Over 600 athletes at the start of the third round of the Internazionali d'Italia Series, which proved to be an authentic advance to the World Cup. Great successes for the Swiss and the French, ahead of Schurter and Ferrand-Prèvot.
UPDATE: preview on the route
Source: press release
The dean of Italian MTB experienced the most important and prestigious day in its history on Saturday 10 April 2021. For 20 years, Nalles and the Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race have been a stable stop for many of the great protagonists of fat wheels worldwide, but never as this year the South Tyrolean event, 3rd stage of the Internazionali d'Italia Series, had been able to boast a so awesome startlist.
On the track immersed in the apple orchards of Alto Adige, 600 athletes from the competitive categories competed: among them, the most promising young people in the world, engaged in the UCI Junior Series, and all the strongest athletes globally in the Open categories.
A day of Mountain Bike at the highest levels that rewarded a great emerging name in the women's field, the Under 23 World Champion Loana Lecomte, able to leave behind the Elite world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prèvot, and the expert Mathias Flückiger, who at Nalles always finds that something extra, which today has allowed him to relegate a legend like Nino Schurter.
OPEN MEN: FLÜCKIGER SURPRISES EVERYONE
There was a real parterre de roi under the starting banner of the Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race in the Men Open category. All the top 10 of the UCI world ranking responded present, starting with the two main protagonists of Capoliveri, Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) but also the World Champion Jordan Sarrou and the home favorite Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Specialized Factory Racing), the leader of the Internazionali d'Italia general Maxime Marotte (SantaCruz-FSA) and many others.
It had to be a race of great pace on a very demanding course from a physical point of view, and so it was. From the first lap, the pace imposed by the most anticipated protagonists began to skim the leading group: first 12, then 10, and from the third lap only 8: in addition to Avancini, Schurter, Marotte and Sarrou also Mathias Flückiger (Thomus RN) , Titouan Carod and Filippo Colombo (Absolut Absalon) and Ondrej Cink (Kross Orlen).
At the penultimate lap, the twist: Henrique Avancini yields and loses ground from the first, and shortly after also Sarrou and Carod leave a few seconds of space. The race is played on the last climb: “Flückiger accelerated and gained something - says Marotte - I didn't manage to overtake before the single trail and I stayed behind Colombo, losing a few meters. At the top I managed to pass, and bring myself back to Nino, but at that point Flückiger was gone. "
The Swiss managed to win his second Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race after the 2018 edition: this time behind him he arrived Nino Schurter (+0.04), in front of the same Marotte who overtook Cink in the sprint (+0.11), maintaining the top of the general classification of the Internazionali d'Italia Series. Only ninth Avancini, behind a Lars Forster (Scott-SRAM) author of a great comeback race, but too conditioned by a bad start. Best of the Italians was Nadir Colledani (MMR), sixteenth, only twenty-sixth an opaque Gerhard Kerschbaumer and never fighting for the positions that matter.
“It's nice to be back to win here, I like Nalles, it's a very natural path, with this long climb I'm great on,” said Flückiger, 32, career winner of the World Cup in Mont Sainte-Anne in 2018 and in Albstadt in 2019. "It was my debut of the season, and I generally struggle a bit in the first races: this time it obviously wasn't like that, and it's the perfect way to go to the first round of the World Cup."
Another second place, the second in a row in the Internazionali d'Italia Series races, for Nino Schurter, also conditioned by a crash without consequences in the first lap, and in any case satisfied with the first set of seasonal races in Italy: “It was a good race, demanding, and I can be happy with today's second place. The legs are responding well, between Capoliveri and Nalles we faced two very different races from a technical point of view: now the World Cup, and I will return to Italy in August to give another assault to the world championship jersey in Val di Sole. "
Loana lecomte
OPEN WOMEN: LECOMTE DOMINATES AN ALL-WORLD PODIUM
In the statements on the eve, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Absolute Absalon) had not wanted to expose herself on her condition at the fourth outing of the season, but in indicating the favorites she had put a name before the others: Loana Lecomte (Massi). The World Champion had seen it right: her compatriot, the reigning Under 23 World Champion, literally dominated an Open race with great signatures.
