This Sunday saw riders take to the hills above San Remo for the first Colantino superenduro race. Heavy rain over night and through the morning didn’t dampen the spirits of the stacked field of local riders.
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| It's not all sunshine and palm trees at this time of year on the Riviera |
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| Waterproofs and smiles were the story of the day |
Although the national enduro race series is a regular visitor to the mountains around San Remo, this was the first locally run race. The format was simple: riders were timed over three special stages, but they had to climb to them first. Starting from the centre of Coldirodi they climbed up the punishing road that winds round the mountain, by the end of the day each rider had climbed around 1,000m.
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| Manuel Ducci, unfazed by the climb |
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| Marco Vincenzi |
With a trail network creeping across the hill the organisers must have had a headache deciding which runs to use for the race. In the end they settled for I Due Muri, Il Bruciato and Il Tubo. All three runs are fast and flowing, and I Due Muri and Il Tubo have some tricky rock sections waiting to catch riders. Adding up the three stages, the riders were competing over 5,900m of trail. If you could complete all three in less than 16 minutes you were doing very well.
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| Massimo Sanguinetti |
Sunday wasn’t the first day of rain the Riviera has seen in the last few weeks, so running was pretty slippery in places, particularly on the traverses at the bottom Il Bruciato. It was a very cool touch by the organisers to put woodchip down in the steepest corners of Il Due Muri – a lot of riders would have got to taste the San Remo mud if they hadn’t!
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| That's not dirt, it's woodchip |
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| Not everyone was enjoying the mud... |
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| The favourites, waiting to take to the course |
In the open class, favourite and national champion, Ready2Ride’s Andrea Bruno, was facing stiff competition from local riders Manuel Ducci (Riviera Freeride) and Andrea Gamenara (Argentina Bike). A crash cost Manuel Ducci the fastest time in the first stage with Gamenara putting in the fastest. But Bruno’s second stage was 13 seconds clear of his rivals and that sealed the win for him. Gamenara fell right off the pace and a five second win on the stage just wasn’t enough for Ducci to make up the gap.
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| Andrea Gamenara taking on Il Bruciato's mud |
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| Manuel Ducci trying to make up lost time |
It’s well worth noting the performance of up and coming local pinner Gianluca Vernassa too. He finished in fifth, a minute behind the winning time, not bad when you realise that he’s only 15 years old... He's definitely one to watch for the future.
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| Andrea Gamenara |
You can download the full results:
Overall By category A big thanks to the guys at
Riviera Freeride for looking after me over the weekend. Cheers!
