Press Release 02/06/2014

Merida Italia Team, four riders with the nationals team at the start of the XCO European Championship

Nice confirms inside Merida Italia Team, a crew that is proving to be among the most competitive in XCO international field: four athlethes are convened by the nationals team (three Italian and one Estonian) for the next European Championships.

The result was built with the constancy and the relevance of the targets, including international field appearances. Last week, in fact, was held the fourth stage of the UCI MTB World Cup XCO at Albstadt, Germany. On Saturday Alessandro Naspi finished in twenty-fourth place overall , first of the Italians. Result that at first glance may not seem great, but considering the level of opponents and the fact that

Alessandro pulled off lap times steadily of Top15, his performance is very promising.

The organization of the race was not flawless from various points of view, and especially was clear that the path did not allow overtakings and forced riders to put feet on the ground. This because the track was too narrow and the start loop inadeguate.

The U23 athletes of Merida Italia Team have started in the rear part of the group, first because of the lack of UCI points collected so far, and second because of the large participation of athletes from around the World. Mattia Setti in the previous stage of Nove Mesto Na Morave had a good run, but at Albstadt has been the least effective, ending prematurely his race because of the " 80% rule ", which prevents voiceovers during the competition.

Lorenzo Samparisi was not brilliant. In the early stages of the race he shot with good times, but then he dropped back losing some positions, but recovering in the final part. Gioele Bertolini and Stefano Valdrighi have turned stronger. Valdrighi fell during the fourth lap and was forced to quit, while Bertolini has continued to move up on the rank, reaching the 32th final position, first Italian U23 at the finish line.

Finally, the Elite race. Martin Loo, the Estonian Champion of Merida Italia Team, unfortunately had a poor performance, probably due to some issue in the preparation dueing the week.

Team staff could be fully proud of the convening of three riders by the Italian National Team (Naspi, Samparisi & Bertolini) and one that represents the Estonia (Loo) at the XCO European Championships of St. Wendel, Germany. Remains a bit of sorrow for Stefano Valdrighi and Mattia Setti, that have been shown not to be outdone, but with less constancy than the others.