Sixth place on debut in the Hero Südtirol Dolomites for Maria Zarantonello. Beyond the result, the rider from Arzignano was the author of a solid performance that brought back the good mood in the team after the negative circumstances of the men’s race, giving Metallurgica Veneta MTB Professional Team the best racing action in the legendary competition drawn between Val Gardena and Alta Badia.
Sixty kilometers and 3,200 meters of elevation gain, extremely hard, challenging to the point of exhaustion, at her first “Hero” the rider from Vicenza was faced with something radically new and managed to add a sixth place in her palmares with which she gave luster to her new career in long distances.
On Saturday the starting signal was given at 7:10 a.m. on a cold, wet day with an incredible crowd and a top-notch cast! There was no time to get distracted because after the first 700 meters on the flat began the ascent to the first Dantercepis peak with some rather steep sections.
The favorites dictated the pace from the start so that no one could follow them, at the highest part at 2,298 meters of the pass Maria was in the wake of the European Champion, surprised by how well she had started the race. The bearer of Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team was hoping to go ahead on the descent to Corvara, but the opposite happened!
Before starting the climb to Pralongià she was bumped by an amateur and fell, losing a couple of minutes and two positions. The desired recovery run put the race back on track and was eventually enough to reach sixth place.
