Race Report: Superenduro 2019 - Round 2 Punta Ala by BWinder

This weekend Punta Ala Camp and Resort hosted the second round of the 2019 Superenduro (Italian Enduro Series). Situated in Tuscany, and quite literally a stone’s throw away from the sea. Tuscany is one of Italy’s most picturesque regions, treating us to long sandy beaches, beautiful rolling hills and of course its cuisine. But the bike riding is really what has brought the Superenduro here, with a range of fast, flowy trails to eye-watering, rocky, technical trails, that’s why Punta Ala played host to the inaugural EWS back in 2013.

This weekend’s race was made up of five stages on a 41km loop, with 1460m of climbing which is almost all off-road except for the final liaison back to the resort. With the weather relatively unpredictable this weekend, with heavy rain in the morning it would brighten up towards the end of each day. Racers had to be prepared for all conditions.

The race itself was won by Nicola Casadei, who was second on the first two stages and won the rest. He held a solid 15 second lead over second placed Marcello Percenti. In the women's Laura Rossin dominated, taking the win by nearly a minute ahead of Irene Savelli.

With clouds packed with rain rolling in overnight, they poured down leaving the trails and riders drenched.

Nicola Casadei fine-tuning his bike with the Andreani suspension specialists.

Whilst others hid from the rain.

As everything was sodden outside, Enrico Guala’s voice kept everyone’s spirits high as he set riders on their way.

Laura Rossin getting herself prepped for the day.

Bikes left out in the rain as their owners sheltered from the elements.

As riders made their way to the first stage of the day, the rain was beginning to ease off.

One way of keeping those goggles dry, Louise Paulin.

Everything drenched, from the start time sheets to the dirt which had turned into a muddy soup.

With a layer of grease on top of the dirt meant things got slippery on the first two stages.

Irene Savelli put in a solid performance, second position and looking fast all day.

The fans still braved the weather to cheer on the racers.

One of the many victims of the wet, polished roots.

Talking of victims, this was a close call.

Towards the end of the second stage, the sun started to shine down.

The liaison to the third stage was one of the longest, but with enough time to get to the start, racers were able to conserve some energy by pushing.

As the ground began to dry out, a reminder of the earlier wet conditions. A kneepad trampled into the dirt, missing its twin and owner.

Andrea Ugolini.

Italian national champ, Jessica Bormolini on her way to third position.

Alex Lupato took an early lead, winning the first stage but dropped back as the day progressed and finished up in 6th position.

Erwin Ronzon.

Matthias Stonig, his best result of the day was a 3rd on the first stage, he finished in 11th.

The local organiser Thomas Daddi has recently returned from the Cape Epic, inspired by the music and atmosphere he organised the Bandão Percussion Orchestra to play as riders made their way to the final stage of the day.

Crowds littered the side of the final stage of the day, offering moral support in the form of shouting.

Stage 5, Rock'oh was one of the stages we saw at the EWS back in 2013, it has some pretty technical sections like this rocky shoot. 3rd placed Matteo Berta, attacking the most technical of lines through this section.

Not everyone managed to make it through unscathed, wet and muddy tyres on the rock didn't offer much in the way of grip.

Erwin Ronzon had a tough first stage, won the second and began to claw back some time throughout the day, making light work of this section and finished up in 4th position.

Laura Rossin getting sideways in the point, no one wants to be sideways, managing to ride it out and taking victory here in Punta Ala by almost one minute.