Emanuele Becchis after the excellent start in CdM. "How nice it is to challenge champions like Klaebo"

The sprint roller ski world champion talked about himself after the last stage of the Italian Cup, already thinking about the great goals of the summer. "I didn't expect to start immediately with a podium".

Tuesday 5 July 2022 5 minutes reading time

The Italian sprinters of the Roller Ski World Cup were the protagonists, last weekend, of the third stage of the Cascina Bianca Italian Cup in Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza. An opportunity to take stock after the first race of the maximum circuit in Telemark, Norway, which saw Emanuele Becchis - who won the first podium of the season for the Azzurri in the sprint - and Michele Valerio as protagonists. "The first meeting of CdM actually went beyond my expectations - the world champion sprint told physi.org - because it was a long sprint, about a kilometer and a half, with slow roller skis and a Cup level. of the World of Cross-Country Skiing (considering that the winner was a certain Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, ed.). A great challenge. The qualification didn't go very well, I was tenth, I didn't know what to expect. I felt good in the quarterfinals, managing to access the semifinal. In the final, then, I fought for it thanks to a bit of experience and to make the most of the fast sprint. I was always covered up to the last meters and both in the semifinals and in the final it paid off. I'm happy, he gives me optimism for the rest of the season. I don't think the Norwegians will come to the next races, but it was still nice for the roller ski movement, to deal with the winter phenomena as we had previously done in recent seasons in Russia or Estonia. It's always nice that they come to compete with us too and I think it's inspiring for everyone. There is still a long way to go until the next stage of Otepae; I arrived a bit in the run-up to the first World Cup race, I wasn't sure what to expect for fitness but it went well. We are working to increase the level especially on long distance races, as this year there will be only two hundred-meter sprints. We will see how it goes, we hope to take away some satisfaction. I would like to be a little more competitive throughout the World Cup, improving myself over long distances and 1,5 km sprints ”. Teammate Michele Valerio echoes Becchis: “I'm happy to have been part of the Azzurri expedition to Telemark. The first race was very tough: never had a race on such a hard circuit. I had some management problems, starting too strong. On the last day I finished the 50km, longer than the distances where I usually give my best. The positions of the long races weren't the best, but I don't have much to complain about: I could have done better maybe in the first one. I have some regrets about Saturday's sprint, where qualifying didn't go badly but I felt the tiredness of the day before. In the heats, on the other hand, I made wrong tactical choices, wasting time putting the wrong person behind me and then trying to mend the sprint by staying out for a tenth ”.

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