It was the headquarters of Merida Italy that welcomed the official presentation of the Team Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team, which is preparing to face the 2025 racing season. And for Merida, which will be alongside the Team in the next two years as a technical sponsor of the training, it is an important return to the world of mountain bike marathon competitions, after having written pages of history in the discipline.
Source: press release
The headquarters of Merida Italy hosted the presentation of Team Metallurgica Veneta. In the center, among the team's athletes, the President of Merida Italy Paolo Fornaciari (left) and the Team Principal of Team Metallurgica Veneta Martino Tronconi (right).
MERIDA: A NEW PARTNER TO AIM HIGH
As anticipated, the biggest news of 2025 at Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team is the agreement with Merida: the Italian headquarters of the Taiwanese brand will provide the team's athletes with the iconic BIG.NINE hardtail, the model that in the first two decades of the 2000s won World Championships, World Cups and Olympic medals. For the roughest and most challenging routes, athletes will also be able to count on the full suspended NINETY-SIX model. Both bicycles were unveiled to the press during the official presentation of the Team and immediately struck for their livery that elegantly combines the institutional colors of the Team, matt gray and bright blue.
"This partnership, which combines the technology of Merida mountain bikes and the imprint of Team Metallurgica Veneta, will allow us to return to the world of international marathon competition," said Merida Italy President Paolo Fornaciari, "a project we are banking on a lot and we are certain that with the athletic qualities of the bikers and their enthusiasm, we will be able to get noticed."
A COMPETITIVE ROSTER WITH TWO NEW ADDITIONS
The 2025 Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team represents a year of change also in the composition of the roster, welcoming two new athletes to the team. Of absolute importance is the hiring of the Colombian Diego Arias Cuervo, among the top international riders in the marathon, whose extraordinary palmarès includes a silver medal at the 2021 Marathon World Championships. The second newcomer is the twenty-two-year-old from Treviso Andrea Candeago, a promising Italian off-road rider. The two will join the four confirmed athletes from last season: Jacopo Billi, Massimo Rosa, Nicola Taffarel and Maria Zarantonello, who in 2024 obtained 11 victories, including the prestigious 4 Islands MTB Croatia, as well as 27 podiums and 34 placements in the Top 10.
Leading the Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team is still Martino Tronconi, the true deus ex machina of the project: «We are happy to officially kick off the new season here at Merida Italy, it is a great opportunity to represent a brand of this importance and be part of such a cohesive and motivated team – the words of the Team Principal of Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team – and now we are ready to face the challenges that await us together, aware of having a worthy partner on our side».
A CALENDAR BUSY WITH INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS
The 2025 season of Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team will feature a busy calendar of high-level competitions, with the aim of being protagonists in the main international events starting from the newly formed HERO UCI Marathon World Cup with 5 important stages, to which are added the UCI European and World Championships on the marathon distance. The team's agenda includes stage competitions that put both the strength of the athletes and the resistance of the materials to the test, and among these we mention the Andalucia Bike Race (seasonal debut, March 2025), the 4 Islands MTB Stage Race in Croatia and the Spar Swiss Epic (these two are part of the prestigious Epic Race circuit) and the Appenninica Stage Race.
With a renewed team, the support of the new technical partner Merida and a highly selected race calendar, Metallurgica Veneta MTB Professional Team is preparing for a challenging season with the certainty of being able to compete at the highest levels in the international mountain bike marathon scene.
For more information: www.merida-bikes.com/it-it
