The Italian championship count-down has begun. After the short track and eliminator races, which gave the Trinx Factory Team two national titles, on Saturday the athletes headed by Luca Bramati will be expected in Val Casies (BZ) for the Italian cross country championships. One of the pivotal appointments of the year, even if it may comeat an unlucky moment for Eva Lechner and her teammates (in Alessio Pederiva photo’s).
«Eva, Gioele Bertolini and Noemi Plankensteiner practically lost a week of training due to a fever attack that hit them as soon as they returned from training camp in Livigno», explains sports director Luca Bramati. «Now they are fine and we are already happy to be able to put them in our line-up; unfortunately they have lost the chance to reach a good leg speed after the training camp».
The Trinx Factory Team run-in towards Italian Championship already started at the end of June, after the Internazionali d’Italia Series last round. The last two weekends with the World Cup races in Lenzerheide and Andora should have been crucial to reach the best shape; but in these two appointments the squad couldn’t race.
«The Italian championship are important for us. Eva Lechner has a special bond with these colors, which she has dressed more than 30 times; Gioele has an unfinished business with this race and Noemi would have liked to do her best because in Val Casies she won the Italian title in xce among the under 17s. In short, we don’t care about our shape; we will do our best».
At the start there will also be the Elite Giorgia Marchet, the Under 23s Filippo Agostinacchio and Andrea Colombo and the juniors Valentina Corvi and Fabio Bassignana, who have not contracted the flu virus. But the illness are not the only unknown factor of the Italian weekend.
«It could rain in Val Casies, a condition in which we have never raced this year. The track, already technical on its own, could become even more tough and reward those bikers able to flow over the roots».
ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, 23rd JULY
9.00 am: Under 19 men race
11.00 am: Under 23 men race
1.00 pm Women races (U19, U23 and Elite)
3.00 pm: Men Elite race
