Road to Innsbruck. This weekend it will be up to the Vibram Maremontana Trail of Loano to provide useful information for the Long Trail teams. Although several athletes have already been pre-selected, the Ligurian one on Sunday will be the first important test bench for athletes and coaches.
Leafing through the starting list, the favorite is the new signing of the Dinamo Running Team Andreas Reiterer. Reigning Italian champion, the South Tyrolean will have to watch his back from a long line of outsiders looking for a place in the day’s top ten: Philipp Ausserhofer, Davide Cheraz, Riccardo Montani, Riccardo Borgialli, Manuel Bonardi, Roberto Mastrotto and Andrea Macchi.
For women, the fight for the title looks like a two-way speech between Fabiola Conti and Camilla Spagnol, with Marina Cugnetto and Alessandra Olivi vying for a place on the podium. But the race is the race on those 3640 m of very nervous climb, anything can happen.
As for the short Trail, the contenders for the blue jersey are expected at the Colmen Trail in Morbegno, scheduled for 16 April. For the mountain running classic athletes, instead, the spotlights will be on the Vertical Fenis (May 1st), as well as, the following week, on the first round of the Italian mountain running championship, on the up and down of Limana (BL).