Italy world champion in Tabor, home of the cyclocross world championship. After the success in the World Cup, Stefano Viezzi he dominates the world junior event and also takes the rainbow jersey at the World Championships in the Czech Republic, bringing the tricolor back to the top step of the podium.
Source: FCI press release
A great success for the Italian group which puts an end to a 19-year fast: excluding the victory in the 2022 test event, Davide Malacarne was, in fact, the last to wear a world gold medal in this discipline.
“I'm very happy, I still haven't fully realized what I've done” the words of an unbeliever Viezzi, author of a season bordering on perfect, including Italian, Cup and World titles. And he adds: “I played all my cards and was helped by luck, but this is also needed: I took advantage of Sparfel's puncture and pushed until the end. Winning this medal was my goal from the beginning of the season and I made a dream come true. I want to thank all the staff who work behind the scenes, my trainer, the Federciclismo and Daniele Pontoni, who is truly an excellent coach: thank you for believing in me, I'm happy to have repaid you in this way."
The blue imposes itself by succeeding in the difficult task of winning a title in a world championship that has so far been dominated by the Dutch. But it is the duel between Italy and France that characterizes the first part of the match, with Aubin Sparfel and Stefano Viezzi to annoy each other. On the final straight of the third lap everything changes: Sparfel makes a puncture, Viezzi takes advantage and tries to escape. While the Frenchman falls back, with the Dutch Keije Solen and the Czech Krystof Bazant on his heels, the Italian born in 2006 has time to crash into the protections and then puncture his front wheel, forcing himself to reach the pits with difficulty. Viezzi also beat bad luck by maintaining the advantage over his pursuers and crossing the finish line with his arms raised, effectively sealing his leading role on the international cyclocross stage.
“This year has been a truly exciting season” the words of the Coach Daniele Pontoni. Which adds: “We won 3 World Cup races, the final circuit ranking and the world gold medal: I believe it is the right culmination of a long and important job. Three years ago I said that we would need at least a couple of years to get in line and today I can say I am satisfied not only with the results, but above all with the work group behind it, because success is never a coincidence . Today's is the eleventh international medal that we have brought home in three years between cross and gravel and for us it is a starting point, not an arrival point".
The president's satisfaction was great Cordiano Dagnoni: “Congratulations to Stefano Viezzi and all the Azzurri for this important undertaking. Congratulations also to Daniele Pontoni and his staff, who brought back to Italy a title that had been missing for 19 years. We all know the importance of cyclocross in the growth of racers today. At the beginning of our mandate we had identified as key points the relaunch of disciplines abandoned in the past, the speed sector with regards to track and cyclocross. This result rewards the programming work and the choices made. The fact that it reaches a category, the junior one, gives us hope for the future. My hope is that Stefano, like the other guys highlighted this season, can confirm over the years the skills shown in the World Cup and in the Czech Republic. We have laid the foundations for overall and long-lasting growth. This is our greatest satisfaction.”
WHO IS STEFANO VIEZZI?
Stefano Viezzi studies Agriculture at the ISS in Spilimbergo and started racing at the age of 7 with the Giovanissimi G1 category in the Jam's Bike Team Buja company. He defines himself as a long-distance climber and says he can't do without off-roading. Coach Pontoni says of him that he knows well what he wants and that commitment and talent go hand in hand in him. Cycling never entered the Viezzi household before his generation. No one in the family had ever practiced it: Stefano, who became passionate about it by imitating his school friends who rode bikes, then infected his sisters Elisa and Alice.
With the success of Tabor Viezzi closes the accounts regarding the seasonal leadership against the Frenchman Sparfel, with whom he shared the Cup victories and who wore the European champion's jersey in November. On that occasion Viezzi stopped at the foot of the podium, and then began his slow and inexorable growth in condition and belief in his abilities. Today's success confirms that the 18 year old (his birthday will be tomorrow) from San Daniele del Friuli is without a doubt the best in his category and is looking forward to moving up the category with confidence.
MEN'S JUNIOR WORLD results
| 1 |  VIEZZI Stephen | 42:01 |
| 2 |  SOLEN Keije | 0:09 |
| 3 |  BAZANT Krystof | 0:31 |
| 4 |  SPARFEL Aubin | 0:48 |
| 5 |  WITHEN PHILIPSEN Albert | 1:02 |
| 6 | VASSAL Theophile | 1:17 |
| 7 | MOURIS Michiel | 1:25 |
| 8 | SIMON Jules | 1:35 |
| 9 | REMIJN Senna | 1:43 |
| 10 | TANGUY Louis | 1:47 |
