VIDEOPRESS l PHOTO SPRINT l PHOTO UP HILL
Becchis ad Berlanda challenge each other
in the sprint race to Trento
During three days of races, the strongest athletes coming from 13 different nations will compete for the final victory.
The next weekend will take place the final stage of the Trento Monte Bondone Rollerski World Cup. The city centre of Trento and the steep roads of Monte Bondone, both on the side of Candriai and on the one of Lagolo, will host different stages of the race.
After the great success of the last year edition, the International Ski Federation has decided to choose again Apt Trento, Monte Bondone, Valle dei Laghi and ASD Charly Gaul International, both led by Elda Verones, as the only Italian World Cup stage of skiroll.
This event is expected to be really interesting, above all for the spectacular nature of sprint races, that will take place on Friday afternoon in Trento, specifically between Corso III Novembre and via Santa Croce. The trail is 156 meters long and the Italian athletes are the favourites according to predictions. The three-time winner Alessio Berlanda (from the village of Villazzano, in Trentino) and the reigning champion Emanuele Becchis (from the village of Boves, in Piemonte) will compete for the top step of the podium, against the opponents who seem to be very well trained. The two Swedish athletes, Robin Norum (780 points gained in the temporary ranking), Erik Silfver (476 points gained in the temporary ranking) and Becchis, placed third in the temporary ranking, will participate in the race. The female temporary ranking places Sandra Olsson, from Sweden (732 points) as first , Ksenia Konohova, from Russia (566 points) as second and Lisa Bolzan, from Italy (514 points) as third. Francesco Becchis is placed third in the junior ranking, after the two Swedish athletes Marcus Fredriksson and Alfred Buskqvist. Emma Larsson is the number one in the female junior ranking, followed by the two Russian athletes Olga Plotnikova and Elizaveta Burtseva.
Paul Costantine Pepene, winner of the last year Trentino World Cup Rollerski and the Russian athlete Eugeniy Dementiev, winner of two Olympic medals in cross-country skiing, just to mention two important names that will be in Trentino for the race, will participate in the competition. Some athletes of the Italian National Cross-Country team, who are training in Valle di Ledro, in Trentino, in the next weeks, may join the race as well.
Athletes coming from Italy, Andorra, France, Greece, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany and Sweden will be in Trento from 9th to 11th September.
The schedule of the competition is described in the following lines. Official trainings starts on Friday 9th September at 15.15 p.m.; FIS Rollerski World Cup qualifications are at 16.00 p.m. and finals at 17.15 p.m. The following day UP HILL CLASSIC – Individual time trial will take place on Monte Bondone (at 10.00 a.m.) from Candriai to Vason for senior (8,5km) and from Vaneze to Vason for junior and senior female (4,7km).
On Sunday, athletes will face the PURSUIT FREE, starting at 10.00 a.m. from the lake of Lagolo and ending in Vason. Athletes starts according to their category as follows: senior will compete in skating style for 10.8km, while senior female and junior just for 6,9 km.
Both Saturday and Sunday the roads involved in the competition will remain closed from 9.30 a.m. until the end of the race.
