Olympic Gamesthe event
Giacomo Podetti
On Sunday in Vermiglio a historic stage of the World Cup was staged, for the first time on a snowy background. With champions like Van Aert, Pidcock and Vos protagonists and a dream that can become reality, but not quickly. The confidence of the president of the Federciclismo, Cordiano Dagnoni: "A challenge won, I hope to be included in the Olympic program".
Monday 13 December 2021 6 minutes reading time
The challenge was great and the risks were real, on an organizational and safety level.
In Val di Sole, however, they really left nothing to chance and, thanks also to the support of a reality like Flanders Classics, which manages some great cyclocross (and road cycling) events, the success was total.
What are we talking about? Of the return of the cyclocross World Cup in Italy and with a unique event: a snow-covered race, prepared ad hoc with a long-term goal: to convince the IOC to include this discipline in the program of the Winter Olympic Games, given that it has always you compete in this period of the season.
Mission impossible? No, because there are contacts and an opening exists, but of course we are talking about not fast times, with the Milan-Cortina 2026 program already being defined (for the Italian Games there will already be the great news of ski mountaineering ) and perhaps a concrete possibility for 2030.
In Vermiglio, in the setting of the Laghetti di San Leonardo, it was pure spectacle, seasoned by the victory of a number 1 like Wout Van Aert, who preceded his compatriot Vanthourenhout and the Olympic Mountain Bike champion, the British Tom Pidcock, while the race female dominated by the orange champions, with Fem Van Empel ahead of Marianne Vos, but also a lot of Italy as Eva Lechner finished fourth and Alice Arzuffi seventh.
"We made the history of cyclocross - said Van Aert himself in the post race - I wanted to be at the start at all costs, plus I love to compete in Italy for the atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the public, and even today ( yesterday, ed) I was not disappointed. It was a very technical race, you had to try to stay in the saddle as much as possible, and deal with a path that changed lap after lap. When I started doing cyclocross, the World Cup only touched the Netherlands and Belgium: now we are in Italy, we are experimenting with new scenarios and I think it is positive.
Maybe some Italian kid will have fallen in love with the cross, and will be one of tomorrow's champions ”.
The satisfaction for the Val di Sole and cyclocross World Cup project is also reflected in the words of Roberto Failoni, Councilor for Sport and Tourism of the Autonomous Province of Trento: "It was a surprising success, congratulations to the winners and to those who organized a spectacular event in a unique location. Trentino confirms itself at the forefront in sporting events, and increasingly in the world of cycling ".
There is a lot of confidence on the part of the number 1 of the Italian Cycling Federation, Cordiano Dagnoni, precisely for an inclusion in the program of the Winter Olympics. "The first time of cyclocross on the snow is a challenge won by Val di Sole and Trentino: we hope it will be a good omen for the future of the discipline and for an inclusion in the Olympic program", while Fabio Sacco, Director of APT Val di Sole and Grandi Eventi Val di Sole, spoke of “a successful experiment, we hope that cyclocross can become a new tradition of our territory. We are already thinking about the date of next year, this discipline is a red thread between Mountain Bike, which is now linked to our territory, the world of gravel, which we want to develop, and winter tourism ".
Finally Tomas Van den Spiegel, CEO of Flanders Classics: “We can talk about a great success, two beautiful races and many enthusiastic people. With Val di Sole and UCI we have created an event that will remain in the history and memory of all. I believe that cyclocross has taken a step towards the Olympics today, and I hope we can continue to work together to pursue this goal ”.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Social media engagement
Più letti in Sport invernali
Tocca a Freddy continuare la striscia dei fratelli Carrick-Smith: prima vittoria in ANC per il britannico e per Amelia Smart
Australian New Zealand Cup 2026: a Coronet Peak si è tornati finalmente a gareggiare, con lo slalom maschile che vede il classe 2007, vice campione del mondo jr di specialità, precedere nettamente Meissl e Hagen. La specialista canadese anticipa Hoffmann e la solita Butler nella prova femminile. Ora i giganti.
23