SUPERENDURO GRAND FINALE POWERED BY SRAM. THE WINNER IN FINALE LIGURE IS REMY ABSALON, ANDREA BRUNO WINS THE SERIES.

This time it’s hard to find the right words to describe the fantastic weekend that just ended in Finale Ligure. One thing is certain, this Grand Finale, won by the french Commencal rider, Remy Absalon, elevates the entire Superenduro powered by SRAM season to a higher level and crowns Andrea Bruno as winner of the 2011 series.

Enduro mountain biking is changing and developing fast. In Finale it seemed to be attending a world DH competition, or a XC one… In fact none of the two, given that maybe so many world champions in one race, can be seen only at a Superenduro competition. Riccardo Negro, the local organizer, was able to choose and prepare high-level tracks for all the participants with an unanimous positive feedback from the bikers coming from many countries, New Zealand, Canada, United States, Australia, France, England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Albania, Slovenia, Poland and one rider was even from Pakistan. As it happened in October 1999 in occasion of the first 24H of Finale Ligure, this small town squeezed between the sea and the mountains plays once again a central role in the world of mountain biking. To notice is the massive interest and participation of international media with journalists and photographers sent to Finale to document the race. Even the number of participants sets a new record, more than 450, it’s amazing. Lots of women also at the start, including the current DH world champion Tracy Moseley, 70th overall and winner of the woman category, and the Slovenian Tanja Zakelj, two world XC titles, who finishes second before the Italian Louise Paulin.

Throughout the weekend enthusiasm and a positive charge filled the paddock area, with riders busy talking about the special stages and why not, making plans for the next season. All the participants found the race spectacular but at the same time very demanding. Dan Atherton, during the time control after a very tough first half of the race, highlights at Enrico Guala’s microphone the differences between enduro and DH: “in DH you must give 100% in few minutes, while the enduro is more managing your energy, especially in long race as the one today.”

Of the same opinion, Marco Aurelio Fontana, a biker certainly not afraid to pedal and hike, that from his experience declares :” to win you need to find a compromise between technical and physical performance”, and this demonstrates that the Superenduro format is able to make athletes express a high competitive level.

“…at the start of the 4th PS I also saw the top riders tired. This pleases me because on one hand it means that is hard not only for us human riders, while on the other this gives further prestige to our circuit and the level of our races. “says Andrea Bruno, at the arrival in Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele crowed with fans and hundreds of people that soon would have applauded the winner of the day Remy Absalon.

In a difficult synthesis of the over takings in the temporary ranking that took place during the race, Remy Absalon and Nicolas Vouilloz (2 °) have proved the most consistent and fast riding, but with just some few seconds of advantage on the third, Davide Sottocornola, and all the other top 10 riders enclosed in just 2 minutes and 16 seconds … Here the link to the charts.

In addition to the top riders line up and the spectacular show that this edition has been able to give, from the stage of Finale Ligure arrives a new positive signal from the Italian Federation with the presence and speech of the person in charge for the enduro, Renato Riedmuller, who expressed his appreciation to the movement and the Superenduro organization.
Not even the time to actually put an end to the 2011 Superenduro Powered by Sram season that the first stones for 2012 are already laid. Beside the increasingly competitive range of athletes attending the circuit the champion Nico Vouilloz announced his participation for the entire 2012 Superenduro series! Wow!
Thanks to all and see you next year!