Merida Italia Team: another time in Nals Intense weekend of racing in South Tyrol for the guys of Merida Italia Team. At Nals in fact was held the third round of Internazionali d'Italia Series, in a really nice location, always present in the calendar with a tough and spectacular track, but also very exciting (thanks to Alessandro Di Donato for the photo).
In the morning have raced the youth of the Team, including the cadet Lorenzo Calloni, who has could not give his best due to a mechanical problem caused by a stupid fall. It 'a shame because the ride of the young was very good, and certainly the final position didn't satisfied him (31 째 AL2), but he has time to recover in the next appointments. Among her category Giulia Lazzari did not appear bright in the initial phase, while in the second half of the race her legs began to run better, but now the stronger opponents were too forward and she had to settle for thirteenth place. Vanni Frassoni, in his first year among the Juniores, has raced well. Not committing mistakes and keeping a steady pace throughout the race, was able to close in sixteenth position, despite some cramps in the final. In the afternoon was the time of the five athletes under23, deployed in the Open race among many Elite of international field. For all five the start lap was not very effective, so
during the first of seven planned rounds were forced to make up positions on opponents of their equal level. Gioele Bertolini has appeared immediately in great shape, and has quickly earned the twentieth position overall, putting in the viewfinder his peer age Jan Vastl, militant in first position among the Under23 until then. Stefano Valdrighi and Lorenzo Samparisi have rode together in pursuit of the first, while further back Alessandro Naspi and Mattia Setti were going up from the bottom. Approximately at half of the race all the athletes of Team were able to return to their goal positions, and the situation was getting better for the final. But unfortunately Mattia was involved in a bad fall, following which a shoe was damaged, forcing him to quit. Soon after, Stefano suffered a fall of pace, until was being stopped by the courts to two laps from the end due to the eighty-percent rule. Lorenzo has gritted his teeth, but he had to surrender to cramps (40th at one lap). Alessandro has instead continued to advance in the standings until the finish line, finishing in 31st overall position and fourth among the Under23. Gioele has run a superb race, never slowing the pace, and going up positions until the reach of an excellent 11th place overall and winning the first place among the Under23, earning a lot of applauses from the large crowd massed on the arrival.