From the start, Lecomte forced the pace and left the company of the rest of the group. Behind him, Ferrand-Prèvot was the only athlete, together with Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) to remain initially on more contained gaps, but already at the end of the third round Lecomte passed with over a minute on the world champion, almost two on Frei and two and a half minutes on the quartet formed by Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory Racing), Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing), Mona Mitterwallner (Trek-Vaude) and Kate Courtney (Scott-SRAM).
For the 21-year-old Frenchwoman, already winner of the World Cup among the Elite in Nove Mesto in 2020, it was literally a triumphal ride. “It's great to win here, but I didn't expect to do it like this” - said Lecomte. - “I was fine, but distancing opponents of this level is a really good sign in view of the World Cup. Last year the first cup win was important, but every year is different: this result has a great meaning for me. In Italy I run a little, but I hope that changes in the future. "
“I'm not at my best yet, but I had good sensations so I tried to push hard,” said Ferrand-Prevot, second, instead. "Loana had an impressive race, and I'm really happy for her and for France: the goal is to be the team to beat for medals in Tokyo."
On the other hand, the challenge for third place behind Ferrand-Prevot (second at 1.44) is interesting: the young Austrian Mona Mitterwallner (+2.05) won it, once again the protagonist of an impressive comeback like in Andora. Three reigning World Champions thus climbed the first 3 steps of the podium: Elite (Ferrand-Prevot), Under 23 (Lecomte) and Juniores (Mitterwallner). Fourth place for Sina Frei (+2.45), fifth for Jolanda Neff (+3.15).
Eighth and best of the Italians was Chiara Teocchi (Trinity Racing, +4.31): another brilliant test for the Italian who had the satisfaction of wearing the leader's jersey of the Internazionali d'Italia Series in the Women's Open category. Only eighteenth and nineteenth were the two home athletes, Greta Seiwald (Santa Cruz-FSA) and Eva Lechner (Trinx Factory Team).
In the women's test of the UCI Junior Series, Sara Cortinovis (Four Es Racing Team) confirmed on an international scale what had already been demonstrated in the previous Internazionali d'Italia Series tests, taking her third success in as many stages. Behind her two German athletes: Andrea Kravanja (Stevens Schubert Racing Team) and Sina Van Thiel (RSC Auto Brosch Kempten).
JUNIOR MEN: BOICHIS IMPOSES AUTHORITY IN THE JUNIOR SERIES
Italy had already met him a month ago in Andora, when as a favorite he managed to leave everyone behind. In Nalles, the French Adrien Boichis (Team Passion VTT Venelles) proved that it was not an isolated case: starting with number 1 in the first seasonal round of the UCI Junior Series (the Junior World Cup), the French it won at the end of a tender conducted substantially from start to finish.
From the launch lap, a group of five athletes who would have presided over the top positions stood out: in addition to Boichis, compatriot Axel Pourriere (Team Passion VTT Venelles), the Dutch Tom Schellekens (Hobij Vittoria Team) and Chris Van Dijk (Team Talented) and the Italian Filippo Agostinacchio (Scott Libarna), leader of the category classification of the Internazionali d'Italia Series.
In the second round, Boichis took off the competition in a steady crescendo, only to administer in the last round and finish with 11 seconds ahead of Van Dijk and 24 over Schellekens. Fourth place for Pourriere (+0.39) and fifth for Agostinacchio (+0.54), who managed to keep the symbol of the record of the Internazionali d'Italia Series, for just one point on Boichis himself.
OFF TO YOUNG PEOPLE ON NALLES SUNDAY
The program of the Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race 2021 will end tomorrow, Sunday 11 April, with the youth competitions (Women Beginners and Students at 9.00, Men Beginners 1st year at 10.00, Men Beginners 2nd year at 11.00, Men Students 1st year at 12.00 and 2nd year students at 13.00).
NEXT STAGE: VALLEY OF CASIES
After three appointments within a month, the Internazionali d'Italia Series is preparing for a break, leaving room for the first World Cup events. The great MTB will return to Italy in June, exactly on the 2nd and again in Alto Adige, with the first time in Valle di Casies in the Internazionali d'Italia Series calendar. At the end of June, however, La Thuile will host the grand finale of a truly memorable season of the Internazionali d'Italia Series.
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 - April 10th
Stage 4 - Valle di Casies - June 2nd
Stage 5 - La Thuile MTB Race - 26-27 June
