The most anticipated challenge of Capoliveri Legend XCO was won by the Brazilian in the sprint. Kate Courtney wins as a favorite over a splendid Chiara Teocchi.
Source: press release
It was 1994 when John Tomac and Ned Overend gave life to one of the most memorable duels of the MTB World Cup on the Island of Elba. Today, in 2021, Capoliveri Legend XCO brought back to the island a great duel between champions who are marking an era of fat wheels. Henrique Avancini and Nino Schurter they lit the fire of the World Cup which will begin in Nove Mesto only in a month, giving the Internazionali d'Italia Series another stage of the highest profile.
On Monday 5th April, the first time of the event organized by the ASD Capoliveri Bike Park achieved all the objectives of the eve, thanks to a path that convinced and enthused the athletes and the unmistakable views enhanced by a climatically perfect weekend.
The second seasonal outing of the Internazionali d'Italia Series continued in the name of the big names: in addition to Avancini's success in front of the European Champion, the former world champion Kate Courtney wet her seasonal debut (and in the circuit managed by CM Outdoor Events) with a beautiful and convincing victory, first on a podium on which the smile of Chiara Teocchi, protagonist and happy after a troubled year, also rises.
OPEN MEN: AVANCINI WINS THE FIRST ROUND AGAINST SCHURTER
World Cup, Olympics and World Championships: the great goals of the season, the same ones they are aiming for Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing). The one between the Swiss and the Brazilian, different characters, is a confrontation throughout a season, of which the challenge of Capoliveri was the first, significant round.
The Brazilian won it, who returned to get on the podium of the Internazionali d'Italia Series three years after the grand finale of the 2018 season in Chies d'Alpago, but went head to head until the very last meters of the seven laps ( more launch) expected.
Schurter forced the pace at the start, putting everyone in line but without initially causing jerks: on his wheel, from the very first meters, always the Brazilian Avancini. After the launch lap, a squad of seven athletes took the lead, with the two duelists accompanied by Mirko Tabacchi (KTM-Protek), Vlad Dascalu (Trek-Pirelli), Luca Braidot and Maxime Marotte (Santa Cruz-FSA) .
On the third to last lap, a new whip from Schurter shuffled the cards, only Avancini and Marotte resisted him in the downhill acceleration, while behind them Luca Braidot overcame a mechanical problem to launch in pursuit. In the three-man sprint on the short final straight, Avancini faced the curve in the lead, and had good play in overtaking Schurter and the new leader of the Internazionali d'Italia Series Marotte. Fourth place for Luca Braidot (+ 0.19), fifth for Dascalu (+ 0.32).
“It was a beautiful and very hard day,” said Avancini, “fighting with Nino is always an extra motivation, facing him is an opportunity and if there is an opportunity to win, you have to take it. I needed so much to get back into the race, to test myself against high caliber opponents: winning the first round was certainly important. "
For the most successful athlete in history it is not easy to digest a defeat, but Nino Schurter he found positive signs in his seasonal debut: “I tried to make the race hard from the beginning, trying to distance the others. On the last lap Avancini was a bit more explosive, but I'm happy with my seasonal debut, on a truly fantastic Island of Elba. Next week in Nalles we will have a rematch, on a very different path and with opponents of even higher level. "
On the Under 23 field, Simone Avondetto (Trek-Pirelli) kept the leader's jersey with today's 12th place.
Pubblicato da 365tv su Lunedì 5 aprile 2021
OPEN WOMEN: COURTNEY PREVAILS A SUPER-TEOCCHI. CORTINOVIS STILL QUEEN AMONG THE JUNIORS
In the women's field, the expectations were all for Kate Courtney (Scott-SRAM), the 2018 World Champion who arrived for the first time to compete on the Internazionali d'Italia Series circuits, and the 25-year-old Californian did not disappoint those who wanted her to star in the first edition of Capoliveri Legend XCO.
