NICOLA CASADEI AND TRACY MOSELEY DOMINATE SUPERENDURO 2017 – LA THUILE
The third Round of the 2017 Superenduro season – at La Thuile – has been a race with a very high technical level . A 450 riders from 15 countries battled over the epic trails of this Valle d’Aosta venue, in a race that was one of the two Enduro World Series Qualifier events in Italy.
The beautiful town of La Thuile, nestled among mountain peaks and alpine glaciers in Valle d’Aosta, has played host to the third Round of the National Superenduro Series: a long weekend of mountain-biking in a resort that boasts a massive offer of sport events and outdoor activities for visitors and tourists.
Open practice over Friday and Saturday made clear that the Superenduro Round of La Thuile was going to be a tough and fiercely fought race. The trails on offer are among the most spectacular in the world, with serious altitude changes and technical challenges that don’t fall short of what would be expected in a world-level competition. The fact that the Superenduro event of La Thuile was also valid as 2018 Enduro World Series Qualifier added some drama to the event and attracted an impressive number of riders from all over the World. In the region of 15 countries lined up at the start.
Top results at the Superenduro Round of La Thuile for Nicola Casadei (CMC Cycling Experience Team) and Tracy Moseley (T-MO Racing). Both riders led the race from start to finish, winning every stage and imposing an impressive pace to all contenders.
Nicola Casadei “I still had in my mouth the bad taste of the third place I took here in 2015. It was time to redeem myself. Today I managed to ride clean, making no mistakes and keeping cool. On these trails, over such a natural terrain, a flat or a mechanical can happen any time. In the end, I think that my strategy paid off and I am stoked that I got the top step here, with so many champions and potential winners on track”.
Vittorio Gambirasio (Officine Red Bike Team) finishes second overall at 13.50 sec behind Nicola, while the fast Frenchman Nicolas Lau (Cube Action Team) is behind, at 27.73 sec away from the win, taking the third spot during the last Stage from Marco Milivinti (GB Rifar Racing Team), who closes in fourth.
In the Women, Tracy Moseley comes back to La Thuile and celebrates the return to one of her favourite venues by taking the top step.
Tracy Moseley “I forgot how steep it is here and that the trails are so technical and dusty. The race has been really hard. Although this year I am engaged in something else and not competing only, being here to race is always quite an emotion. Superenduro is always great and I am glad that it has such a solid national presence”.
Second place for the sensational Laura Rossin (GB Rifar Racing Team) at 1.29 minutes from Tracy, followed by Carolin Gehrig (Ibis Cycles Enduro Race Team), from Switzerland, third with a gap of 2.12 minutes to the leader, after more that 40 minutes of timed Special Stages.
In the E-Bike category double win – after that of Canazei – for the Swiss rider Gustav Wildhaber (Cube Action Team) with a total time of 29.28 minutes and with some stage results worth the overall top-ten. He closes with a solid time margin over his pursuers, Paolo Belluomini and Isaac Sonzogni. Respect for all e-bike riders at La Thuile who had to negotiate on their burly bikes steep passages and rocky technical sections, where being nimble does help a lot.
In the Youth/Juvenile SE-G and SE1 the winners are, respectively, Marco Betteo, with a time of 23.26 minutes and Simone Pellissero with 21.02 minutes.
Today’s results made clear that the Superenduro battle for the overall is still truly on and that the next two Rounds are going to be even more exciting. Matteo Raimondi not completely at ease over La Thuile trails had to deal with an awkward weekend: he lost the Series leadership and he handed it over to Vittorio Gambirasio, the current leader, with Nicola Casadei in second and Marco Milivinti in third. As for today, there are four riders within a 160-point span, incredible.
“This Superenduro Round, with the international attendance and the very high level shown today, has been the event we were expecting ” Enrico Martello declares at the end of the weekend. “The most rewarding thing however is the feedback about our trails and the organizational quality that characterizes every event we put together at La Thuile. We have one of the best crew in the world and I am convinced that we will continue to do great things in the future ”.
Superenduro will see you and all enthusiasts again on the 10th of September. Next Round, as announced during the riders’ briefing at La Thuile, has been moved from Varano de Melegari to Calestano.
