Subdued start to the day: the paddock remembers Arnold, then the race takes place regularly. Italy in the lead
RIVANAZZANO TERME
The third fraction of the six days of enduro, the last scheduled in the Pavia area, started regularly at 8am yesterday morning. A decidedly subdued start that seen at Rivanazzano airport, where the emotion for the tragic death of the Dutch gentleman rider Arnold Staal, which took place on Tuesday evening during the transfer between the third test of Casanova Staffora and the fourth in Bagnaria, was visible on many faces. Before the start, the entire paddock stopped to pay, with a minute of meditation, a small but heartfelt tribute to the memory of the unfortunate driver.
Italy firmly in command
The race started shortly afterwards led the competitors to face the most demanding track of the race so far, still characterized by heat and, above all, by dust. In the race for Nations, the overall winner of the day was once again the pacing Spaniard Josep Garcia, who won two victories and two second places in the six special stages. The Italians, however, have once again been able to deliver high-level performances: Andrea Verona finished with the second half of the day less than three seconds behind his Iberian rival; fourth and fifth, respectively, Matteo Cavallo and Davide Guarneri, while Thomas Oldrati had some problems, finishing fifteenth of the day. In the ranking by nations, Italy remains firmly in the lead, even increasing the advantage over the pursuing teams, leaving Spain at 3’20 “, dragged by Garcia, whose performances are not sufficient, at the moment, to climb the ranking. and at 5’08 “the favorites of the day before, the USA .; fourth was Sweden, who yesterday placed Mikael Persson (third), Albin Elowson (seventh) and Max Ahlin (tenth) in the top ten. Fifth, slightly behind, is France: the transalpines have distinguished themselves for their regularity, but have not been able, so far, to find the inspiration to aim for absolute performance.
Blue jerseys also protagonists in the Junior Trophy: Matteo Pavoni and Lorenzo Macoritto confirmed themselves at the top of the standings, scoring the first and third time in the category, while Manolo Morettini stopped the chronometers with the ninth time. A choral performance that increased the chances of the Italians to take the overall victory in the last three days of racing. They tried to resist the American rivals who, however, at the end of the day saw their gap in the general classification increase considerably, from 1’49 “to 3’09”. France is also further distanced, third with a delay from 2’45 “to 5’08”. At the foot of the podium, still a close fight between Sweden and Spain. In the women’s race, the Americans, led by the very strong Brandy Richard, confirmed what they showed in the first two days: the stars and stripes trio, however, will have to keep their guard high against Great Britain, Spain and France. The blue team, made up of Anna Sappino, Raissa Terranova and Elisa Givonetti, had a regular race and is behaving quite well, even if they are not part of the group of contenders for the top positions. –