Schurter wins his first race of the season in Italy
By Sue George , Mountain Bike Editor published
Lechner victorious among the women
The colors of the rainbow lit up a typical winter day at the Maremma Cup cross country race in Italy. Those were the colors of World Champion Nino Schurter, who won the elite men's race.
In the fourth of six laps, Schurter went the the front, leaving Italian champion Marco Aurelio Fontana behind for an eventual second place. In the women's, race, Italy's Eva Lechner, took on former downhill champion Marielle Saner, for the victory.
The men's race
The Italian Fontana tried to escape, ahead of the other favorites, as early as the second lap, but his attempt was unsucessful as Schurter went with him. The two stayed together, riding the same tempo, until the fourth lap.
That's when Schurter accelerated with a strong effort to gain a lead of several meters, which would prove decisive. The Scott Swisspower rider won with a time of 1:48:29 after extending his lead to 21 seconds over Cannondale's Fontana.
Ralph Naef did the entire race in the shadow of two pacemakers and finished third ahead of Tony Long in fourth. Longo, who set a fast pace early on, rode practically the entire race alone. Swiss champion Florian Vogel, Schurter's teammate, had expected more, but had to be content with fifth place.
Swiss Patrik Gallati proved the best of the Under 23 racers. Junior World Champion Gerard Kerschbaumer made his debut in the under 23 category, finishing in 20th overall and as the second best Under 21 rider.
The women's race
At the start of the women's race, Eva Lechner tried to gain an advantage, but her teammate Nathalie Schneitter stuck to her wheel and went to the front.
In the third lap, Schneitter fell victim to a flat and lost substantial time when changing her tire. Lechner, in turn, also had a flat tire, but she managed to hold off the challenge from the Swiss Marielle Saner Guinchard by nearly two minutes. Third place went to the Czech rider Tereza Huríková. Judith Pollinger was fourth, and Virginie Pointet took fifth.
The juniors' races
Swiss Lisa Mitterbauer finished as top junior woman.
Andrea Righettini gave the spectators in the head-to-head race with the Swiss Roger Waldner in the junior men's race. The latter suffered a fall in the first lap, letting Righettini enjoy his "ride" to a winning margin of over four minutes. Roberto Panzeri was third at more than seven minutes back.
The athletes gets a rest day on Monday and on Tuesday, it'll be back to the starting line for another kermesse in Porto Santo Stefano.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 1:48:29 |
2 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) | 0:00:21 |
3 | Ralph Naef (Swi) | 0:02:15 |
4 | Tony Longo (Ita) | 0:02:39 |
5 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:03:48 |
6 | Patrik Gallati (Swi) | 0:04:41 |
7 | Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) | 0:04:52 |
8 | Rudi Van Houts (Ned) | 0:05:17 |
9 | Andreas Kugler (Swi) | 0:05:22 |
10 | Marek Konwa (Pol) | 0:05:34 |
11 | Mike Felderer (Ita) | 0:06:00 |
12 | Michele Casagrande (Ita) | 0:06:24 |
13 | Lukas Kaufmann (Swi) | 0:06:40 |
14 | Hannes Genze (Ger) | 0:07:27 |
15 | Pierluigi Bettelli (Ita) | 0:07:32 |
16 | Mirko Pirazzoli (Ita) | 0:08:14 |
17 | Johannes Schweiggl (Ita) | 0:08:43 |
18 | Martino Fruet (Ita) | 0:08:59 |
19 | Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) | 0:09:09 |
20 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) | 0:09:17 |
21 | Massimo De Bertolis (Ita) | 0:10:40 |
22 | Robert Gehbauer (Aut) | 0:10:55 |
23 | Mirko Farnisi (Ita) | 0:11:14 |
24 | Eddie Andres Rendon (Col) | 0:11:27 |
25 | Tim Wijnants (Bel) | 0:11:48 |
26 | Juri Ragnoli (Ita) | 0:12:12 |
27 | Ramon Bianchi (Ita) | 0:12:32 |
28 | Franz Hofer (Ita) | 0:12:57 |
29 | Frank Beemer (Ned) | 0:13:18 |
30 | Irjan Luttenberg (Ned) | 0:13:39 |
31 | Roberto Giacobazzi (Ita) | 0:13:42 |
32 | Daniele Mensi (Ita) | 0:15:15 |
33 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:15:32 |
34 | Elia Silvestri (Ita) | 0:15:37 |
35 | Alessandro Pierantoni (Ita) | 0:36:07 |
36 | Marco Ponta (Ita) | |
37 | Marco Bianco (Ita) | |
38 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | |
39 | Rafael Visinelli (Ita) | |
40 | Alberto Riva (Ita) | |
41 | Davide Di Marco (Ita) | |
42 | Giovanni Gatti (Ita) | |
