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Race Report: Superenduro Pro Round 3 – Gemona del Friuri

Superenduro Pro round three has just taken place in Gemona del Friuri, Italy. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, Superenduro is one of the most exciting race series’ going on at the moment, with great organisation, amazing trails, and, of course, some incredible riders. We didn’t manage to get to this round, but we’ve been at the last two, and the riding is nothing short of mindblowing. Read the race report below. Photo credit: Superenduro/ Matteo Cappe

An ecstatic Manuel Ducci (Life Cycle) stepped on top of a PRO podium for the first time, ending a great weekend of racing in Gemona. This is the first time the PRO circuit has stopped in Gemona and it is already cementing itself as a riders’ favourite. Ducci was impressed by the area, saying, “I like this race, I felt comfortable on these trails and I felt good and thought I could win. It’s also good to see enduro spreading further north-east across Italy like this, it would be good to see more races here and in the south, although I hope we come back here to Gemona next year!”

Toby Pantling agreed with Manuel on the trails here in Gemona, “they are amazing, particularly the first stage. The terrain is rocky and very muddy in places. You can climb at a nice pace and there are fifteen minutes of pure fun coming down!”

Fifteen minutes of pure fun coming down.

Through the day there was a great battle between Manuel Ducci and Vittorio Gambirasio (GT360), with each rider taking two stage wins. Over the day, Manuel edged ahead, taking the victory by four seconds from Vittorio. Away from the leading two, there was an equally tough battle for third place and Alex Lupato (FRM Factory) and Slovenian newcomer, Peter Mlinar (KK CRN TRN). In the end, the more experience Superenduro racer, Alex held of the challenger to round out and all-Italian podium. In the women’s race, Maria-Federica Zanotto (ASD Scavezzon Racing Team) sealed her victory with a 23 second won on the long stage one. Second place went to Laura Rossin (Dream Team Genoa) and Chiara Pastore (Cicoikes-DSB-NonSoloFango) took third.

We are now at the mid-point of the season and so far each PRO race has had a different winner. This means heading into the second-half, the game is wide open. The series returns 22-23 June when we head into the Alps for the first time this year at Madesimo (SO).