With less than 24 hours to the start of the Italian Cross Country season, Verona breathes the atmosphere of big events. Verona MTB International represents the seasonal debut for many athletes and the first opportunity to contest with the opponents after the winter. There is the smile of the athletes eager to get thing going in the season, and the awareness of the opening round’s difficulties, on the route designed by Ivan Cristofaletti’s ASD Giomas in the Parco delle Colombare.
“It’s a beautiful and tough route”, said Italian National Team Coach Mirko Celestino, arrived in Verona with the Italian bikers after the training camp in Follonica, “In case of wet conditions, the route can become really tricky. Among international stars, Maxime Marotte looks very good, but my hope is to see the Italian athletes fight at the front”.
In addition, the athletes are divided on the weather conditions: there are those hoping for a dry race (“With a wet route, the race becomes very hard, probably even too much for a season debut”, commented Daniele Braidot) and those who wouldn’t regret wet conditions like Gery Kerschbaumer, motivated by the debut with new team Torpado-Gabobas.
Tomorrow, the show will start at 12.00 with the Men Junior, Women Elite, U23 and Junior race, followed by the Men Elite and U23 categories at 2.30 pm. Afterwards, the winners will be rewarded with the leaders’ jerseys designed by Northwave, main sponsor of the challenge together with Shimano and FSA.
Meantime, an important news has come for the MTB fans: on Saturday at 9.00 pm, PMG Sport will broadcast 30 minutes of highlights on the “PMG Sport” Facebook page and the official website www.pmgsport.it. In addition, Bike Channel will broadcast the highlights of Internazionali d’Italia’s opening round on Monday March 6th at 8.15 pm.
VERONA MTB INTERNATIONAL’S PROGRAMME
Saturday March 4th, 2017
9:00 – 11:00 – Free practice on the route
11:40 – 11:55 – Call-up Open Women, Junior Men and Junior Women
12:00 – 13:30 – Internazionali d’Italia XCO race – Open Women, Junior Men and Junior Women
(awarding ceremony to follow)
13:40 – 14:10 – Free practice on the route
14:15 – 14:30 – Call-up Open Men
14:30 – 16:00 – Internazionali d’Italia XCO race – Open Men (awarding ceremony to follow)
2017 INTERNAZIONALI D’ITALIA SERIES CALENDAR
March 4th 2017: Verona MTB International
March 12th 2017: Milano “La Montagnetta”
April 2nd 2017: Trofeo Delcar – Montichiari (BS)
April 9th 2017: Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race – Nalles (BZ)
June 3rd 2017: Courmayeur Internazionale (AO)
Verona, March 3rd, 2017
PHOTO: Maxime Marotte, one of the favorites of Internazionali d’Italia Series’ opening round
