Italian Cup Round 1, Abetone

Just back from the first round of the Italian Cup series in Abetone Italy

We arrived in the ski town of Abetone on friday afternoon after a few wrong turns and 4 and a half hours of sitting in the van, we arrived with just enough time to set up the pits and head up the hill for a couple of runs to see how the track was looking,i have raced on the track a couple of times and was looking much the same as usual, but was rougher than last year and it was a bit wet in the tree sections which made for a bit of fun on the rocks and roots!!
Saturday was practice, and the weather was pretty average, it was super windy at the top and it was a bit nippy!

After having some good fun runs and some wild moments with Petrucci my team mate, the wind at the top was getting too strong, and on our last run up the gondolas were almost hitting the poles, so they decided to shut the lift for the day so practice was cut a bit short.
In usual European style there was some rain over night so sunday mornings practice was pretty loose as the track was super slick, but the sun was starting to make an appearance!
The first run was a seeding run, and after a 40 minute delay due to a crash in practice we were finally underway.

After a pretty good but slightly messy run i caught a pedal on a tree in the last rock section and got sent over the bars,after untangleing myself from my bike i rolled to the bottom and finished in second place, 4 seconds behind Marco Milivinti, my team mate Francesco Petrucci was 3rd,and the top dog Lorenzo Suding in 5th also with a crash,
i knew i had alot of time up my sleeve for the final run, I had a pretty solid run and came down in to first position with a time of 3.53, and ended up taking the win by 8 seconds over Milivinti.

Next weekend we have the 2nd round of the Italian Cup so looking forward to that!

World Cup Round 3, Leogang, Austria

Last weekend was the third round of the World Cup series in Leogang,Austria.

Team Cingolani Trek set up

The Event started out on Thursday with the registration and track walk, the track was much the same as last year,but they changed a few sections that didnt flow that well and the top section was mostly new,and with the rain during the week it was looking super fun !
Friday was the first day of practice and the track was a bit moist and was starting to cut up nicely getting some big ruts and holes! so it was heaps of fun to ride.
Saturday was qualifying day,and being in the top 20 in the overall meant i was protected which meant i would go through to the final on Sunday no matter where i ended up in the Qualifying run, so that took a bit of pressure off! and after changing some of my lines in the mornings practice i was feeling good and just wanted to have a clean run down in qualifying and not push it too much, and i ended up 24th.
Pretty much straight after qualifying the rain came which made for pretty horendous conditions for the 4X which was on that night and the rain didnt really ease up till sunday morning, race day.
First run down for practice was a whole lot worse than i expected, the top section was super boggy and it was a bit of a lucky dip weather you chose a good line for a corner and if you came out of the turn on youre bike or not! which i found out the hard way with a ripper of an over the bars on my second run when my bike stoped in the mud in the turn but i kept going.
For the race run i decided to just back it off a little bit and stay on my bike.My run started out pretty average with a few stall outs in the top turns so i backed it off a bit and just tryed to ride smooth but i think i rode a little bit too cautious and ended up in 29th position, so i wasnt too stoked on that but at least it was still a reasonably consistant result and it kept me in 18th in the overall.
All up it was a pretty good weekend and i was having heaps of fun on my bike in the mud!

 Next World Cup is Mont Saint Anne so looking forward to that!

World Cup Round 2 Fort William,Scotland

Race Report Fort William

Hey everyone, just finished up a couple of weeks on the road for Round 2 and Round 3 of the UCI World Cup
First up was round 2 in Fort William, Scotland.
We arrived in Scotland on Wednesday, and after being a bit slow on booking accomodation,everything was pretty much full up so we decided to hire a motorhome from Glasgow airport,which turns out for 4 people isnt that ideal! After about half an hour of being told the features/things that didnt work on the camper we were on the tight and winding road to Fort William.

Ricci's monster fish

Thursday was registration and track walk,the track was looking good, they made a few changes to the track for this year and it was looking super fast as usual and was looking like heaps of fun! After a bit of an evening fishing session, where our mechanic Marco Ricci caught a monster of a fish after the lady at the camp ground told us we wouldnt catch anything,it was off for another great nights sleep in the camper.
Friday was practice and the track was riding fast and starting to roughen up, i wasnt feeling too good on the track in the morning but after changing a few things with my suspension etc. i was feeling a bit better by the afternoon.
Saturday was practice in the morning then qualifying in the afternoon, and after walking the track the night before i changed up a few lines and was feeling pretty good on the track and ended up qualifying in 20th position.
Race day on Sunday was another good Scotland day and the sun was shining! Race run soon came around and the track was dryng out and getting pretty dry and slippery, i had another solid run but held back a little too much in the top sections and finished up in 20th.

Big ups to all the other NZers aswell, there was 5 of us in the top 20 and especially to Brook for his first World Cup podium,of many to come!
After an 18th in South Africa and a 20th in Scotland it put me into 18th in the overall.

Big thanks to my team Cingolani Trek,and all my other sponsors