The Trial Park in Vermiglio issued the first verdicts in view of tomorrow when the women's and men's 20” and 26' finals will be held. Among the Italians, Giulio Porcario in the big wheels and Marco Bonalda for the 20” ones will be in the semifinals.
No surprises in the quarter finals of the Men Elite 26", with the four groups won by the french Giacomo Coustellier, Noah Cardona (third at the last two World Junior Championships), Nathan Charra (Junior World Champion last year in China), and the German Hennes Herrmann. In the small wheels instead the rain conditioned the four rounds with many athletes in difficulty and the number of penalties increased accordingly. The Spanish Eloi Palau, gold among the Juniors in Val di Sole in 2016, risked the elimination (finishing fourth in a very tight group B behind the Italian Bonalda) for just one point and was recovered for the semi-finals thanks to a good test in the rain (only six penalties). The winners of the four groups are the Spanish Marti Aran and Borja Conejos, the Slovak Samuel Hlavaty (Junior bronze in Val di Sole two years ago) and the Czech Vaclav Kolar.
The wet weather conditions affected also the qualifying Women 20”: the absolute protagonists were the German Nina Reichenbach (World Champion in 2016 and in 2017), the French Manon Basseville and the Spanish Irene Caminos (bronze medal last year). Also the Spanish Alba Hildago, the Slovak Erika Hlavata and the Czech Alzbeta Pecinkova will fight for the title on Sunday 26 August.
Today the UCI Trials World Cup has begun on the five areas set up by the Organizing Committee in the Trial Park located in Vermiglio, near the Vermigliana lakes (Val di Sole, Trentino - Italy). It is a natural setting - with obstacles found on the territory like logs and boulders, and partly artificial - that has already received the great appreciation of athletes and technicians during the World Championships in 2016 and the Italian Trials Championships in 2017. This area is one of the few existing available for national and international teams’ training sessions.
Tomorrow morning the Elite Men 26 Semifinal will be held from 9 to 11, followed by the Men Elite 20” from 11am to 1pm. The UCI Trials World Cup in Val di Sole - the only Italian stage - comes alive with the Women Elite finals starting at 2pm, followed by the men's 26” and 20”, respectively at 3.30pm and 5pm.
