Superenduro PRO 1, Sestri Levante, Race Day
Here we go! After the teaser of last night's prologue the real fun got underway at 9am this morning as the first riders headed up into the mountains. Taking to the long climb up to stage one they were greeted by clear blue skies, a light sea breeze and temperatures that climbed through the day to a peak of somewhere in the early 20s (centigrade, in case you're wondering). They were facing a 42km course, with around 1,500m of climbing and more than twenty minutes of timed stages to race over.
www.superenduromtb.com
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 In case you're wondering about the helmets, Superenduro rules state that you need to be wearing a helmet at all times on course and that a full-facer is mandatory on the race stages. With the long climbs, many riders prefer to carry an open face to use on the transfers, just switching to the bigger helmet for racing. The decision to make full-face helmets compulsory isn't a fashion choice, with the terrain riders face and the speed they are hitting it at, they are very much needed. |
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| Each rider is given one of these stickers, to stick on their top tube. They tell them where they need to be and when for their race. |
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| This is the point where it all starts - Enrico Guala sticks his microphone in your face for the world to hear and then it's off up into the mountains... |
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| Isabeau Courdurier couldn't quite repeat her form from last year this weekend and had to settle for third place and four seconds between herself and second place. |
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| Rain in the week meant the mud was deep and thick in places on stage one. |
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| In his first ride to defend that coveted red number one plate, Davide Sottocornola put himself ahead of all of his Italian rivals. His consistency of pace has gone nowhere over the winter and he has to be the favourite for the series title again this year. |
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| Dominant is the best word to describe Jerome Clementz today. In a race where the next three riders were separated by just 17 seconds, to put himself more than thirty seconds ahead of them over 22 minutes of racing is devastating form. If he can carry this form with him into the Enduro World Series, then he's definitely going to be one of the top contenders. |
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| Paul Aston first showed up to a Superenduro race at the start of last season. A run of injuries meant we never got to see how fast he really is, until today. Fifth behind Jerome Clementz and three of the top Italians is a good start for him. The only problem with this is that he will now definitely not stop telling everyone about the benefits of his newly-found vegan diet and why we would all be faster if we lived on bananas... |
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| It's no surprise that a guy as big and with as much explosive power as Michal Prokop struggled a little at this kind of endurance racing. He finished a very creditable 48th and, more importantly, enjoyed himself doing it. If he can work out the details and schedule with his 4X commitments, we can be sure to see him back racing enduro again before long. |
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| Valentina Macheda had her best ever result at a PRO race today, beating all the Italian girls, only to be denied her first Superenduro win by Pauline Diefenthaler. |
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| The top of the first stage had a long open passage, perfect for 1/25 panning shots... |
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| Hopefully this should give you an idea of the scale of this race. The courses all start here on this peak at around 500m above sea-level, with stages two and four running from right the way to the sea below. |
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| In the opening stage Alex Lupato was looking fast as hell, but a snapped handlebar on the second put him well out of the running for the podium. Considering how close it is at the top of the series, he's going to have to put in some mighty performances to make up the difference on his rivals, and we've only just got the first of six races out of the way. |
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| Life Cycle's Manuel Ducci put in a solid ride for third today and was only 16 seconds off Davide Sottocornola. |
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| Gianluca Vernassa admits that he didn't come here to fight for the win. His focus is the downhill World Cup and there was no point him putting it all on the line here, but a nice long loop with long descents seems like a pretty good way to go training. He came home in a very respectable 32nd and it never looked like he was doing much more than cruising. |
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| Bike Magic's James McKnight has driven 1,000 miles and spent the last three nights sleeping in a van to be here. Although it's his two colleagues you should feel sorry for, as he got the bed in the van, they got the footwells. Sleep-deprived or not, he managed a solid 35th today. He didn't crash either, which was his main goal for the weekend. |
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| Enduro isn't downhill, so there are nearly always some short climbs in the stages. It's up to you whether you man-up and pedal at them, or take the easy way out and push... |
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| Open this shot in high res and zoom in on Toby Pantling's teeth if you're not sure how hard these guys are pushing. His grimace of determination says more than I ever could. |
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| Pauline Diefenthaler only received her new bike a couple of weeks ago, so this was one of her first rides out on it. A winning margin of more than two minutes suggests she's getting on well with it! |
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| With the race over, Jerome was back to his usual, relaxed self. He wanted to know where his fitness was with this race, a margin like that means his training is probably going quite well. |
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| Your first Superenduro podium of 2013! Around them are just a few of the people it took to make this race happen. It's hard to overstate how much work goes into putting on one of these races and it really does take the whole community for it to work this well. There are little things, like the fact the local organisers had the trails officially closed for the race. If they hadn't, the group of 50 hikers determined to use them would have completely ruined the day. |
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| As the sun set over the Ligurian sea, 500 happy racers headed back home after the first big race of the season. Next stop for the circuit is Punta Ala in a month's time, which will also be the first round of the Enduro Worlds Series. |
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Well done guys and Great! to you, Enrico (Guala); you're doing incredible and big things for our sport and our country (Italy), don't give up!!! When do you come to see the amazing trails of Val Trebbia, they could easily host a SuperEnduro event
Cheers!
Enduro race is awesome!!
Big Bruno Zanchi (he's one of italian downhill veterans) 8th, compliments!