The signs from his early outings had been encouraging, and now we have received definitive confirmation: Simone Avondetto is returning to his best form. The rider from the Wilier-Vittoria MTB Factory Team convincingly won the Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race in Nalles (BZ), crossing the finish line solo with arms raised in triumph.
It's a welcome return to success for the Piedmontese cyclist, putting behind him a challenging 2023 due to some physical issues.
"Winning is always great," Avondetto explains. "The race was quite tactical until the penultimate lap when, after the climb and subsequent descent, we hesitated a bit. At that point, I decided to attack. I saw a small gap opening up and didn't look back, pushing straight through to the finish."
Meanwhile, Cameron Orr, following his victory at the Internazionali d'Italia, finished in 10th place, while among the U23 riders, Gustav Pedersen finished 4th and the very young Elian Paccagnella in 9th.
In the women's race, there was another encouraging performance from Giada Specia, who finished second behind the world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot. Ginia Lara Caluori took 4th place, competing in the elite category and showing improvement in her form.
"We knew we were battling for second place against Ferrand-Prevot," Specia said. "I'm still pleased with my performance; in the last two laps, I managed to break away from Nina Benz and securing a second-place finish isn't bad. Now, however, it's time to pack up again because the World Cup is about to begin."
In fact, in the coming days, the Wilier-Vittoria team will head to Brazil for the first two rounds of the World Cup, in Mariporã (April 12-14) and Araxá (April 19-21). The stakes are getting higher.
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