Photo Credit: Matteo Cappe http://www.mc-photographer.com/So over the past weekend i raced at the Bergamo Townhill event in Italy on my Ancillotti Scarab X bike.
A bit of a run down on how the race works, its a downtown race through the streets of Bergamo, with a few drops and jumps added in as well, and its raced as a dual. It was my first time racing a street event so it was cool to see how it would go.
We spent all Saturday afternoon practicing and it was fun the track was pretty easy but the crowds of people made it way better! And i was really surprised at the amount of media attention there was for this race, myself and friend Filip Polc had to do a fair bit of filming and photo's after the practice had finished which was cool to get some good coverage. Also after riding the top riders had to do a press conference which is something pretty new to me haha. The whole town pretty much was in to this event Saturday night they had a big party which I wish I could of stayed for but got to race the next day.
Sunday I awoke to rain which i knew was going to make the track super slippery, stoney and marble Italian streets in the wet equals mega drifts! I did the early practice session and was enjoying it although any touch of back brake in the turns had you sliding out.
Then we had a seeding run and the top 32 go through to the dual, I got so loose in the seeding run on this section where you had to ride on this north shore wood bout 2 meters up, you go round a turn and in to a drop, my back wheel slid off the side of the wood and i nearly fell off somehow how i held it up luckily as i would of fallen on to a tree or concrete wall but i still managed to huck the drop as you do on the north shore...
So then it was dual time, I was stoked with my first race the rider i was supposed to race didn't show up so i just rolled down saving some energy, my next few races i had to pedal pretty hard stay in the front and it was mega tiring similar to interval training. I made it to the top 4 where i had to race Bruno Zanchi I knew it was going to be a hard race Bruno is a pretty good pedaler, hes a legend in Italy won the Junior Worlds in 1990 i think and he's still ripping. I had a race on my hands, I knew i had to get a good start, and we battled it to the first turn where i managed to shut him out a bit and took the lead and didn't look back.
I was into the final and was stoked to have made it that far, in the final I was up against Livio Zamperie the Italian 4x champ. I knew i would need a real good start, and i really surprised myself to have half a bike length on him by the 2nd pedal, but the 3rd pedal....Snap and i was rolling on my front wheel, chain snapped nothing i could do but roll down from there to take 2nd place. I was disappointed but at the same time nothing i could do, and i had heaps of fun at the race so thats what matters, it was a brand new chain too, guess i just got too much power....haha
Next we had prize giving, Bruno Zanchi took 4th place with my friend Filip Polc 3rd, me 2nd and Livio Zamperie 1st. The prize money was the best i have seen in a while and ill be living off it for a while, 3rd got 800 euro, I took home 1200 and the winner took 2000 euros, massive compared to NZ. More pics to come as i get them.
Now I'm back at my Training base Doganaccia for a week then im off to La Bresse for the 2nd World Cup.
Keep It real
Wyn Masters
Lastly but not least, I'd like to thank my sponsors, Ancillotti Cycles, UFO Plast, Formula, Doganaccia 2000, Rockstar Racing, CampaBros, NZRide, Maxxis.
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