In the final day of the event in Darfo Boario Terme (Italy), on Sunday July 30th, Swiss Florian Vogel (Focus XC) claimed the XCO European title in the Men Elite series, as Gioele Bertolini (NOB-Selle Italia) did among Men Under 23. Linda Indergand (Focus XC) and Manuel Fumic (Cannondale Factory Racing) completed the picture placing second and third respectively in the Women and Men Elite XCO races. Northwave riders return from from the European Championships with 6 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals.
Nine years after his previous European title, Vogel stood out in the two final laps of a thrilling race, finishing in 1:24:08 with a 10-second advantage on Julien Absalon and 40 seconds on Manuel Fumic. “Almost a decade has passed since my first European title – Vogel commented – and for me to keep competing at this level after roughly two decades in the sport means a lot to me. I had a good start, and I found myself in a group with several strong Frenchmen, as we expected. In the second lap I made a mistake in the descent, I had to unplug my foot from the pedal, and that gave Tempier the opportunity to gain ground. I put in the chasing effort for Fluckiger, but we later realized that I was feeling better than he was, so I made my move. It was an elimination race in the finale – the twice XCO World Champion added – with several riders suffering the effort on the distance. The only one who came out deep in the race is Absalon, who made a great race, but I knew that as long as I managed to keep him away from my wake, he wouldn’t have had the chance to pass me”.
BERTOLINI LEADS THE ITALIAN TRIUMPH AMONG UNDER 23
Eight days after holding the Men U23 Italian title, Gioele Bertolini outdistanced all his rivals also in the craved continental race. The Italian preceded countryman Nadir Colledani (+0.06) and Dane Simon Andreassen (+1:15). Former Juniors World champion, the 22-year-old rider from Lombardy region claimed in his home country his maiden European crown.
WOMEN ELITE: SILVER FOR INDERGAND.
Linda Indergand (Focus XC) extended her list of achievements by claiming the silver medal in the Women Elite XCO race, completing the race with a 3:26 gap from winner Yana Belomoina, after the two had gotten clear together in the early on. Besides runner-up Indergand, German Sabine Spitz (4th, in spite of a nasty crash), Dutch Anne Terpstra (Team Ghost Factory, 7th), Slovenian Tanja Zakelj (Unior Tools, 8th) and Swiss Kathrin Stirnemann (Team Radon XC, 9th), European champion in Women XCE race last Friday.
In the Continental event, on the podium were Alessandra Keller, Linda Indergand and Filippo Colombo (gold), Malene Degn and Caroline Bohe (silver) in the Team Relay, under 23 Keller (silver) and juniors Loana Lecomte (silver) and Bohe (bronze) in the XCO.
Onigo di Pederobba (Italy), July 30th, 2017
