The “revolutionary” Cyclo-cross World Cup stage to be held in Vermiglio, Val di Sole, on December 11th and 12th, has been presented in Trento. Van Aert, Pidcock and Vos are the top names of an eagerly awaited event. Van den Spiegel: “Cyclo-cross aims at the Winter Olympics, Val di Sole is going to make history”
“The most innovative cyclo-cross event in recent years” is ready to take off in Val di Sole, Trentino. Word of Tomas Van den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics, the company coordinating the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup. In fact, in 10 days, on December 11th and 12th, the Cyclo-cross World Cup will debut in the Valley that made a huge name in cycling for itself by hosting a number of World-class MTB events, last but not least the wonderful World Championships in August.
The event marking the return of the cyclo-cross World Cup in Italy after 5 years has been presented on Thursday, December 2nd, in Trento, at the headquarters of Trentino Marketing. The presentation was attended by the Sport and Tourism Councillor of the Autonomous Province of Trento Roberto Failoni, the Trentino Marketing CEO Maurizio Rossini , the President and Director of the Val di Sole Tourism Board and Grandi Eventi Val di Sole, Luciano Rizzi and Fabio Sacco, the Mayor of Vermiglio and Director of the Pontedilegno-Tonale Consortium, Michele Bertolini, the President of the Trentino Committee of the Italian Olympic Committee Paola Mora, Italian Cycling Federation off-road Director, Massimo Ghirotto, and athlete Martino Fruet, along with the Flanders Classics CEO Tomas Van den Spiegel via live streaming.
The expectation is high for the very first cyclo-cross race designed and projected to be held on the snow. The Vermiglio’s 1.200 m asl is an altitude never reached before by this discipline, and the area of the San Leonardo lakes is a complete novelty for Flanders Classic, which will start to work on the racecourse from Saturday, December 4th.
The landing of the CX in this territory is the new challenge tackled by the Val di Sole Tourism Board and by Grandi Eventi Val di Sole, alongside the Pontedilegno-Tonale Consortium.
A new proposal, as affirmed by Van den Spiegel, in which Flanders Classic has believed since the beginning. The bar is set high: not only putting up a great show, but also knocking at the International Olympic Committee door. The dream is to enter the Winter Olympics program, and Val di Sole can be a pivotal test to strengthen these ambitions.
VAN AERT, PIDCOCK AND VOS: THE CHAMPIONS LAND IN VERMIGLIO
The cyclo-cross World Cup started a few weeks ago, but as usual it is in December that things spice up with the multidiscipline’s champions joining the field after the road and in certain cases also the MTB season, as it happened with Brit Tom Pidcock, MTB Olympic Champion in Tokyo and standout competitor in both cross country and road cycling.
Alongside him, the Men’s Elite race (starting on Sunday, December 12th at 14.55 CET) will count on Wout Van Aert, 3x World Champion of the category and formidable all-round rider, capable of outstanding achievements also on the road and on every terrain, from long climbs to the Monument classics, from time trials to sprints.
From the current World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt to another main protagonist Quinten Hermans, everyone wants a chance to race for a win in Val di Sole. Home athletes Gioele Bertolini and Jakob Dorigoni will try to keep up the Italian flag.
On the women’s side (start at 13.00 CET), the number one favorite is Dutch champion Marianne Vos, together with fellow national riders Denise Betsema and Annemarie Worst. Hungarian Blanka Kata Vas, together with Italians Alice Arzuffi and Eva Lechner will try to counteract the orange domination.
THE SNOW GOES WORLDWIDE
The Val di Sole CX World Cup stage will be broadcast live all over the world thanks to a powerful TV coverage and to the signal of the UCI platforms and their YouTube channel.
In Italy, the coverage will be granted by Raisport and Eurosport , which will be broadcast all over Europe. Flo Sports will bring the event to North America (US and Canada), while Fox Sports will cover Australia. As usual, France will also focus on the race thanks to L’Equipe TV, as well as Benelux, the home of cyclo-cross: Telenet, Proximus, VRT and RTBF will broadcast the event in Belgium, while NOS will cover the Netherlands.
FORMAT AND PROGRAM
Cyclo-cross is a cycling discipline that takes place in the winter season. The races usually take place over several laps of a variable-length loop course, that goes from 2,5 to 3,5 km, with twisting tracks and natural and artificial obstacles that enhance the athletes' riding skills. In some points, riders have to run with the bikes on their shoulders: one of the most characteristic technical gestures of this discipline.
Cyclo-cross races take place over a 60-minute time span, resulting in spectacular and extremely intense competitions that are as exciting to watch on the course as they are on tv.
The Val di Sole races’ program, which only features Men and Women’s Elite competitions, will develop over two days: Saturday, December 11th, and Sunday, December 12th.
Saturday 11th December
12.30-14.00 – Course Inspection
14.00-16.00 – Free Practice
16.00-17.00 - Registrations
Sunday 12th December
09.00-11.00 – Registrations
11.00-13.20 – Free practice
13.30 – Elite Women’s Race
14.55 – Elite Men’s Race
TICKETS AND COVID RULES
Tickets for the event are for sale on the website at the price of 10€. In order to access the event, it is compulsory to show a COVID Pass obtained exclusively following vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 in the previous six months.
QUOTES
Roberto Failoni (Trentino’s Sports and Tourism Councilor ): “With this event, we close a great year in the name of cycling. We are facing a new challenge: a new discipline and an innovative format awaited by all our territory. For us this event is a great bet, with the goal to give a positive signal on the international market. We are ready to win this challenge thanks to our organizational skills”.
Maurizio Rossini (Trentino Marketing CEO): “Sports represents a key medium for the dialogue with the youngsters. We are preparing to face a winter season characterized by the novelty of the World Cup of a new discipline for us: cyclo-cross. We are curious to discover the potential of this event”.
Luciano Rizzi (President of Val di Sole Tourist Board and Grandi Eventi Val di Sole): "For our territory, cyclo-cross is a real innovation but we have embarked on this new adventure with great enthusiasm despite the fact that just a few months have passed since an extremely demanding MTB World Champs. We are ready for another big event: cyclo-cross in recent years has bred some of the most loved and spectacular athletes of world cycling. And who knows, maybe the peculiarity of the snowy ground could enhance another young talent looking for consecration. We generate tourism and the big events are part of our strategy: it’s not a coincidence that the International Cycling Union assigned us the title of Bike Region".
Tomas Van den Spiegel (Flanders Classics CEO): "From 2018, we decided to invest in the cyclo-cross, it’s very spectacular, also in terms of TV product. Cyclo-cross is a winter discipline, so the connection with the snow represents an interesting experiment. Val di Sole is the ideal location to launch cyclo-cross and its champions in direction of the Olympic dream, continuing this collaboration also in the future”.