43 | David Miguel Costa Rodrigues (Por) | |
44 | Roberto Crisi (Ita) | |
45 | Nicholas Pettina (Ita) | |
46 | Sebastian Batchelor (GBr) | |
47 | Davide Finetto (Ita) | |
48 | Igor Smarzaro (Ita) | |
49 | Balz Weber (Swi) | |
50 | Jose Luis Arce Ballesteros (Spa) | |
51 | Domenico Papaleo (Ita) | |
52 | Bert Luca (Bel) | |
53 | Michele Riggi (Ita) | |
54 | Michele Angeletti (Ita) | |
55 | Alberto Sarto (Ita) | |
56 | Alessandro Bernardini (Ita) | |
57 | Emilio Berti (Ita) | |
58 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | |
59 | Hubert Pollinger (Ita) | |
60 | Bart Brentjens (Ned) | |
61 | Matteo Valsecchi (Ita) | |
62 | Federico Rizza (Ita) | |
63 | Filippo Blanc (Ita) | |
64 | Mirko Manarin (Ita) | |
65 | Andrea Bravin (Ita) | |
66 | Francesco Niccoli (Ita) | |
67 | Alessio Cellini (Ita) | |
68 | Ivan Zulian (Ita) | |
69 | Michael Pesse (Ita) | |
70 | Vincenzo Persico (Ita) | |
71 | Giacomo Brignola (Ita) | |
72 | Roberto Saraceni (Ita) | |
73 | Davide Cavoli (Ita) | |
74 | Thomas Forer (Ita) | |
75 | Alessandro Bellotto (Ita) | |
76 | Joris Garrein (Bel) | |
77 | Giuseppe Arena (Ita) | |
78 | Mathias Haezebrouck (Bel) | |
79 | Damiano Ferraro (Ita) | |
80 | Alessandro Fontana (Ita) | |
81 | Michele Tamburlini (Ita) | |
82 | Emilio Capaldi (Ita) | |
83 | Nicolò Ferrazzo (Ita) | |
84 | Tommaso Botti (Ita) | |
DNF | Marco Cellini (Ita) | |
DNF | Martino Di Pierdomenico (Ita) | |
DNF | Moritz Milatz (Ger) | |
DNF | Matthias Rupp (Swi) | |
DNF | Alexander Gehbauer (Aut) | |
DNF | Umberto Corti (Ita) | |
DNF | Rosario D'agostino (Ita) | |
DNF | Luca Gattoni (Ita) | |
DNF | Alex Lupato (Ita) | |
DNF | Martin Loo (Est) | |
DNF | Filippo Giuliani (Ita) | |
DNF | Jhon Jairo Botero Salazar (Col) | |
DNF | Johnny Cattaneo (Ita) | |
DNS | Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Eva Lechner (Ita) | 1:48:00 |
2 | Marielle Saner-Guinchard (Swi) | 0:01:48 |
3 | Tereza Hurikova (Cze) | 0:03:48 |
4 | Judith Pollinger (Ita) | 0:07:49 |
5 | Virginie Pointet (Swi) | 0:08:34 |
6 | Tatjana Dold (Ger) | 0:12:01 |
7 | Martina Giovanniello (Ita) | 0:14:20 |
8 | Serena Calvetti (Ita) | 0:14:23 |
9 | Lucie Vesela (Cze) | |
10 | Nina Gulino (Ita) | |
11 | Claudia Andolina (Ita) | |
12 | Marta Pastore (Ita) | |
13 | Chiara Pastore (Ita) | |
14 | Elena Gaddoni (Ita) | |
15 | Sabrina Di Lorenzo (Ita) | |
16 | Michela Battaglia (Ita) | |
17 | Roberta Monaldini (SMr) | |
18 | Beatrice Balducci (Ita) | |
DNF | Nathalie Schneitter (Swi) | |
DNF | Anna Oberparleiter (Ita) | |
DNF | Stephanie Wiedner (Aut) | |
DNF | Daniela Veronesi (SMr) | |
DNF | Evelyn Staffler (Ita) |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Andrea Righettini (L'arcobaleno Carraro Team) | 1:36:21 |
2 | Roger Walder (Scott Swisspower) | 0:04:14 |
3 | Roberto Panzeri (Axevo-Alba Orobia Bike Asd) | 0:06:51 |
4 | Maximilian Knapp (Sunshine Racers Asv Nals) | 0:08:05 |
5 | Pietro Santini (Team Ambra Cavallini Vangi) | 0:09:46 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Lisa Mitterbauer (Team Bikepark.Ch) | 1:08:44 |
2 | Alessia Bulleri (Elba Bike) | 0:04:32 |
3 | Miriam Corti (Cbe Merida Asd) | 0:06:59 |
4 | Julia Tanner (A.B.C. Egna Neumarkt) | 0:07:57 |
5 | Veronika Widmann (A.B.C. Egna Neumarkt) | 0:11:09 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Stefano Capponi (A.S.D. F. Moser Cycling Team) | 1:15:50 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mirco Balducci (Team Galluzzi Acqua E Sapone) | 1:14:32 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Dimitri Modesti (Team Todesco) | 1:17:51 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Francesco Casagrande (A.S.D. Cicli Taddei) | 0:55:58 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Gilberto Perini (Staff Bike 2000) | 0:59:19 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Fabrizio Stefani (Pedali Di Marca Team Performance) | 1:04:59 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Massimo Burzi (Scott-Pasquini Stella Azzurra) | 1:06:42 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Cristina Roberti (A.S.D. Cicli Taddei) | 1:14:22 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Lucia Mancini (Asd Ciclissimo Bike) | 1:16:08 |

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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
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