Bizarre and mischievous weather for the first day of European medals at Ciocco (LU), with the youth mtb engaged in the Team Relay of the European Championships
Source: press release
Rain alternating with flashes of sunshine, which certainly didn't cool the spirits of the very young who arrived from 25 nations, a very crowded parterre with 277 teams of 3 elements.
A decidedly selective path, hard enough to select the most talented young Europeans of the U15 and U17. And this time Italy was able to celebrate a beautiful gold (U15), won in particular with the determination of Riccardo Fasoli. Even for the older children, the decisive one was the last stage with the powerful recovery of the Czech Republic, but also of Italy, capable of putting the bronze around its neck and with Austria, second, impregnable.
First race and, therefore, first gold for Italy with the Team Lombardia B composed of Mattia Acanfora and Mariachiara Signorelli from Brescia and Riccardo Fasoli from Bergamo. The Team Relay race provided great suspense today, with continuous changes of position from start to finish. Tension and adrenaline accompanied the race dedicated to the U15s, animated by 139 teams from all over Europe who battled it out on the three laps of the course, one for each biker (two men and one woman). On the first lap, the German Nico Brandl (Bike Junior Team Bulls 2) pulled away from his pursuers, with the Polish Kacper Zygmuntowicz passing in second position and the teams Lombardia A and Lombardia B, respectively with Raffaele Armanasco and Mattia Acanfora, in third and fourth position. The new Italian Cross Country Eliminator champion Mariachiara Signorelli, second runner-up in Lombardia B, maintained her teammate's position, then Riccardo Fasoli completed the work of art. Fasoli, winner of the Italian XCO title, opened the throttle during the third fraction, taking the lead in the race. The great cheering of the public, parents and coaches pushed the Bergamo native to the finish line, where he was greeted with a loud applause after 27'28”, detaching Austria by 82 tenths. Poland therefore took third place followed by the Czech Republic, while the Italian team Borbonica Cup closed the top 5.
Equally spectacular and dynamic U17 race, taken in the early afternoon between a few droplets and a few rays of sunshine to kiss the 138 teams in action. Immediately a twist when Poland, in command, misses the first change losing a few seconds, but fortunately the race was still open with all the strongest teams lined up next to each other.
The second Swiss relay runner Lenny Hochstrasser (Specialized Junior Racing) gave a powerful acceleration, taking the lead of the race and subsequently launching his teammate Anja Grossmann, winner of the EYOF XCO in Maribor in Slovenia a few days ago. But the best was yet to come… In the last stage the situation was reversed with the paw of the Czech Kryštof Bažant, also on the first step of the podium at the EYOF; he was good at recovering and taking the lead in the company of the Swiss team. From the rear also Lombardia 3 with Federico Rosario Brafa of Sondrio, who reopened the games fighting for the bronze together with Austria. Arms in the sky for Kryštof Bažant who, with a final time of 25'38” gives the gold medal to the Czech Republic, while the Specialized Junior Racing Team Switzerland has to settle for silver. Bronze with an almost golden taste for the Lombard trio, which therefore prevails over Austria 1. Lastly, a good 12th place for Lombardia 2 with Mario Campana, Sofia Bianchini and Stefano Melani.
Also present was Massimo Ghirotto, president of the FCI Fuoristrada Commission, evidently satisfied: “I would say, as a start, nothing to say. The competitive spirit, the beautiful one, is youthful and then there is the icing on the cake with Lombardy as European champion among the U15s and Lombardy again in third place among the U17s. Here we sow, these are the youth categories that have to grow slowly and, as I said before, healthy competitive spirit mixed with healthy competition done in a certain way is fine. That said, all Italian and non-Italian kids should be left to grow up. Il Ciocco always responds when the Federation asks for big events, in this case they didn't hold back, we are seeing large numbers like never before. There will be the Italian Team Relay Championship in September and also the Italian Cup final, therefore Il Ciocco is always a great protagonist and we are also planning the future ".
Tomorrow we go back to riding on the technical and spectacular routes of the Ciocco, the European Short Track XCC jerseys will be assigned. U15 finals scheduled at 11 am and U17 finals at 14.30 pm.
Ranking Team Relay XCR U15
1 Lombardia B (Acanfora Mattia – Signorelli Mariachiara – Fasoli Riccardo) 00:27:28; 2 Austria 1 U15 (Freuis Paul – Friedl Ruben – Piringer Johanna) 00:27:29; 3 Polska (Zygmuntowicz Kacper – Struzik Michal – Pirog Natalia) 00:27:41; 4 Czech National Team U15 A (Rada Vojtěch – Sluková Klotylda – Vajsejtl Jan) 00:27:42; 5 Bourbon Cup Eso1 (Randazzo Pietro Salvatore – Vaglio Walter – Prataviera Caterina) 00:28:23; 6 Czech National Team U15 B (Verner Martin – Novotná Justýna – Mucha Samuel) 00:28:30; 7 Bike Junior Team Powered By Bulls 2 (Brandl Nico – Huber Benjamin – Leupold Emma) 00:28:32; 8 Lml Racing Team (Tielens Mathiz – Bel Peers Lars – Bel Brouwer Lisa – Ned) 00:28:33; 9 South West Germany 6 (Müller Nicola – Sui Strittmatter Maxi – Ger Urich Nick – Ger) 00:28:48; 10 The Swiss Crew (Hochstrasser Noa – Huber Shana – Barhoumi Karim Marwan) 00:28:50
Ranking Team Relay XCR U17
1 Czech National Team U17 A (Mušálek Jakub – Grohová Lucie – Bažant Kryštof) 00:25:38; 2 Specialized Junior Racing Team Switzerland (Hofmann Tobias – Hochstrasser Lenny – Grossmann Anja) 00:25:57; 3 Lombardia 3 (Savoldini Massimo – Bianchi Elisa – Brafa Federico Rosario) 00:26:17; 4 Austria 1 U17 (Hofer Valentin – Grangl Antonia – Friedl Anatol) 00:26:18; 5 Polish National Team 1 (Hankus Piotr – Ambrozkiewicz Maria – Matysik Maksymilian) 00:26:21; 6 Its Swiss (Iten Lewin – Tschumi Chloe – Stirnimann Tom) 00:26:43; 7 South West Germany 1 (Witzack Elijah – Streit Lana – Benz Benedikt) 00:26:47; 8 Team Tln Swiss (Schnyder Noah – Neuhaus Loris – De Almeida Tess) 00:26:47; 9 Allebike Sverige (Torbrink Vile – Nilsson Elinore – Vergara Felipe) 00:26:48; 10 Slovenia 1 (Golob Nik – Stajnar Gasper – Šerkezi Maruša Tereza) 00:26:48
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