Race Report | SloEnduro #1 – Enduro 3 Camini
Enduro 3 Camini was the first stop of this year’s SloEnduro season. The race Took place in San Dorligo della Vale, near Trieste in Italy, almost on the border of Slovenia.
For the first time there was two full days of racing. On Saturday riders had to face four special stages with a little bit more than 1000m of altitude, while on Sunday there were another four special stages on schedule, with another 1000m of climbing and descending. A wide selection of the trails was true success for the event, as the riders were really excited about them, Including the multiple 4X world champion Michal Prokop (Specialized, CZE) himself. “I decided to come for a race to start the season and to do a good workout with racing against other riders almost. It Seemed to be a good start of the season. It is hard to compete with fast local riders, but I enjoyed the weekend here. I really like the trails and the venue”.
Vid Persak was the fastest rider in Trieste once again
Last year’s winner of Enduro 3 Camini, Vid Persak (Orbea enduro Crew, SLO), almost had to skip the entire 2014 season due to injury in Punta Ala race, but came back stronger than ever. On the first stage of the race he took the lead of 12 seconds over peter Mlinar (KK CRN Trn, SLO) and later just made the gap bigger and bigger until the last stage of the day when he crashed and lost some of it. Mlinar finished the day in second, while master rider Robert Kordež (Black Hole Enduro Team, SLO) took the third spot ahead of Prokop.
On Sunday the race outcome was not much different. Persak continued with good rides on all four stages and brought` home a nice lead which was more than enough for a new victory. Peter Mlinar managed to hold the second spot, while Kordež lost the third spot on stage seven with a few “surprise” meters of the stage seven and had to leave the spot on the podium to load Prokop. Max Leitsberger (Mountainbiker.at, AUT) rounded out the top five in overall ranking.
Giulia Alabanese takes the women’s victory
In women’s category a strong rival for a win, Birgit Braumann (Trek Gravity Girls, AUT) had to face some problems with a flat tire already on the first stage, so Giulia Albanese (Caprivesi, ITA) Took a lead in the race. By the end of the day things did not get any better for Birgit, as she had a bad crash in stage 4, Which forced her to retire from the race with a broken arm, so Giulia got a lead after first day, but not far from Nina Rupnik (MBK SportR.si, SLO) behind her.
On Sunday the race was very much the same, similar to the race in men’s category. Nina what trying hard, but Giulia had enough speed to stay in front of her and celebrate her first victory on this race. Last spot on the podium which won by Denise Tremul (ASD Gravity Project, ITA)
Juniors race which won by Slovenian 4X champion Mitja Ergaver (KK Crn Trn) in front of Grega Žvan (MBK SportR.si, SLO) and Giacomo Lodolo (Sps team Maglia Nera, ITA).
Fastest rider in master1 category which Michal Prokop in front of Robert Kordež andSebastjan Stres (Kamplc Racing, SLO), while the masters category race which won byPrimož Štrancar (Orbea enduro Crew, SLO) in front of David Taucer (ASD spring Club Trieste, ITA) and Marco Pergoraro (Squadra Corse Scavezzon, ITA).
Maxxis super stage was held on the most challenging and wildest trail of the race, second stage of Saturday. It was won by the winner of the race, Vid Persak who got a nice pair of high rollers for better grip.
SloEnduro series Continues with Enduro Cerkljansko on 16th and 17th of May, but did before riders will have a chance to fight for lowered bag of points on two SloEnduro 4Fun races. The first one is on schedule already this Saturday in Kamnik and the next one, Enduro Krokar, on 2nd of May in Dobrna.
Words: Jaka Tancik Photos: Nejc Bole