Superenduro PRO 4: Madesimo, Prologue

The storms of the last few days seem to have passed and, although we woke up to a grey sky this morning, the important thing is that it didn't rain over night. It was today the town really woke up too, people started pouring in and by mid-morning the queue for the lift up was growing by the minute. Most of the riders who have nine-to-five jobs got here last night and it was the time to get a few quick runs in before racing starts for real tomorrow... This evening was the prologue, a forty second or so sprint from the lower slopes into the heart of the town. If you're wondering what that has to do with enduro racing, the answer is that it brings a little bit of the action to the people who live in the town as the real action tomorrow happens up in the mountains and in the forests where it's not easy to go and watch.

This is a big weekend for Manuel Ducci, it's the first time he's raced with the red series leaders' plate.

For Vittorio Gambirasio it's a big weekend too, his team rugs have come through and he was grinning from ear-to-ear because of it.

The reality of van life. There are many things you have to do without, things like toilets, showers and, more importantly, internet to update your Instagram account. So when the bar they ate in last night is offering free wifi, the order of the afternoon is huddling on the bench outside to pick up the signal again.

Joe Flanagan's bike has had a hard life...

As he'd forgot his helmet, Toby Pantling rolled up to check out the lines and see how the prologue course looked.

This kid definitely won practice, his bike sounded like a toolbox rattling down the high-speed straight towards the town, but did he care? He was getting in run after run, getting a little faster and a little sketchier each time. It actually looked like a lot of fun.

Cam Cole is making the most of the time between World Cup rounds by travelling around Europe and has decided to come and race some enduro. This weekend is his first time racing enduro here in Europe and he says it's very different here to what they have back in NZ.

Lars Sternberg had a good afternoon, managing joint sixth in the prologue.

This photo doesn't really do how fast this corner is justice, the slope down is a straight sprint and you then take the rocky curve flat-out. We promised Sam Flanagan that we'd mention that he rides for Hope Tech if we used this photo, so there you go, Sam.

Roberto Ciambrone, Silvio Berlusconi's voice double, takes to the prologue course.

Fans gathered on this corner as it was the sketchiest on the course, with a few riders flirting with disaster. We wouldn't like to suggest they were waiting to see a crash, but... Amy Laird gets a foot out for the corner.

We don't actually have the results from the prologue at the time of writing due to a technical error with the timing, what we are sure of is that Marianna Uttini looked fastest through the sketchy corner.

Sam Flanagan wheelying over the finish line. He wound up a respectable 28th, around two seconds off the pace.

Enrico Guala took up his usual position on the finish line, encouraging the riders and calling out the results.

Marco Bolagno does Europe proud and gets down for a full aero-tuck. We're not sure this really helps on a pedal section, but different strokes and all that.

Toby Pantling coming in a time of 36.5 seconds. That was good enough to put him in joint 17th this evening, around two seconds off the leaders' pace.

Can you spot what's wrong here?

Michael Schaerer putting the power down, unfortunately he found himself back in 35th tonight, nearly three seconds out.

Jacopo Orbassano seems to be getting faster and faster this year and that face wasn't just for dramatic effect. He's only seventeen years old and sprinted to fourth against a field of grown men. Definitely one to watch for the future.

When is a loss not a loss? Manuel Ducci finished third this evening, 0.2 back from Carlo Gambirasio. However, his biggest rivals, Alex Lupato and Davide Sottocornola, are more than a second further back going into the race tomorrow. When a handful of seconds is the difference between victory and defeat, that's a great start to the weekend.

How tough was that sprint? Manuel's face says more than we ever could while he waits for the prologue results with Alex Lupato and Andrea Bruno.

Andrea Bruno isn't feeling on form this weekend, or at least is telling us he isn't to keep a low profile, either way, he left the prologue early to concentrate on the more important things in life.

www.superenduromtb.com

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Racing and Events Superenduro

Author Info:

mattwragg
Member since Oct 29, 2006
753 articles

12 Comments

17 0

razorback0725 (Jun 22, 2013 at 14:14)

Where's Dan Atherton?

Jboyd888 (Jun 22, 2013 at 13:47)

Ahh, he is clearly running the new 650Bminus standard.

mwSLUGmtb (Jun 22, 2013 at 13:40)

@carrot-cruncher "Can you spot what's wrong here?" was referencing to the picture above (hint: look at the wheels)

carrot-cruncher (Jun 24, 2013 at 0:09)

Was refering to the picture below the comment whether or not it being wrong. Then again i didnt even realise he was riding on the rim on the above picture!

proDHracer (Jun 22, 2013 at 13:58)

lol picture 4 had me laughing pretty hard, ¨please dont snap!!¨

rwb97 (Jun 24, 2013 at 3:20)

What's with Michael Schaerer's fork? It looks like the top of a Fox lower, but the stanchions are black? Saw something like this recently too where someone had done a 29'er conversion with Marzocchi uppers and Fox lowers.... hmmm

b45her (Jun 22, 2013 at 20:25)

only a problem for UCI races i believe.

mac80 (Jun 23, 2013 at 4:54)

As usual, nice report and photos!

dirtbagluvin (Jun 22, 2013 at 17:05)

Hell yeah Lars!! Represent'n the p-dubs!!

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