Handbike, Azzurri protagonists in the World Cup: four medals in the time trials
Four medals were won by the athletes of the National Para-cycling team in the time trial races of the World Cup being held in Ostend, Belgium. The overall tally is one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the time trials dedicated to handbikes that opened the event.
Winning the medal of the most precious metal was Roberta Amadeo, who beat all opponents in the WH2 category. The two bronze medals, on the other hand, bear the signature of Ana Maria Vitelaru among the WH5, behind the Dutch Chantal Aenen and Germany’s Andrea Eskau, and Luca Mazzone in the MH2, who was good at reacting to a mechanical problem that nevertheless affected his race. Giorgio Farroni, on the other hand, took silver in the T1 category reserved for tricycles: ahead of him only South Korea’s Park Junyoung.
“The results were in line with expectations – commented technical commissioner Pierpaolo Addesi -We knew that this year we would be less numerous, some medals in the past almost taken for granted are not there. Ana Maria Vitelaru’s third place is still positive, but we aim for something better in Sunday’s inline race”.
“Amadeo confirmed his value – added the coach -, although his category is narrow. Mazzone had a chain problem, lost time but managed to come back and take the podium: his consistency is a strength. In MH3 the course did not favor us, but on the road we can do better. Pini remains our time trial man, he proved it last year”.
“Giorgio Farroni’s performance was excellent, although it still hurts to see his rival, already reclassified after Tokyo, return to the lower category just because of an appeal, taking away his chance of a Paralympic medal. I am satisfied with the attitude of the team, inside and outside the competition: we are at the beginning of the season, but we will be ready when it really counts” concluded Addesi.
