In Val di Sole, Mountain Bike always feels at home. The Italian National Cross Country Team knows this well, having had the opportunity to hold its summer retreat in the adjacent Val di Pejo for the first time this year, a federal training center for the upcoming Glasgow World Championships and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games thanks to the agreement between the Cycling Federation, APT Val di Sole and the Municipality of Peio.
Source: press release
A new experience, but in a context known and loved by the top athletes of the movement, who only a few weeks ago challenged each other with the best of this sport on a global level on the occasion of the Commezzadura MTB World Cup stage.
Now the focus is on the Glasgow World Championships, which for Cross Country will start on Tuesday 8 August with the Short Track qualifiers: starting from 9 July and until 31, CT Mirko Celestino has called up nine athletes, between Elite and Under 23, to best prepare for the world championship challenge.
Luca Braidot, Daniele Braidot, Nadir Colledani, Andreas Vittone, Juri Zanotti, Martina Berta, Giada Specia, Chiara Teocchi and Sara Cortinovis are guests of the Lo Scoiattolo refuge, a welcoming structure at an altitude of 2000 meters in the heart of Val di Pejo. The vast bike offer of Val di Sole allows you to train in any condition and on any terrain, but there is more in the Azzurri retreat: the Terme di Pejo are in fact making available to athletes the best treatments and itineraries dedicated to sports, an offer that has consolidated in recent years to levels of absolute excellence.
"In this mountain bike paradise we are laying the foundations for a good World Championship", declared the CT Mirko Celestino, who was impressed by the variety of routes, by the offer and by the hospitality of the area. – “Here the love and passion for mountain biking can be seen and felt. In addition to the many routes, the Daolasa Bike Park, the on-road and off-road itineraries, there is also the added value of the Terme di Pejo. We couldn't ask for better."
The leader of the expedition, the reigning world bronze medalist Luca Braidot, is also enthusiastic about the work program in Val di Pejo. “The condition grows. Obviously it's a bit difficult to say too much because there is no comparison with foreign opponents, but the sensations are the right ones,” – began the biker from Friuli, the new Italian champion. – “I'm working a lot on Mountain Bike, both on the World Cup track in Daolasa and in the bike park. We lack for nothing: the organization is perfect and the bike offer is very complete. Furthermore, I am working with the specialists of the Terme di Pejo for my allergy problems: the aerosols with thermal water are helping me a lot in breathing. In Glasgow I aim for a medal, the dream is the most precious one.”
He echoed Braidot Martina Berta, who experienced the best day of her career three weeks ago in Val di Sole by taking second place in the World Cup behind the Dutch Puck Pieterse. Furthermore, still between Val di Sole and Val di Pejo, the athlete from the Aosta Valley had trained in view of the Junior World Championship won in 2015 in Andorra.
“After a few weeks it’s nice to breathe this atmosphere again,” said Martina Berta, who confirmed her position as Italian Cross Country Champion in Maser. – “The emotions of the second place in the World Cup are still with me, but I’m focused on repeating myself at the World Championships in Glasgow. The medal has become a goal and I’m sure that this period of preparation will prove crucial to playing my chances to the best of my ability.”
“In particular, I plan to do some specific work on the Four-Cross track in Daolasa, as the Glasgow course has a lot of jumps and we need to get used to it. The facilities are state-of-the-art, the welcome is at the highest levels, the spa center instead represents a good news: I am alternating inhalation treatments and vascularisation programs which I believe will give me something extra.”
“We are satisfied with the feedback received from CT Celestino and the Azzurri – explained the Director of APT Val di Sole Fabio Sacco. – Val di Sole and Val di Pejo are proving to be up to the situation by making available to the best athletes on a national level a rich bike offer but not only, thanks to treatments with thermal water and the activities organized by the Terme di Pejo. With these first training camps we have begun a journey with the Italian Cycling Federation that we expect to be full of satisfactions, destined to continue also next year with the approach to the most important appointment of the four-year period, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games".
From Sunday 23 July, the athletes of the Juniores categories have also arrived in Val di Pejo and will remain in retreat until Tuesday 8 August.
