finished paint scheme, then you’d better book your ticket and line up on the start line over the weekend of 7^th and 8^th October!