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Italian Enduro MTB to be refounded? The clarifications in the article

With the Enduro of the Nations in the Final the international season ended but our analysis raised a fuss. Here are some clarifications to the article.

santa cruz xc enduro team
The Santa Cruz XC Team engaged in the Enduro Nations Trophy

I have received various messages related to the article 'Italian Enduro MTB: in the competitive spirit it is time to take stock'(even heavy offenses but forget it), so I feel I have to make some clarifications.

I start by inserting the link of Matthew Fairbrother, the boy who left alone to follow the EWS when he was not even 18 years old (here is the link to the article). Ok, this is the extreme, so you don't win but the attitude is the right one.

Fairbrother bikepacking ews
Matthew Fairbrother, the modern enduro stray - © PinkBike

I have many years of competitive spirit behind me, in which I have seen riders of the highest level making the collection to go home after a couple of months of traveling in a camper. I saw the Gehrig twins sleeping in the van, Sabrina Jonnier, at the time Africa champion of DH and Iron Horse athlete sleeping in a tent on the side of the road in Sestola before winning the race. I remember a young Brendan Fairclough in Sanremo arriving like a gypsy with his Orange, racing all evening skidding to consume the tire well, run with the fork held together with the American tape because the sheath was punctured and finish second behind a certain Barel.

ITALIANS IN THE WORLD

International teams struggle to support Italian riders, this is a fact, perhaps because our market is not attractive enough, or because the profile of our athletes is too national for them, perhaps because they are not fast enough… maybe a little of all things!

The FCI does not have a project for Gravity, true, if we look at the results of Canada it is likely that behind the number of young people that are emerging there is also a federal strategy, but here we would enter a tangle from which we would not get out.

The role of a media is also to photograph the situation: in Cross Country we have riders of the highest international level, as well as in Marathon. The XCE world champion is Italian, in DH we have two girls in official teams and some riders capable of important results such as Revelli's 6th place and Davide Capello's important results.

In the enduro, net of the constant growth of Sophie Riva and the good results of Gloria Scarsi, for the rest there is emptiness. Sorry that someone feels offended, but the reference level for judging the competitive health of a movement are the number and quality of competitions organized, the pool of young people and international results: the first two points are positive, the third is not.



Written by

[email protected] Mountain bike travel editor and expert. Chiropractor and personal trainer, for years following some of the strongest national interpreters of enduro mtb.

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