In the heart of the Val Sessrea, lying south west of the Monterosa winter freeride mecca, mountain biking is bringing in new life to the small village of Coggiola! The hometown of Alex Lupato, one of the fastest Italian Enduro riders, Coggiola opened its flowy trails to Superenduro racing three years ago, and has been a regular fixture ever since!
Rider climbing through the cobbled streets of Coggiola
Over the last weekend the grand opening of the 6th SuperEnduro season saw more than 400 riders literally invade the venue, with generous local inhabitants hosting the “Superenduristi” into their houses because of the lack of hotels. The village laid out an incredibly warm welcome for the day, and with teams and riders showing their new racing tools for the season, the paddock was buzzing with excitement On Saturday night the Main Room of the local School hosted the award ceremony for the 2012 championship winners with a great party and local cuisine. Unfortunately the weather forecast for Sunday was rain all day, confirmed by mother nature when several mm of rain washed over the perfect dirt of the Coggiola hills. Nevertheless more than 400 riders hit the trails on a reduced loop and had a blast day of riding and fun.
Plenty of good humor was on show, the weather was wet but spirits were high!
Tough conditions for racing, but many riders were still pinned!
Many riders had to deal with this situation on the day!
Everyone knew it would be tough to beat Alex Lupato on his home trails, but few thought of having to deal with his brother Denny too. With Sottocornola out after a crash, it was a Lupato one-two for the family for the brothers of the FRM Team Factory on Lapierre, who led Manuel Ducci (Ibis – Life Cycle) by almost a minute. It was a great race for Matthew Raimondi (SantaCruz – Cicobikes Nonsolofango Dsb) who came in fourth, close to Ducci, with Jacopo Orbassano in fifth in his debut on the Lapierre Team FRM Factory team.
It was a tough battle for the women, with Chiara Pastore (Santacruz – Team Cicobikes Dsb Nonsolofango) winning in front of Laura Rossin (Cannondale – Dream Team Genoa) and Valentina Macheda (Ibis – Life Cycle).
Overall win went to the local kid Alex Lupato followed by “XC brother” Denny, both racing for FRM Factory Racing, third position for Manuel Ducci (life Cycle).
In the ladies class, Chiara Pastore took the win for the Cicobikes-DSB-Nonsolofango team, followed by Laura Rossin and Valentina Macheda.
The first racing weekend of the season was a great success and showed a big step forward in team organization and industry support, everybody at SuperEnduro knows that this is THE game changer year for the discipline and nobody want to be caught unprepared.
Full race times for the event can be downloaded here
Next round will be the legendary stop on the Ligurian Riviera in the village of Sestri Levante on April 13-14, there are still some entries available.
For more information check out http://www.superenduromtb.com/ If you are looking for some of the best riding in April do not miss it!
Sestri Levante, the next stop on the SuperEnduro calendar!
Sestri Levante, the next stop on the SuperEnduro calendar!
Words and photos : Enrico Guala
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