Atletica Valli Bergamasche Leffe wins for the eleventh time in a row at home, they do it with the three orange aces Cesare Maestri, Hannes Perkmann and Xavier Chevrier who in command from the very beginning of the race sign the course record. In the women’s individual event, the duel between the big names in the blue mountain race rewards Elisa Sortini (Atl Alta Valtellina), to success in front of the bearers of La Recastello Radici Group Alice Gaggi and Beatrice Bianchi. Good performance by the Belluno junior Lucia Arnoldo, fourth at the finish line.
An excellent test for the blue men and women who tested the condition in view of the Innsbruck world championships scheduled in less than two weeks.
On the classic 8100 meters of the race Elisa Sortini outruns Alice Gaggi on the slopes of the Monte Beio climb, gradually gaining margin during the fast final descent. For her a final time trial of 38’22”, third best time ever on the Leffe course, just 17″ from her race record, dated 2019. An excellent Gaggi finished second, 46″ apart, while completing the the podium is taken by teammate Beatrice Bianchi (1’28” her delay), who gets the better of Lucia Arnoldo from Belluno in the junior category (Atl Dolomiti Belluno / 40’57”). Complete the top five of the day Nives Carobbio (Atl. Paratico).
In the men’s relay, with the classic three stages following one another on the same track as the women’s, it is Cesare Maestri, bearer of the home team, who launches the attack and imposes a frantic pace right from the start of the race. He passes on the top of Monte Beio with a twenty second advantage over Alex Baldaccini, while Fabio Ruga (La Recastello A), Luca Cantoni (Valli Bergamasche B) and Lorenzo Cagnati (La Recastello B) are chasing behind. At the first change in Piazza della Libertà, Maestri – best time of the day and race record with 32’18” – launches Hannes Perkmann with a margin of 30” over the GS Orobie, while Ruga leads La Recastello to 1’45” from the leader race, which sees a wild Luciano Rota start in the second half for the black-greens.
From then on it was solo for the hosts: Perkmann closed his effort in 33’25, while Xavier Chevrier put the seal on the third fraction in perfect solitude with the second best time of the day (32’34”). For the trio from the Bergamasche Valleys team A the clock reads a final time of 1h38’18”, as we said, the record of the race, while behind them La Recastello Radici Group closes with Ruga, Rota and Costa in 1h40’29”. Third place for the GS Orobie (1h45’57”), with Mauro Balzi and Manuel Zani following up the first stage of Alex Baldaccini (third individual time trial with 32’50”). Fourth place for La Recastello Team B with Cagnati, Zanga and Epis ahead of the Valli Bergamasche Team B who, together with Cantoni and Zanaboni from Valtellina, fielded the returning Nicola Spada.