Göldi and Gilloux win Race 1 at WES Bologna Montana Round

Bologna (Italy), Saturday 28 May 2022 – The first race of Round 2 of the season, the Bologna Montana event Presented by Raspini, took place today in changing weather conditions with the first raindrops fortunately falling right after the podium ceremony.

Today’s racetrack was raced anticlockwise for 5 laps, instead of 6, as per the Race Direction’s decision, the lap length being 3.5 km, for a total distance of 17.5 km, and a 1035 m total climb. 

In the morning’s Qualirace, Reigning World Champions Nicole Göldi (Trek) and Jérôme Gilloux (Lapierre Overvolt) set the Pole Position Powered by Raspini, starting in first position on the grid.

In the Women’s field, Sofia Wiedenroth (Specialized) was the fastest at the start and managed to get the Holeshot and maintain the lead for 4 laps out of 5, leaving Göldi and Swiss National Champion Nathalie Schneitter (Trek) behind. Italian Camilla Martinet (Specialized) had a flat tyre and was forced to leave the course after 1 lap only, followed by French Justine Tonso (Lapierre Overvolt), who broke her chain on lap 3, wearing the Leader’s Jersey. The podium battle then looked like an affair among Wiedenroth, Göldi and Schneitter, when Italian Anna Oberparleiter (Specialized) decided to be the party pooper, putting herself in third, while a tough and tight battle for the first step of the podium between Wiedenroth and Göldi was taking place on the last lap, with Reigning Champ overtaking and winning her first WES race in a sprint. After today’s win, and Tonso’s DNF, Göldi is leading the standings ahead of Wiedenroth by 1 point only, the top-4 women being all separated by the same gap between them (Göldi 52 pts, Wiedenroth 51, Tonso 50, Schneitter 49). 

The Men’s race saw a very fast Gilloux taking the Holeshot at the start and impressively improving the gap with the group behind, lap by lap. Italian well-known wildcard Andrea Garibbo (Haibike) who was on the podium at WES Bologna last season, was in a solid second place until lap 4 of 5, with the aim to repeat himself this year, when his chain fell off, forcing him to stop and fix it, losing position and ending with a DNF.
Joris Ryf (Bergstrom) took advantage of it and grabbed one position, finishing second, behind Gilloux, as well as Reigning Italian Champ Martino Fruet (Lapierre), clinching the third step of the podium, his best-ever result at WES.
The overall standings see the French World Champ Gilloux with full score after 3 races, ahead of country fellow Hugo Pigeon (Scott) and the two Swiss Loïc Noël (Specialized) and Ryf in third and fourth, respectively, separated by 1 point only.

An exciting scenario will open the game again tomorrow, with the Qualirace 2 starting at 11:30 and Race 2 at 14:30 CET.

All results and tomorrow’s live timing available HERE
Download the photo gallery HERE
Download this Press Release in PDF HERE