From Casa Italia to the challenging wet conditions, to a track thoroughly overhauled and praised by the European champion: "This Val di Sole is the bomb." Then the race, the mistakes, the top 10 slipping by just over two seconds, and a question: where are the eight seconds separating him from Jackson Goldstone?
Racing at a World Championships on home soil is always special, and perhaps I had an even greater reason to want to be in Val di Sole. In 2021, I wasn't able to participate due to the injury that kept me out for the entire season. That race was still there for me, so this year I really wanted to be there.
It wasn't even a given that I'd be able to secure a spot, because there are some really strong young people in Italy, and the competition is fierce. In the end, I managed to carve out my own space, and for that alone, I'm happy I participated.
Then, of course, once I arrived in Val di Sole, I wasn't just there to be there. I had my expectations, I felt good, and I even had a goal in mind: to try to break into the top 10.
Casa Italia: How wonderful is it to all be together again?
One of the best things about the week was getting together with the whole national team. We at downhill we were with the guys from cross country and it's been a while since we were all together again.
It was great to experience the World Championships this way, sharing the days with those competing in other MTB disciplines. During the season, everyone follows their own schedule, so opportunities like this don't come around often. In Val di Sole, however, we were all there, and that was definitely one of the positive aspects of the week.
Then we went to see the track. And there we immediately understood that it would be a World Championship where the conditions would matter a lot.
Your first Val di Sole? Skate on wet surfaces.
The day before the track walk, it had rained heavily, and we arrived to a completely wet track. During the reconnaissance, it started to dry out a bit, and for the first time, we did the tests right after the track walk. This never happens in the World Cup, but here at the World Championship, it was like this.
In the end, I think the rain actually helped, because it compacted all the work that had been done on the track. On the first day, however, conditions were quite difficult: some patches of dirt were drying out, while the roots under the trees were still damp. So the grip changed significantly, and you had to constantly understand what was under your wheels.
Val di Sole is special when it rains. It doesn't really get muddy: the ground becomes hard, shiny, and extremely slippery. You can practically skate.
Luckily, we had a long week ahead of us. We started riding on Wednesday and the race was on Saturday, so we could take some time without having to immediately push ourselves to the limit.
Thursday everything changes: how important is it to find the right connection?
By Thursday, the track had dried out and was practically perfect. We did another two hours of testing, and I felt good.
We also took advantage of the day to make some adjustments to the bike. We're using a prototype electronic shock absorber and we worked a bit on the settings, trying to figure out which solution would work best. At the end of the day, the feeling was good, and I was heading into qualifying feeling pretty confident.
On Friday we had another hour of practice before qualifying. There were about ninety of us at the start and eighty were passing, so the main goal was to avoid any trouble and get to the end. Because it seems simple, but in the end... downhill It really doesn't take much: a puncture, a fall, even just missing a pole and the World Championship can end there.
That's why I didn't try to push too hard. I finished 31st and, most importantly, I came to the end of the day with a great feeling for Saturday.
At that point, however, the rain returned. And by Friday evening, it really came in heavy rain.
Saturday morning is a nightmare. But five hours later?
When we arrived for Saturday morning's practice, it was a disaster. We couldn't stand up. Once again, no real mud: the Val di Sole terrain had become hard, shiny, and lacking grip.
The thing that was working in our favor was the weather. We finished running around 11:40 a.m., and my race was at 4:30 p.m., so we had almost five hours ahead of us for the track to dry. And sure enough, by the time my run came around, the situation had changed considerably.
I think this also affected the results, because there was about an hour and a half between my start and Jackson Goldstone's. I left around 4:30 PM, he around 6 PM. On a track that was drying so quickly, conditions could change in an hour and a half.
It doesn't mean we know exactly how much this is worth on the clock, but it was certainly a factor to take into account.
How do you know what you'll find in the woods?
Before the race, you try to gather as much information as possible. There are people along the track who can tell you the track conditions, but we have fewer than others, so we need to divide them up: someone should be at the start to help with the warm-up, someone else can go on the track.
I had an idea of what I'd find anyway, and we were more or less right. The real question was how dry it was, especially in the woods.
That's why I entered the first section a bit cautiously. I didn't want to arrive expecting to find grip only to find that the conditions were still the same as in the morning. Once I realized the track was drier and that I could trust it, I started to let go.
Maybe even a little too much, because two mistakes came from there, one bigger than the other. In the most important one, I think I lost a second and a half, maybe two.
And that's where a bit of regret remains, because my goal was to finish in the top 10, and in the end I was just over two seconds behind tenth. When the gaps are like that, you know that one mistake can significantly change the outcome.
After the last few years, what is this new Val di Sole like?
One thing, however, I want to say about the track: for me this year's course is the bomb.
In recent years, partly because of the terrain, sometimes it felt more like just getting through the weekend than riding. This year, however, they did an insane job. They added a lot of backfill and slowed the track down a bit, which meant less excavation was done during the week.
I really enjoyed it. It's still a technical and very twisty Val di Sole, with fairly narrow sections, off-cambers, roots, rocks, jumps, and hard braking. In short, it has everything you need to make it challenging, but at the same time, it was truly a blast to ride.
Honestly, I prefer this direction for Val di Sole.
Eight seconds from Goldstone: where are they?
And then there's the more difficult question: where does Jackson Goldstone make the difference?
I don't know, really. If we knew exactly where he gets those seconds, we'd probably all be up there.
The impressive thing is that the top three made a significant difference to everyone else. They were very close together and then a fairly large gap opened up. In the end, I gained about eight seconds from Goldstone.
Eight seconds on nearly four minutes of track time may seem like a lot, but when you try to figure out where they are, it becomes much more complicated. It could be a lot of things: the right bike setting, a different intensity maintained throughout the descent, a line, a mistake. They're small pieces that, when put together, ultimately add up to a time.
Of my eight seconds, I can imagine where two or three were lost. A couple of them were definitely in the two mistakes I made. Another could be the intensity of the first section, up to the first forest, where I entered more cautiously precisely because I needed to gauge the conditions I'd encounter.
The others? I don't know.
And that's probably the interesting part when you look at those ahead: understanding how they manage to build that difference over the course of a nearly four-minute descent. There's not necessarily a point where you lose everything. It could be a second here, a little more intensity, a better setting, a mistake they don't make.
I know where I may have lost some.
To find all the others we have to keep working.
