National Coach Daniele Pontoni has announced the squad for the Cyclocross World Championship, which this year takes place in France, in Liévin, from January 31 to February 2. Seven titles are up for grabs. The program will open with the traditional relay, which also represents the first opportunity for Italy, European champions just a few months ago, to climb on the podium.
The same applies to Mattia Agostinacchio, current European champion and winner of two World Cup events in this season. Also racing is last year's junior world champion Stefano Viezzi, expected to make a challenging transition among the Under 23.
Daniele Pontoni: "First of all, I want to emphasize Eva Lechner's call-up as a career award for everything she has given to Italian cycling. This will be her last azzurra jersey, and I believe she deserves applause from the entire movement. We come from a season full of satisfaction. Unfortunately, last Sunday we were unable to confirm our World Cup success, but Agostinacchio's second place in the final ranking is always a great result. We intend to continue at these levels and confirm the excellent things we've done. We are very competitive in junior and under 23 categories, and I think we can do well in others as well. We start with the relay, where we arrive as current European champions and which we care about very much, because it is an expression of a movement and also of the entire team's work. The course is not prohibitive, but weather conditions, as always in this specialty, will be crucial."
THE CALLED-UP ATHLETES
Juniors Agostinacchio Mattia - Fas Airport Services Guerciotti
Fabbro Ettore - Asd Dp66
Grigolini Filippo - Team Cingolani
Pezzo Rosola Patrik - Zanolini-Q36.5 Südtirol
Junior Women
Ferri Elisa - Fas Airport Services Guerciotti
Pellizotti Giorgia - Soc. Sport.Sanfiorese
Men Under 23
Scappini Samuele - Team Cingolani
Viezzi Stefano - Alpecin Deceuninck Development Team
Women Under 23
Bramati Lucia - Fas Airport Services Guerciotti
Fontana Beatrice - Sportivi Del Ponte
Elite Women
Borello Carlotta - Team Cingolani
Casasola Sara - Crelan-Corendon
Lechner Eva - Ale Cycling Team
Elite Men
Bertolini Gioele - Centro Sportivo Esercito
THE PROGRAM
Friday, January 31
12:30 - Team Relay
Saturday, February 1
11:00 – Junior Women
13:00 – Men Under 23
15:00 – Elite Women
Sunday, February 2
11:00 – Junior Men
13:00 – Women Under 23
15:00 – Elite Men