Fontana wins Internazionali d'Italia round

Image 1 of 4

The Internazionali d'Italia in the City of Montichiari, also known as the Trofeo Giorgio Senini race, attracted a top international field. The elite and under 23 men's race drew 146 starters, including eventual race winner Marco Aurelio Fontana.  Forty-four also began the women's race.

Fontana was part of an early three-man lead group including Tony Longo and Stephane Tempier. They were followed by a large group of chasers including South American champion Fabio Castaneda and Spaniard Sergio Monsalve Gutierrez Mantecon. Cristian Cominelli, after a slower start, worked his way up and was riding as the top Under 23 racer.  The race's action is detailed in Italian on the race's website, www.italiasporteam.it.

During the first lap, Fontana and Longo created a small,three-second gap over Tempier. Mantecon was sitting at 25 seconds, and Cominelli was not much further back at 36 seconds. Yader Zoli was riding in sixth place at less than a minute off the leaders.

Tempier succeed in rejoining the two leaders to recreate the original, lead trio. Together, the three established a 52-second advantage on Mantecon. Meanwhile Cominelli was gaining ground and caught the Spaniard on the more technical part of the course. At about 1:25, riders like Leondardo Paez, Gutierrez and Johnny Cattaneo chased.

The three  leaders stayed off the front through lap two as Mantecon lost another few seconds. Cominelli was riding in fifth, as the top Under 23 racer at 1:07. About two minutes back, Paez, Fruet, Alvarez, Corti, Zoli tried to keep a high pace.

Positions stayed the same in lap three.  Then, Fontana and Longo started the fourth and penultimate lap together, but neither was showing his cards to the other. The gaps to the riders behind the top three continued to grow, with Cominelli getting caught by Paez and Zoli.

On the last lap, the lead trio slowed its pace a bit, letting Mantecon gain back a little more time though Cominelli continued to lose ground. Tempier seemed to be in trouble on an uphill and lost contact to the other two. Though a final sprint was expected between Fontana and Longo, a dropped chain for Longo changed that as Fontana rode to a win ahead of Longo. Tempier held on for third.

Mantecon was fourth, followed Paez, Cattaneo and Zoli. Cominelli ended up 11th, but stayed as the top Under 23 racer.

After this second round, Fontana and Cominelli lead the overall classification respectively for the elites and under 23s.

"I tried to attack immediately but the Frenchman Tempier was a diesel," said Fonatana according to the race's website, www.italiasporteam.it. "I did a quiet penultimate lap, checking my opponents and increasing the pace on the last lap. The course was really tough, but it was beautiful, technical and selective, as befits a true cross country course "

"It was a nice day today," said Cominelli. "After finishing third in Massa Marittima, I'm finally wearing the leader's (U23) jersey. At the start, I tried to stay with the best, but they were really strong and I preferred to win my class and not push too much."

Elite women's race

In the elite women's race, Switzerland's Nathalie Schneitter won in 1:46:11. She finished just four seconds ahead of Italian Eva Lechner. Anna Szafraniec of Poland was third in 1:47:21. Fourth place went to Slovenian Tanja Zakelj and Switzerland took the final top spot with Marielle Saner-Guinchard.

Colnago's Eva Lechner and Nathalie Schneitter went on the immediate attack. About halfway through the race, the two were ahead of Polish woman Anna Szafraniec, who held onto a podium place though she continued to lose time to the leaders.

On a hard section, Lechner lost her balance and dabbed a foot. Schneitter immediately took advantage and got enough out of it to take the solo win ahead of Lechner. With her margin, the audience was not repeated to a sprint repeat of last year's event.

"Today was a tough race. Eve and I were always together, fighting the attacks of Anna Szafraniec," said Schneitter after the race. "I thought it would end in a sprint, but Eva slipped. Too bad! Last week she won, this time it fell to me."

"This year was tougher because of the mud," said Lechner. "There was a place where you could breathe, but I made a mistake."

Under 23 women's winner Tanja Zakelj was happy with her outcome in what was her first race of the season. "It could not get any better than that. Now I go to South Africa to compete and then I'll continue racing the Internazionali "

Mountain bike legend Paola Pezzo was on hand today and noted the constantly improving quality of the women's field.

Junior men

Second year Junior Denny Lupato won the junior men's race and became the new overall category leader.

The young talent from Piedmont and the Giant Italia Team triumped after a good start. From the beginning, Lupato rode to control Andrea Righettini (Arcobaleno Carraro Team) and a trio composed of Austrian Gregor Raggl, Maximilian Vieider and Slovenian Urban Ferencak. His opponents' gap increased during the race, and Lupato was able to manage a technical problem involving his chain during the final lap.

Lupato preceded Righettini by nearly a minute at the end of the race. Vieider finished ahead of Slovenian Urban Ferencak to complete the junior men's podium.

Results