Photo Report & Results: Calestano, Superenduro #2 2018

Round two of the 2018 Superenduro series makes a return to Calestano in the Parma province for the second year running. With bright sunshine contrasting last years rain, the 258 entrants for this years race would be in for a fun day in the saddle.



With the town centre pits filling up with teams from Friday afternoon, the small mountain town transformed into a vibrant race venue with locals and riders mixing in the cobbled streets. By Saturday practice the trails were dry after Thursday's rain and the pace was high. At the end of practice, riders were confirming that the event would be a stark contrast to last year’s with dry tyres on and warm weather being the issue. Riders were loving the fresh stage one and two but also giving glowing reports of the original stage three and four too, saying that they'd hold up well for race day.





With riders signed on and bikes loaded on to the shuttles, it was time to head up into the hills for a days racing in the sun. 



500m worth of climbing to stage one was saved by a shuttle out of town, which considering the 1700m of vertical to conquer over the day, was most welcome. With stage one being the furthest away, riders would have to transfer past stage two and four and up a rocky access road over to the fresh loam of stage one. Stage 1 featured 3.8km of descending that would be a wake-up for the unwary with freshly dug corners from the start and end with rocky double track in the middle. 



Stage 2 would go on to claim some victims with several riders taking large crashes where Tondin Dennis crashed out and was claimed by the boardwalk out of the gully. This stage was won by Vittorio Gambirasio, last years overall winner who would go on to finish fifth overall. Post time control, stage 3 would take the riders out of town and on to the furthest hill, riders now with cold legs would have to winch up 8.7km of winding tarmac, the longest transfer of the race. Rae Morrison described stage 3 as her favourite with steep winding turns dropping 447m in just 1.9km, where her love of the stage paid off as she would go on to win stage 3 by 10 seconds. 



If riders weren’t tired at the start of stage 4 they sure would be by the end. Featuring numerous sprints across ridge lines and through narrow ancient streets over 4.6km, it would be a real test of concentration and fitness finishing up in the centre of town.














Taking today's win was taken by Nicola Casadei for his CMC Cycling Experience team by 15 seconds, his first win since La Thuile halfway through last season. Followed by the Lupato brothers with Denny and Alex 2nd and 3rd respectively. But taking all of the attention today was Liv factory rider Rae Morrison, winning every stage with a very convincing 1:17 overall winning margin. 2nd place being taken by Laura Rossin and 3rd by Jessica Bormolini.

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Racing and Events Superenduro