At her seasonal debut, however, Courtney had to sweat perhaps more than expected to get the better of a splendid Chiara Teocchi (Trinity Racing), who confirms a brilliant start to the season with a second place that is worth gold.
The Courtney-Teocchi duel was staged right from the launch lap, when the American lined up the group and the Italian immediately entered his wake. The two had an advantage over the rest, with the Danish Caroline Bohe (Ghost Factory Racing) the only athlete able to stay at a distance. Further behind the other Italians, with Lechner (Trinx Factory Racing), Berta and Seiwald (Santa Cruz-FSA) soon out of the challenge for the big target.
After gaining seconds in the first half of the race, Courtney suffered the return of the Bergamo rider in the fourth lap, while Bohe's disadvantage came close to one minute. Courtney's decisive action came uphill on the penultimate lap, an attack that allowed her to gain about twenty seconds on the Italian, then managed to the finish line with 24 seconds on Teocchi. Third place for Caroline Bohe (+0.46), who with her placement has conquered the leader jerseys of both the Open and Under 23 Women's categories.
“It was the perfect start to the season: first win in a beautiful place,” commented Courtney. “I am also happy with my conduct in the race: I had a great desire to get back into the race, but it is always difficult to predict the sensations of the first exit. I managed well on a demanding track, I was always in control, and for this I am really happy ”.
Great emotion also for Teocchi, whose participation was even in doubt after a fall yesterday that required stitches on his left arm: “I'm really happy with this race, especially after all the problems of last year. Until the end I thought about not starting, but in the end I decided to try: being able to keep up with Kate Courtney on such a path is a great sign in an important season. "
Among the Junior Women, the Andora winner Sara Cortinovis (Four Es Racing Team) confirmed her dominance in a clear and clear way: first position conquered and kept for the entire duration of the race, concluding with more than two minutes of margin on the coupled Trinx Factory Racing formed by Noemi Planckesteiner and Lucia Bramati, and further extension in the overall standings of the Internazionali d'Italia Series.
Pubblicato da 365tv su Lunedì 5 aprile 2021
JUNIOR MEN: AEBERSOLD WINS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY TALENT
Swiss success in the first race of the day, that of the Junior Men. After an outburst from Filippo Agostinacchio (Scott-Libarna) on the launch lap, then joined by Marco Betteo (Racing Team Rive Rosse) and Matteo Siffredi (Scott-Libarna), the Swiss Nils Aebersold (Roland / Trek Bike) managed to recover a gap of 30 seconds to take the lead at the start of the second lap.
The 2004 son of Niki Aebersold, a good professional on the road at the turn of the new millennium, imposed his own pace without looking back, outdistancing his opponents one by one - the last to give up Agostinacchio - until he won the first edition of Capoliveri Legend XCO after almost three solo laps. Agostinacchio (+ 0:32) consoles himself with the second place and the category leader jersey of the Internazionali d'Italia Series, third place instead for Betteo (+ 1:03).
Curiosity, Aebersold is a multidisciplinary talent like many of those who are imposing themselves on the world scene: Nils is in fact Swiss junior champion in cyclocross, winner of the EKZ Cross category circuit in 2021, and in 2020 he was Swiss champion of the category on road and track, in the omnium specialty.
Pubblicato da 365tv su Lunedì 5 aprile 2021
NEXT STAGE: NALLES
The Internazionali d'Italia Series caravan is now ready to leave for South Tyrol, where the traditional appointment with the Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race will return to Nalles on Saturday 10 April.
For the only HC test in Italy, a World Cup parterre is expected once again: there will also be Schurter, Avancini and Courtney, but the competition will be even more fierce. The fun is just beginning.
THE CALENDAR OF INTERNATIONAL OF ITALY SERIES 2021
Stage 1 - Andora Race Cup - 7 March
Stage 2 - Capoliveri Legend XCO - April 5th
Stage 3 - Marlene Sudtirol Sunshine Race - 10-11 April
Stage 4 - Valle di Casies - June 2nd
Stage 5 - La Thuile MTB Race - 26-27 June
