Federica Venturelli excited for rainbow bronze, big regret for Lorenzo Finn
The first medal for the Italian national cycling team at the World Championships in Rwanda bears the signature of Federica Venturelli, who won the bronze medal in the women’s time trial reserved for Under 23s. L’Azzurra, with a time of 33’07”, placed behind Britain’s Zoe Backstedt (30’56”) and Slovakia’s Viktoria Chladonova (32’46”).
On the sidelines of a day that was difficult for her to forget, Venturelli herself commented: “A challenging race, little suited to my characteristics, with a final climb, in particular, that was really hard. The race, however, went well, I tried to keep my pace: when I arrived at the finish line, with the provisional second place, I did not delude myself, I was convinced that the others would overtake me. Getting on the podium was a surprise and a reason for pride, as always when it comes to representing Italy’Italy”.
Only narrowly missed, however, the podium for the Azzurri in the men’s race against the clock: Lorenzo Mark Finn, in fact, completed the course in 39’32”, just 5″ from silver, won by New Zealander Nate Pringle, and 4″ from third place, on which Frenchman Maxime Decomble hoisted himself. Gold went to Sweden’s Jakob Soderqvist, already a favorite on the eve, with a time of 38’24”.
“It was a positive day – commented head coach Marco Villa -: Federica Venturelli got on the podium and Finn came close. We know we have a group of athletes capable of doing well, today we had the confirmation. Sorry for Finn. It’s hard to accept fourth place after a performance like his. Apart from the winner, everyone else competed for the podium by a handful of seconds. It is a performance that bodes well for the line trial, also taking into account that he is in his first year in the category”.
