The Italian champion is the winner of the open race at the end of a round in which she was always in the lead.
Martina Berta dominated in San Zeno di Montagna. The Italian champion (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) won the first stage of the women’s Internazionali d’Italia Series with an aggressive race that left no room for her opponents.
Already by the end of the first lap (6 in all) a quartet had formed at the head of the race, made up of Berta herself, Chiara Teocchi, Anne Tauber (Orbea Factory Team) and Giada Specia (Wieler-Vittoria Factory Team XCO).
The chasing pack remained tight, but not to the liking of the Italian, who wanted nothing more than to be alone. On the third lap she stretched and there was nothing left for anyone else to do.
Lap after lap she extended her lead over the chasing pack, led by a stoic Chiara Teocchi, who finished more than a minute behind the winner. Giada Specia came third at 2’39”, followed by Anne Tauber and Gina Caluori (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team XCO).
These were the words of Martina Berta at the end of her ride:
“It’s always nice to race on this track with hard and very technical climbs. I did the first lap behind Chiara (Teocchi, ed.), I saw that she was very strong but maybe I could attack her at the top of the climb. That’s what I did and I managed to open up a small gap which slowly grew. I’m really happy, the goal this month was to take a step forward, to get race pace, and I’d say I’ve done that. Finally today I had the same feeling as last year and I am very happy, this gives me great confidence for the rest of the Olympic season”
